Keep Your Eyes on the Prize & Get Active

Last November, I was crushed & devastated by the realization that I no longer could trust elections and that there wasn't going to be a quick and easy electoral solution for our woes. It was horrible to realize that I either had to believe Americans were totally brainwashed or I had to believe our elections were fixed. At the same time, in Wyoming, we had elected a Dem governor, an ex-classmate of mine, whom I'd spent a lot of energy helping to elect. I wanted to celebrate but, oh, the crushing defeat of the national scene.

By earlier commitment, soon after the election, I had to make my first ever trip to the deep South, the only section of the country I'd never visited. I didn't really want to go but then I decided to include in the trip a self-guided pilgrimage to several civil rights sites around Selma, AL and over to Philadelphia, MS. We visited the sites of many struggles, many deaths, many moments of faith and inspiration. And I realized then that things have always been nearly impossible in this country for progressive causes, that many, many, many people have had to struggle very, very, very hard to make the progress that has been made. That there never has been and never will be a silver bullet solution. That no matter how horrible things are now, they've been horrible before.

And I have two choices. I can keep fighting or I can quit. But, HOW could I possibly quit when I've stood where Viola Liuzzo was shot by the Klan & I've seen the grave of James Chaney with its bullet marks & heavy duty brace to prevent the headstone from being toppled & I've visited the church burned by the Klan outside Philadelphia and met some of the congregation which had the unbelievable courage to invite those voting rights activists to use their isolated & vulnerable church? And, how can I turn my back on my own ancestors who risked everything to work for the abolition of slavery?

No, I have to go on and so if the majority of Californians (especially Californians) succumb to society's alluring picture of celebrity worship, then I cannot be surprised or deterred from what I must do.

Soon after my 2002 awakening, I became actively involved with a local peace group, Stand Up for Peace Wyoming, organized in the fall of 2002 to protest Dick Cheney's appearance at UW, and I have felt steadfast ever since. Last night, I was disappointed but not at all surprised. Today, my primary feeling is one of relief that the California circus is over. I'm sorry for what this means for California and the nation but it will only strengthen me. I hope everyone else can find a way to turn their energy into the kind of activist commitment we progressives so desperately need right now.

I actually made my first intellectual contribution to the Dean campaign today, in large part in response to what happened in CA.

I've been donating to Dean and doing a bit of leafletting, but today I wrote to some semi-big wigs suggesting a way people in the DC area could work together better. And they seemed to have taken me up on it.

So I agree with you that we need to take our anger and channel it into useful activities.

Once again, thank you for your post. It was a further inspiration.

every generation has their opportunities to step up and fight for something important. My parents lives were defined by the Great Depression, and WWII. As a teen-ager, I watched the struggles for civil rights, and the opposition to Vietnam.

I think our challenge now is to fight the fascist take-over of our country, and we can prevail.