BL.April.ToWeb

The Column
By Chuck Van Riper
History Repeats Itself
T
he year was 1969, the place was New York City,
Greenwich Village, my old stomping grounds. In June
of that year, police raided the Stonewall Inn, a gay bar in
the Village. The raid triggered almost a week of riots. The
gay community fought back. Historically, this was seen as
the beginning of the Gay Rights movement.
In 1960, four African-American youths dared to sit at
“Whites Only” lunch counter in Greensboro, North Carolina.
Thus began the Civil Rights movement. In 1964, President
Lyndon Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act. It made
it illegal for any public place to discriminate based on race
as well as sex, as the women’s rights movement was in full
swing, too. In 1963, the Equal Pay Act was passed, giving
women the right to equal pay for equal work. President
Johnson’s plan was to make America a “Great Society”.
During the 60’s we saw the rise of student activism.
Throughout campuses across the country, young
people were making their voices heard. Clean air, clean
water, ending violence in the streets, stopping corruption
in Washington, civil rights, equal rights for women, gay
rights, the fight to legalize marijuana and stopping police
violence were all issues of protest, but none were greater,
I think, than those opposed to the Vietnam War. In 1970,
four people were shot to death for protesting the bombings
in Cambodia. Anti-war protests were rampant across campuses
throughout the country.
Does all this sound familiar? It should because it’s
happening all over again! I thought we got all this stuff
figured out back then. What happened? When did we
start going backwards? It seems like that’s what is happening.
We got the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act,
the Equal Rights Act, Medicare and Medicaid, and all
the other “acts” that were put into place because people
made their voices heard. After the end of the Vietnam War,
things were looking pretty good. Pot was sooo close to
being legalized, loving and caring for one another was a
hippy mantra, the music was great, the EPA took steps to
begin clean air and water, racial tensions ebbed, the war
on poverty was becoming effective, women were more
empowered, LGTB communities were more accepted, and
life was pretty good. It seemed like we, as a country, were
whole.
22 - Brevard Live April 2018