This was a long time coming and the GOP finally put a full-blown, unapologetic racist in power.

The '60s might have been even worse; time tends to soften memories - and in those days we didn't have real-time 24-hour cable news and the Internet to show us what was going on all at once. But I vividly remember tv footage of the Chicago cops beating the demonstrators outside the 1968 convention, and I also remember my own college's antiwar demonstrations. Most were not violent but some were. There was actually a lot of violence then. What we've seen for the last few days is nothing new.

People never learned or didn't want to learn from demonstrations . There are a lot of willful ignorance out there.
Unfortunately the violence is noticed not the underlining cause.
Probably because doing something takes doing and paying for changes. Most people do not want to change.

That took me back to the funeral of a high school friend who had the misfortune to be drafted into the Marine Corps. He came back from Vietnam dead.

Yes, there was a period of time when the Marines got a portion of the draftees. The Marine Honor guard pulled into the tavern nearest the cemetery. I am still offended by that over 50 years later.

Was it earlier or later in the war?

The Marines took 42,633 draftees between 1966 and 1970. My friend was killed March 24, 1967 so he'd have been in one of the 1966 groups. He was wounded once, came home for a while, then was sent back.

As a young person I didn’t see it as a dark time because people rose up, refuting the dark. I saw it as an exciting time to change the history of oppression. Especially when all young men were forced to be soldiers whether they liked it or not.

In those days, during the hippy movement we thought of cops as “pigs” or “The Man”.

My oldest (liberal) brother always described it as the worst period in his life, and it made him upset when others talked about how it was so great.

He never did drugs or the "hippie" stuff, so maybe that's why he didn't enjoy it more? Lol. He didn't think that behavior helped at all except to numb people to the reality.

I have to admit, I once tried one of the popular drugs from that period and it was WONDERFUL! No "bad trip" for me!

I tried it after reading it's not addictive, and that was true for me even though it was a such a beautiful experience.

Edit: It was like "everything is love".

It hit very hard last night when those 150 were arrested. I was arrested in exactly the same way only blocks away from there 50 years ago.

if it was the War or civil rights or an AIM action anymore.

Went to demonstrations, protested the Viet Nam War, volunteered for Eugene McCarthy even though I was too young to vote. Watched people being beaten at the Chicago convention - thank goodness I didn't go. Attended the Grand Central Station Yip-in and made it out just in time. It was a frustrating sad time -sometimes fun though. I was not part of the mainstream but never considered myself "hippie" - just an art student and graduate student during these times.

Young men were being sent off to war - my friends. They were old enough to die, but not to vote.
I remember the assassinations. But we had music.