Memories of struggles over the years

Apr 21, 2022 | Life, Newsletters

By Dee Knight

[On the upcoming Feldman Show,] I’ll try to bring some of the memories of our struggles over the years to life, such as:

  • launching a boycott of Ford’s “conditional clemency” offer to war resisters after he pardoned Nixon in 1974.
  • helping military resister Gerry Condon show up and surface in DC in early ‘75 to challenge Ford, and then tour the country non-stop for universal, unconditional amnesty, up till today, fighting for the rights of vets and active duty GIs, and for “Amnesty for the Future, Not Just the Past!”
  • getting to the 1976 Democratic Convention and nominating war resister Fritz Efaw, seconded by Gold Star Mother Louise Ransom and Vietnam vet Ron Kovic, then forcing Carter to grant more “pardon,” and continuing the fight for vets.
  • meeting Clarence Thomas of the Longshore Workers Union back in 1966 at SF State College, when he and other Black Students Union members spoke daily, denouncing the student draft deferment as a class and race privilege, having a huge influence on me.
    I’ll tell how his work, and that of my friend Walter Collins of SNCC helped mobilize a generation of young people to resist, both in the streets and on the Vietnam war front.
  • I’ll be wearing a Starbucks apron, wishing I had a Starbucks Union badge on it, to share inspiration with the struggle of young workers across the country in fast food and retail, including the stunning recent victory of Amazon workers here in NYC.
  • hitting the streets in 2020, in the midst of the pandemic, to protest with Black Lives Matter, demanding the police be replaced with community-controlled safety services — reminiscent of “los sentinelas de la alegria del pueblo” in Nicaragua, where I was able to participate (as a supporter) in the Sandinista Revolution.
  • speaking out and mobilizing today against Washington’s Big Lie campaign against Russia and China, determined to find ways to stop NATO’s regime change operations like the ones in Libya, Iraq, Syria & Afghanistan.
  • talking about how we can take the Green New Deal even beyond AOC’s original conception, to truly save the planet and transform society.

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Please feel free to share this with anyone you think may be interested. I’ll also try to grab the recording and link to the show on my blog: DeeKnight.blog. Excerpts and blurbs of My Whirlwind Lives can also be accessed there, along with other stuff.

If you want to get my book, My Whirlwind Lives: Navigating Decades of Storms  is now available online.

You can also walk into bookstores to buy it at:

  • 1804 Books (320 West 37th St., Manhattan) – or order online from anywhere!
  • The Word Is Change Books, 368 Tompkins Ave., Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn
  • Cups and Books, 2024 Bedford Ave., East Flatbush, Brooklyn
  • Broadway Books, Portland, Oregon
  • Belmont Books, Portland, Oregon

If you know a bookstore that may want to carry My Whirlwind Lives, please let me know!