Edward McKelvey

In my case, make no mistake--I find virtually everything the Trump administration has done to be outrageous, inhumane, and in most cases (though I'm no lawyer) illegal and unconstitutional.  I'm just not sure what benefit is to be gained by expressing those views, event by event, to a group made up largely of people of the same mind. 

Ted Morgan

Re. Susan's memory.  King's Finney speech was our Freshman year; I remember because it was the same academic year as the later (June 1965) graduation speech.  I remember that the college offered a spill-over space where we could listen to the speech because Finney was packed.  I did manage to attend King's graduation speech because my older sister was graduating.  Great to have access to it again --thank you Dan!

Ted

Ted Morgan

Back to Rich's initial comment and invitation.  i agree with Ed that voicing & sharing our reactions to all the crazed and oppressive actions (and rhetoric) of the Trump people wouldn't be a wise use of our time, but taking action --which I assume many of us are doing in our communities or localities (or in attendance at larger protests) -- is a good and important use of our time and abilities.  Perhaps sharing thoughts about effective actions & strategies would be worth it.  I know we've been having a variety of local actions in this region of rural New Hampshire, including several very well-attended public sessions sponsored by our tiny Quaker Meeting.

I recently wrote (and have submitted for publication --not yet published) an oped on "The Road to a Totalitariain USA," drawing on some quotes from Hannah Arendt's "Origins of Totalitarianism."

Ted

Edward McKelvey

Fair point, Ted, though I also think many of the actions we can take are also well known--protest as much as you can, let your representatives in Congress know how outraged you are, try to reason with people you might know who are persuadable independents and moderate Republicans, and above all persist.  If others have innovative ideas, I'm all ears. 

William McClintock

Liz Ryan was right. MLK gave a talk at Finney Hall in 1965. I was not fortunate enough to get a ticket in the draw for seats and had to listen to the speech being piped into Hall Auditorium. There was going to be a Q&A with MLK in the afternoon at Finney. Since I had not seen him in person at noon, I went to the Q&A. Believe it or not, only about 20 of us showed up. We (including MLK) all sat in a circle on the floor and had a conversation with Dr. King for about an hour. It was a very memorable event.

Richard Zitrin

I agree with Ted and I'm glad Ed concurs. Not everyone can have a platform to speak out and I consider myself very fortunate. (The Chronicle reaches into the Central Valley of CA, and has Chinese and Spanish editions, so it's not just the Bay Area.) Ted, please seek publication for your piece.

No Kings will be nationwide, and it's a good opportunity to express ourselves. And there are persuadable others, like my formerly Republican ex-Idaho-DA brother-in-law, who turned around so strongly that he came with me to SW Georgia to do voter protection last Election Day.

And I believe the more we do, the less depressed we'll feel. An added bonus.

Dr. King's speech was October 1964. So almost as soon as we arrived!

Donald Salisbury

Thanks to all of you for posting these messages. Though we are of course simply sharing with friends having unifying views this does give me even more incentive to engage. We have actually had here in McKinney Texas three growing demonstrations - the last with thousands of participants. I am sorry I won't be able to participate on October 18 - the day I will be arriving back in Germany. But, unfortunately, it will certainly be my duty to coninue to engage when I return. 

Robert Baker

I believe I can get OpEds (besides my own) in my local paper, and maybe even in the Charleston GazetteMail. If anyone wants to sen their work to me, I will be happy to try getting it published in this red state (WV) with some blue newspapers. 

Robert Wolfe

I think that MLK's and Gandhi's philosophy/strategy of non-violent protest is especially important in this new chapter of the Trump era. We must all recognize our role as the adults in the room. Trump's ICE militia seems to be creating episodes of violence in order to provoke undisciplioned protests, so that they can respond with more violence. All with the goal of creating a violent response. It will be extremely hard to respond to ICE with warm love instead of responding in kind. But we must define our actions by our own rules, rather than responding to their violence with more of the same or with anger. Organization, Preparation, Education, and Discipline will be crucial. We can win by defining the rules of our game. We lose if we play their game. I am certain that everyone reading this post already knows all of this. But perhaps we can help by talking to less experienced protesters, both before and during demonstrations. And have your cameras ready.

