Reflecting on the past and things ongoing

Because we're supposed to look both ways before venturing into traffic

My new roommate is 5 days older than me so our life cultural experiences share some similarities. Yesterday, we ventured into a movie theater, where another dozen people were present. We went to see ‘Summer of Soul’.

I recommend it. It’s also on Hulu now and you can try Hulu for free if you sign up and cancel within 30 days. It raises some points I’d made about the past 5 years of US politics before: us old people? We’ve seen a similar cacaphony of terror and bullshit before.

I knew it would feature some Sly and the Family Stone because of a couple of mini-reviews I’d seen. The setting is Harlem, 1969. Around the time of Woodstock. Logistically, around 300,000 attended. Only this one was smaller crowds over 6 weekends that summer. Still impressive considering it was held in an inner-city park.

The music proved rich and diverse. But then it added context. There was a swirl of national events that had occurred throughout the 1960s. It was both exciting and terrifying to an adolescent of the time. My roomie and I were 16 when this occurred.

The times changed our world view and molded us, just as it did the people in attendance. I think it important that yonger people see this, to grant them a larger perspective of Boomers. We were not a homogenous group. And we somehow fumbled our way through those times and some of us made the world better, more inclusive, though not everything turned out like we’d hoped.

Just like the pandemic, this white nationalist era is just another wave afflicting us. Is it gonna get bigger, spiral out of control and kill us all? No, not very likely. It’s also not likely to be the last wave of racial terrorism the country and world experiences. Just be determined to fight fascism in all its forms. And never quit.

We can hope each successive wave will be smaller in the coming historical reruns. To achieve that, we have to teach history better, more accurately. That’s what the fight over critical race theory is about. Some want a history full of heroic cowboys and pioneers and democracy creators. They want theories and legends and myths.

The reality is our country was buit by slaves. The justice system was built on legal justifications to control a lot of property, most of which was stolen from the original inhabitants. And most cowboys weren’t white.

I recommend that all my readers see the movie and reflect on it. It has plenty of surprises. Nostalgia, sure. But it also displays a key social, cultural and historical turning point. In 1969, we were barely past major civil rights legislation, in the midst of another futile and stupid war, Women’s Liberation and the Stonewall Riots and Woodstock and major environmental actions and the Moon landing were happening concurrently.

The music and musicians were changing too, reflecting all of it. Yeah, it’s likely better to see it in a theater in its full glory. But that can pose risks depending on how active covid is where you live.

Just see it. And pass it on to others.

The music selections today are reminders of the point I think it makes. We will survive.

But we gotta do the work still. There’s lots to do yet.