Memoirs or a Grassroots

We aren’t all born to be activists.  Its the influences and those significant events that move us into it.  Probably most of what has brought us to this point has been forgotten by the time we reach adulthood.  I remember a few.

Family

My parents were working class Californians.  They grew up in the 20s and 30s in Inglewood, California.  Apparently, my mother’s family was quite wealthy, but my grandfather had a political disagreement with his father and was cut from the will.

  My parents rented a house from my mother’s aunt. My father was drafted for World War II.  I remember hearing quite often that while my father was in the army, and my mother was left alone to raise my brother, her aunt raised the rent.

While he was in the army, my father contracted Rheumatic Fever.  He recovered, but was left with a heart condition.  After his discharge, he was happy to get a job in the aircraft industry.  For most of his life he hated the job, but didn’t see a lot of alternatives, and he got benefits, including health insurance.

We moved from our rented house in Inglewood to our own home in Torranceeded in 1952.  Torrance was your basic white suburb of Los Angeles.  I always considered it to be without culture, but I guess it had a culture that I didn’t appreciate.

Both of my parents loved Franklin Rooseveltsnd therefore were loyal Democrats.  My mother admitted to me that she was a socialist, but that wa not something she would make public.  We were always told that during a Democratic administration we could get a new car.  This took some time.  I was already 13 when Kennedybecame president. Myfather was not an activist at all.  He was basically afraid to do anything from fear of losing his job (and benefits), but whenever I complained about what was happening in the country, he would tell me to do something about it.

Events

The first event that I remember had a deep impact on my life was an Ed Sullivan segment.  For younger people who may not know, Ed Sullivan was a variety show on tv.  Usually, his guests were entertainers.  I remember a lot of jugglers, acrobats, and singers.  His show introduced us to both Elvis Presley and the Beatles.  However, the segment that impacted my life was a film about war.  I was about five years old at the time.  An artist had created a series of wood blocks, with scenes of houses and wildlife.  Then he implied the was a bomber , and they were all slowly burned.  For many years, no one would believe I was terrified by something on Ed Sullivan, but well into adulthood I found another anti-war boomer who had also been impacted by the same show.

When I was about 12 years old , my grandmother had a heart attack.  This was before Medicare, and my parents were afraid they would lose the house if they were charged with her medical bills.  health insurance was always a major stressor in my house.  Although my father was in a union and had good health insurance, there was that constant fear that his company would be left out of a government “defense” contract, and he would lose his job (and benefits). When he finally retired he told me he felt that the sword of Demaclese had been hanging above his head for all 41 years.

Alike all American baby boomers, we were taught to “duck and cover” in our classrooms.  No one could be sure that the Cold War wouldn’t become hot.  Then in 1962, with the Cuban Missile Crisis, it almost did.  We lived in fear for several days.  We stopped doing our homework, even going to class.  Looking back on it, the West Coast was probably not even in danger, but at 14 we were not that educated.  We assumed we were going to die, through no fault of our own, and we were not going to spend our last few days doing things we did not want to do.

Heroes

I was not brought up to be a strong Christian, so I have no idea why I felt the need for a savior, maybe it is human nature, maybe a weakness in me, but I definitely became a hero worshipper with the election of John Kennedy.  Looking back at it , I can see many flaws, but at the time I felt he would do great things and I actually became wuie the patriot.  After the Cuban Missile Crisis, I also began to worship his brother Bobby.  When John Kennedy was assassinated, I became obsessed with Robert Kennedy.  I was sure he would change the world, and I was going to help him.  As much as hero -worship is discouraged in many ways it worked for me.  In addition to inspiration, Reading his books taught me a lot about government , union corruption, immigration, and possibilities.  My last two years of high school were basically wrapped around Robert Kennedy.  I researched farm worker issues, causes of poverty, and various forms of health care systems.  I joined my high school Democratic Club and volunteered in the 1964 campaign.  I truly became an activist at 16 years old.