Liz Ryan (Cole)

thank you Bob - a very encouraging messge 

Shirley Smith (Kirsten)

I was present at the King Speech at Finney Chapel. Yes, freshman year--most memorable!

Ralph Shapira

I vividly remember seeing MLK in Finney Chapel. He was the most powerful, inspirational and compelling speaker I've ever seen, and being there that day was the highlight of my time at Oberlin.  I deeply regretted that none of the civil rights leaders who followed him had his level of gravitas and moral authority.  Our present moment calls out for someone like him.

Edward McKelvey

On a happier note, kudos to Greg Stanton, who I see is due to receive the Alumni Award.  Well deserved!

Richard Zitrin

I have yet another piece in the SF Chronicle today about Trump co-opting US Attorneys to indict his enemies. It ends with the MLK quote about Rip Van Winkle from Oberlin in 1965. It was cool to be able to use that.

https://www.sfchronicle.com/opinion/openforum/article/comey-james-trump-halligan-bondi-indictment-21094707.php

Rich

David Slavin

I'm glad to hear of your efforts to resist Trump.  The quotations of MLK from our years at Oberlin prompted me to ask if any of you remember some contacts Oberlin had with Malcolm X.  He had planned to speak on campus in fall '63 around the same time as MLK, but the date was just days after JFK's assassination, and I believed the NOI silenced him after his comment.

I believe I contacted Malcolm during our sophomore year winter break '64-'65 and invited him to speak,  I contacted him through a person in Malcolm's circle who was an advisor and  counselor to me.  He got me in touch with Malcolm who agreed to come, and I arranged an honorarium from the Student Government speakers' bureau.  We had set a date for April, and of course he never made it. 

I wonder if anyone has any recollection of this planned visit. I've asked for records of honoraria, articles in the Oberlin Review, etc, but all te documents are fragmentary.  My contact was a counselor to me at the time, and he was also a  highly regarded leader of the Black community control schools movement.   Although I feel sure that my memory of these events is real, I'm hopint someone else can recall some parts of this story.

thanks
David  (Slavin '67)

Ralph Shapira

Great piece, Richard.  Thanks for sharing.

Liz Ryan (Cole)

In response to Richard's Chronicle Op Ed... I shared it with family, some of the younger ones of whom are not at all sure demonstrations make any difference.  The Rip Van Winkel quote is what I hope speaks to them. thank you

Peter Griswold

Thanks, Rich, very much appreciated your summary of the events leading up the indictment of Letitial James.  Hope these indictments all get thrown out, and the DOJ's actions get seen for what they really are - the revenge of a bitter man.

Ted Morgan

David, I recall the talk about a Malcolm invitation (something in the Review, I think). Too bad it never happened --due to his tragic assassination in February.  And too bad the 1963 date was apparently right when the NOT had silenced him after his "chickens come home to roost" comment about the JFK assassination.  He could have come after he left the NOT; but guess the effort to bring him didn't work in the time between leaving the NOT and February 1965.

Richard, Sorry I couldn't access your oped from the link you sent.

I thought I'd post a link to my oped "The Road to a Totalitarian US" on Common Dreams (also the Concord [NH] Monitor) in case folks might be interested in some pithy and highly topical Hannah Arendt quotes I use.  

https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/trump-totalitarian-us

Ted

Richard Zitrin

If there's a way to post PDFs as an attachment, I could do that. Is there?

Robert Baker

Richard, You can put pdfs on a webpage, and post links to that  

Peter Griswold

Thanks, Ted, am sharing your piece with OC classmates who may not be looking at the Message Forum.

Peter Griswold

Thanks, Ted, am sharing your piece with OC classmates who may not be looking at the Message Forum.

Richard Zitrin

Thanks, Bob. I have put the last three Chronicle pieces on my writing webpage. It's got an unsurpising name, www.richardzitrin.com. 

If and when I do more op-eds, I'll throw them up on the website as PDFs pretty much right away. So, no paywalls.

Rich

Robert Baker

Thanks Rich!