1993_04 Insight April 1993

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Page 10
April 21,1993
Sixties
frontpage 1.
democracy,'' Mikell said.
Dynamic individuals like King and
Malcolm X organized communities
to take to the streets and fight for their
civil rights. Mikell said, "Business as
usual would no longer be tolerated."
The nightly news
One of the notable things about the
1960s Civil Rights Movement was
the attention it got from the mass
media, especially from the nightly
news on television.
By the mid 1960s most families had
television sets which caused the world
to shrink, Mikell said. "We became
more aware of our differences," he
said, "Communication and technology brought things into the home that
we could examine more readily and
find that society, the world, was not
what it ought to be."
Mikell said that through television,
the entire world could see the disgrace this country was living with.
And through television, the carnage
of the Vietnam war bombarded the
blue screens in every home, every
night.
There was footage of American boys
being carried off in body bags, killed
in a war that many people believed
America had no right fighting.
Warren Kessler, professor of philosophy at CSUF was in graduate
school in Wisconsin from 1964 to
1968. He said thaiduring the Vietnam
war it was the first time the military
let TV cameras follow the soldiers out
into the fields. "People saw bodies."
Kessler said.
"We'd hear interviews with soldiers
and get reports of body counts while
we were eating dinner," Kessler said.
He said that the Vietnam war was
brought home to the American people
more visibly than other wars, which
were at a distance, "so it was much
more vivid to people."
Ybarra said that the proliferation of
televisions in American homes was a
contributing factor to the rise in civic
involvement in the mid-60s.
Ybarra said, "It was the first time
that media had such an impact, showing the world to everybody.
"There was so much going on that
you couldn't help being drawn into it,
to try and find out what was happening."
What are we fighting for?
Hundreds of thousands of young
people were drawn into the peace
movement in the 1960s for the fight
against America's involvement in the
Vietnam war.
Kessler said, "We had a war that
didn't look neat and clean and tidy;
we didn't have a menace like Hitler.
"A lot of peoples' values were being
questioned, including (heir courage."
Kessler said people questioned
whether they thought the war was in
the national interest and whether they
were willing to lay their lives on the
line for the country.
"A lot of people felt they had an
obligation to go fight and other people
felt it was an immoral war and they
had an obligation to resist," Kessler
said.
He said that there were some people
in the middle, not concerned with an
obligation, but concerned with their
own safety.
Power to the people
On college campuses all across the
country, people challenged the establishment with a societal up-rising of
mass civil disobedience.
Kessler said, "It was a time when a
lot of people got empowered. We
think of Ross Perot generating a lot of
civic interest, but there was really
massivecivic involvement in the '60s.
"People believed that they had an
impact, and they did have an impact.
The anti-war movement drove the
sitting president. Lyndon Johnson, out
of office."
Kessler said that two of the reasons
young people felt so empowered to
try to change their country was natural idealism and strong leadership.
"There's often a natural idealism in
young people and John Kennedy triggered some of that idealism in
people—calling for the Peace Corp
and Vista, the domestic Peace Corp,"
Kessler said.
Kessler said Kennedy called on
people to sacrifice and serve their
country, "not ask what the country
can do for you."
"I think that appealed to a lot of
natural idealism that is often there in
young people, the kind of young
people that followed Socrates around,"
Kessler said.
Ybarra, who was a student at CSUF
and UC Berkeley in the 1960s, also
believes that one of the things that
fueled community involvement in the
'60s was the leaders.
"We had great leaders during that
time," Ybarra said.
"There were a lot of very visible
people that really captured the minds
of the youth at that time," Ybarrra
said.
Shccitedpeople like Kennedy,King,
Cesar Chavez of the farm workers
movement and Gloria Slcincm of the
women's movement, as some of the
great leaders that inspired the youth to
feel like they could make a difference.
Counter-culture casualties
In spite of the search for freedom,
peace and enlightenment, the li festyle
ofthccounter-culiure had some tragic
backlashes, most vividly, the drug-
related deaths of three of the most
influential rock performersof the time,
Jim Morrison, Jimi Hendrix and Janis
Joplin.
Kessler said, "In the '60s the prcm isc
was that you could do all these things
and not get hurt. You could try drugs
and il was fun.
"And occasionally someone would
haveabadacid trip.orsomething like
that But it wasn't epidemic and it
wasn't widely publicized.
"The implications of long-term use
of marijuana were not well studied.
People felt we can do these things and
have all the fun in the world—drugs,
sex—and nothing was going to hurt
Kessler said that when people found
out that some of the drugs were harmful, addictive, and produced lifestyle
changes, then attitudes changed.
The 1960s also produced negative
governmental reactions, according to
Kessler.
"It (the '60s) also produced some
backlash," he said, "The '70s. the
election of Richard Nixon and
Watergate ... all come out of reactions to what had gone on in the '60s.
"Conservatives seeing all the protest, flagrant flaunting of traditional
values said' Hey, wc have to get back
in control.'"
What a long strange trip its
been
Looking back on the 1960s many
who participated in the various social causes wonder how much
progress was really made.
The peace movement helped end
the Vietnam war.andtheCivil Rights
Movement helped put an end to legalized segregation.
