Select this to read [the Whole Story].Some freaks were arrested for marijuanna possession and/or giving it away in the Michigan State University student union during Spring Term, 1968. Their friends knew that they had been entrapped by the local campus narc police. So, they got pissed and occupied the Administration Building demanding the charges be dropped. The police were bussed in to campus--State Police--to bolster the local cops. There were about three city buses full of them all dressed up in riot gear with ax handle clubs about 5 feet long in their hands. When students on campus got wind that the Admin Bldg was being occupied by long hair freaks they started gathering around jeering the occupiers and waiting for the police to come.
When the cops got there the students outside were totally on the side of the authorities. The cops then lined up very military like on both sides of a 25 yard sidewalk which led from the street and their waiting three buses to the door of the Admin Bldg. A flying squad of helmeted cops was sent in to flush out the freaks.
Students stood outside, waiting for the action and they got it. The freaks were driven out the door and on to the sidewalk where they were pummled by the cops as they were forced to run the gauntlet. The formerly supportive students... began making pleas to cease hitting these hippie peaceniks. But the police kept running them out through the gauntlet-- I think there were about ten in all, men and women. They were bloody, screaming pain by the time they got on the buses.
Well all hell broke loose then. The students saw that the cops weren't going to stop beating these people, so they started attacking the cops with stones and fists. The cops at first stood their ground; but then the situation became apparent to them--the hippies were attacking with ax handles and some of these "hippies" were students. The police were attacking us! We attacked back with a vengence. It was like an army who had their adversaries on the run. The buses began to move. The drivers tried to steer their way through the growing crowds and they people kept rocking the buses all along the way...
Eventually the buses were able to leave campus and behind them stood thousands of newly radicalized students, who had begun to understand which side they were on and what it was telling us about the war in Vietnam.
Select this to read [the Whole Story].
*****
...it also solidifed the other side in rage. after all, they were the authorities in the town, and they had tried to stop the march, and the cops hadn't obeyed. many who were not a part of the mob simply ignored the violence in it, and reacted to the inability of adults to assert power over the youth. the entire aniwar effort became viewed not as a peace movement, or a moral dilemma, but a generational conflict.
it became plain that there were many issues at stake beyond a war half a globe away. after all, no one who opposed the antiwar march was talking about national seucurity issues or needing to stop the threat of communism, or even our responsiblity to support our allies. the key sentiment was "my country right or wrong, but my country." what they were really opposed to was taking an open stand against a decision made by our government. we had become traitors for daring to influence our own government, for daring to exercise our freedoms to assemble and speak.
this event had some other personal effects on me. the whole plan for a local demonstation of support essentially came about out of my disappointment in not being allowed to go to dc. i had not expected it to have a real impact. but in fact it galvanized town opinion in a direct way that the march in dc did not. it made the subsequent marches in dc more connected to people in town. it made me realize that acting in whatever environment you find yourself is worthwhile.
it also gave me a little taste of what it is like *not* to be on the side of the priveleged. growing up white and wealthy, i wasn't accustomed to having to defend my actions against the powers that be. around this time, the aclu was fighting to allow the nazis to march in skokie, and it was made painfully clear to me how important it was to allow basic rights to *everyone* whether you liked them or not. after all, my town would have prevented me from marching if they could.
Select this to read [the Whole Story].
