It was Tom Hayden's birthday last week. I wanted to share my last time I saw him in public.. his thoughts are relevant I think today: In a Gathering of this Anti-War tribe: Vietnam Power of Protest and what we learned, Tom Hayden gives the closing speech after a two day gathering of veterans of the Anti-war movement of the 60's Yes we and the Vietnamese people won. The war was finally stopped. The US was defeated, Here in his speech and in the many workshops of the conference much attention was placed on what this generation had learned from our activism them,to pass on to the younger movement emerging today like BLM On a personal note, Tom Hayden from the Point Huron statement which spark plugged Students for Democratic Society along with Carl Whitman' s GAY MANIFESTO written in the same period moved me into more conscious political understanding and cultural and political work. This was the last time I was with Tom in public , I am at an age when people die not of AIDS or OD's but of age related issues . A death like Tom's affects me differently A comrade falls and we are left to honor and continue the struggle not with the arrogance of age but with a continued compassion and desire for change.Tom opened his remarks saying "This may be the last time we gather as this group ,,,,,,, thank you Tom for living a very human life of positive revolution , I am committed to carrying it on .. give a listen ..,it's a good way to climb into that boat there is space for all of us in all our differences as we stay visible opposing the DT takeover.
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