The question remains for many,
however, as to how significant the
societal movements really were.
Mikell said, "We are in such bad
shape now, that you have to wonder
if the fight was for the right things.
Because it didn't have the longevity
that was expected."
Mikell said society made some
progress, but it was defeated on another front in the 1980s.
"The Reagan administration began
to dismantle a lot of the gains that
were made from the '60's," Mikell
said.
Mikell cites the Reagan
administration's open opposition to
bussing and affirmative action, two
of the tools which came out of the
'60s to fight segregation.
Kessler saidhe thinks the civil rights
movement has had a lasting influence, but that a lot of work needs to
be done.
"We eliminated overt legal segregation. And ironically, Lyndon Johnson, who gets the most blame for the
V ietnam war, really deserves the most
responsibilityforpassageofthe 1964
Civil Rights Act and the ending of
segregation," Kessler said.
"But the struggle against racial injustice, against oppression of women,
against imperialism in third world
countries, is a little bit like the struggle
against disease. I mean, 100 percent
of doctor's patients die, but that
doesn't mean wc haven't made progress
fighting disease," he said.
"The problems are still out there,
institutionalized racism, institutional
sexism, militarism, over-dependence
on the use of military and the utilization of military spending to pump up
the economy," he said.
Racial tensions continue
The 1992 riots in Los Angeles, in
connection with the Rodney King case,
is evidence that the racial tensions of
the 1960s did not go away with the
abolishment of legal segregation.
Kessler said, "There is still a lot of
racist attitudes out there, not just on the
part of white folks. But you have conflicts between racial minorities, you
have anti-white prejudice on the part
of blacks, blacks and Hispanics quarreling, and sometimes, quarrels within
the same ethnic group.
"These are cultural things that are
very deeply rooted. You can pass laws
and get rid of some of the most overt
stuff, but it doesn't stop people from
discriminating when they go to hire
someone.
"The struggle against injustice is certainly a long-term haul, whether it is
going to be a never ending battle, I
don't know."
Mikell said that the institutionalized
racism of today is more dangerous
than the racism in the '60s. Mikell said
that there arc not written laws, but an
implied policy and acting out that
causes people to be denied opportunities.
Mikell said that although society can
legislate dc-scgrcgaiion, it cannot legislate integration.
"Integration is more subjective; it
involves an attitudinal change," Mikell
said.
"You have to educate, you have to
inform, you have to interact, associate.
to remove the fears and stereotypes
that cause racism, or prejudice, to put
it in a milder term," Mikell said.
Mikell also said that one of the negative things that came out of the '60s
was the loss of the country's leaders.
The assassination of the Kennedys,
King, and Malcolm X deprives future
generations ofthcir messages. Mikell
said that it will take many generations
to recapture the motivation, spirit and
drive of the leaders in the '60s.
Other impacts of the '60s
The environmental movement has
its roots in the '60s, as docs the
women's movement Legal segregation is illegal. Vietnam is over and
Americans are not likely to send their
fathers, sons and brothers blindly into
Mikell said, "The larger picture is
that it changed the course of history. I
think the message is still there, within
us somewhere."
Ybarra said she can see the effectsof
the '60severywhere. "There are obviously a lot more women and minorities in politics than there ever were
before. I think the '60s opened the
doors for a lot of people."
Ybarra said that one lasting impact
of the peace movement is the skepticism about putting ground troops into
battle.
"There are certain kinds of wars that
are harder to fight. You can't just
waltz in there like the cavalry and win
them," Ybarra said.
"So we ought to be more cautious
when we pick a fight, if wc pick it,
how we fight iL In that sense, I think
the peace movement had some lasting
effect," she said.
Civic involvement today
Civic involvement of young people
seemed to decline in the 1980s. Will
the apathy of the'80s continue or will
Art by Fernando Tejada
there be a return to the involvement
evident in the '60s?
Ybarra said, "The latest surveys
show that more students are interested in social issues, and in trying to
benefit society, which is really the
cornerstone of the '60s.
"I always tell people, regardless of
what they thought of our methods
during the '60s, that there was a true
commitment andatrue belief that we
could really make a difference in
society. Once you are aware, you can
not become unaware."
Ybarra said that the activists in the
'60s opened a lot of doors and the
students today have to make certain
that those doors remain open.
Peace 1990s style
For those who are familiar with the
1960s, a walk down Haight street in
San Francisco today evokes images
of dancing hippies in tie-dyed cloths,
jingling tambourines, burning patchouli and sandalwood incense and
smoking marijuana.
Images of Woodstock, a three day
art & music festival promoting love,
peace and brotherhood, line the walls
of the shops designed to capture the
spirit of the '60s. And then the reality
of America's armed youth and gang
warfare in 1993 comes to mind.
Ybarra said that in the 1960s'people
were armed with ideas, with thoughts,
with action. "We weren't armed with
weapons," Ybarra said
Kessler said, "If we want peace in
our society, we shouldn't look for a
peaceful parade or a peaceful concert We should try and establish peace
at high schools and (in) neighborhoods in our communities.
"Even the Vietnam war was eventually negotiated into peace," Kessler
said.
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