[R-G] THOUGHT BY HUNTER BEAR -- AS THE SUN RISES

[Hunter Gray]

THOUGHT BY HUNTER BEAR:

Looks pretty certain that Obama will take the Democratic nomination -- and, very likely, secure the Presidency.  This family is certainly glad.

Immediately following the Iowa caucuses, I wrote a very short piece which observed that "It wasn't so long ago that we had to fight to survive at a Woolworth lunch counter." If this comment mystifies anyone, check out our literal Woolworth sit-in at Jackson in May, 1963.
http://hunterbear.org/Woolworth%20Sitin%20Jackson.htm

The implications of this shift in United States race relations should be obvious -- along with the fact that we all still have a long way to go in that context. And we have a very long way to go on many fronts.  But Obama obviously offers a number of solid strides in the direction of a better nation -- and even a better world --  more so than any major U.S. candidate has for a vastly long time.

And it's been very clear that he's engendered tremendous enthusiasm -- especially with younger people.  The Obama campaign, early on, took on the qualities of "Movement" -- a transcendent phenomenon that is far greater than simply a segmental electoral political effort.  That "people energy / people force" augers well for the positive future of all of us. That energy/force will go very far ahead indeed.

The amorality [a relatively gentle term under the circumstances] of the Clintons was obvious to some of us in the 1990s.  After recent events "on the trail," no one should have a single sunny illusion about Them.  Nor, given the history of McCarthyism and its neo-associate, "guilt by association," no one should be surprised that every "witchy thing" from Fox News to the Clinton camp, is trying -- in an increasingly shrill and desperate fashion -- to whip up "concern" about the "Reverend Wright" situation.  The Reverend's  controversial comments were taken out of context. His church, thousands strong, has a long history of solid social justice work in the toughest parts of Chicago.  And that particular church is, of course, a key component of the United Church of Christ [formed via merger of the Disciples of Christ and the Congregational church], and has a vastly long history of grappling constructively with all sorts of social justice challenges. [It, and its foregoing two denominational roots, have been among the oldest supporters of Tougaloo College -- during the very roughest days of the Mississippi Movement.]

If I left every Catholic church where I heard something from the pulpit I didn't like, well -- I'd run out of churches.

And in a maelstrom like Chicago, you often find yourself working with interesting allies.  As I've noted before, I directed large-scale grassroots organization on the South/Southwest Side of that city from 1969 well into 1973.  We -- a fine staff of about two dozen committed field workers and a multitude of dedicated community people [mostly Black, some Puerto Rican, some Chicano, and a few whites] -- organized 300 block clubs and related groups, fought the Daley machine and the Republicans, and much more to win a fine array of grassroots victories. [One of our very key staffers was Bette Ann Pool, of Mississippi, who had been with us in the initial picket of the Woolworth store in downtown Jackson on December 12 1962 when we launched the Jackson Boycott [soon to become the massive Jackson Movement.]

Early on, I bailed out from jail several leaders of the [Black] Disciples youth gang -- who had been quite unjustly arrested during a literal police assault on Black and Puerto Rican elementary school children.  From that point on, the Disciples provided important protection for us and we all worked together most constructively in securing critically-needed grassroots victories.  One of those came as early as 1970, when our "alliance" overthrew a Daley alderman, replacing him with Anna Langford, a Black independent Democrat and an attorney.

I'm not surprised at the "church baiting" -- from the reactionaries. It'll fade -- save for those who'd vote McCain anyway. But it seems strange to me that, "in these times," some hard-shell leftists spend far more time picking at Obama than, say, McCain or Fox News -- or the Clintons.  Perhaps they're jealous, but in any case these sectarians are "missing History."  They've missed History before.

Anyway, as I look out from my Idaho Window, I do feel quite optimistic.  And it isn't just the good Sun itself rising above the mountains to our east.  That's bringing Light and Warmth.  But it's also the harbinger of some very good things a'coming.

Keep fighting,

Hunter [Hunter Bear]


HUNTER GRAY  [HUNTER BEAR/JOHN R SALTER JR]   Mi'kmaq /St. Francis
Abenaki/St. Regis Mohawk
Protected by Na´shdo´i´ba´i´
 and Ohkwari'
 
Check out our Hunterbear website Directory http://hunterbear.org/directory.htm
[The site is dedicated to our one-half Bobcat, Cloudy Gray:
http://hunterbear.org/cloudy_gray.htm

See Forces and Faces Along the Activist Trail:  http://hunterbear.org/forces_and_faces_along_the_trail.htm
And, with "fire season" looming, http://hunterbear.org/forest_fires_in_the_west.htm