I am going to the streets. I will show my self. Claim this cause. Do the right thing. To be right.
It was right to march for civil rights, more than 40 years ago. It was sad and necessary to walk behind that cortege in 1968, to be spat at and be cursed and to cry for it. All of that comes back now, and I have to go. Again. Still.
I did not believe it would come to much. I was not first to this barricade, and I am sorry for whatever failure that might be, offering only that I am older now and perhaps less willing to believe in my own knowledge that participation must work. But I will not remain at the side. Watching, occasional comment, private outrage is not enough. I intend to do, give, what I can to actively mark the path again.
It seemed there was no purpose in it. Drums and chants are not enough, shouting is not persuasive. It took some time to see the cause, perhaps for the cause to grow from vague to bright. Above the noise and condescensions, beyond the brute forces of control, into focus. I may not agree with every line or phrase, but I cannot avoid the cause. It's time to go.
Later comes the grinding work to fight in whatever trenches there will be, the honest labor of loving my country, my government, the future. I will stay as long as I can, as long as it takes, through streets and signs and petitions, through elections from block chairman to President. It will not end at bedtime. It will not end again. It returns me always to doing the pleasure of being active in even simple ways, knowing that this must be done and I get the honor of it.
Join me. Join. Come. Be involved.
We are now.
8:58 PM PT: It's good to know when AND where.
Friday, October 7, 2011, 9:00 AM
Hennepin County Government Plaza
300 South 6th Street
Minneapolis, MN 55487-0999