Pete Seeger
Yes, I'm back...
Pete Seeger died last night. At 94 he spent a good part of his life wreaking havoc on the establishment and calling us all to a peaceful way of living.
His passing hit me hard, I must admit. I spent my first anti-Vietnam War protest with 'ol Pete' as he called himself. We picketed the Ossining NY Post Office... that's right, the Post Office. The logic was it was the only federal building within reach and as good as any in calling attention to the injustice of that war.
It was also right on Highland Ave. across from the high school so all the traffic in and out of town had to pass us marching, carrying signs, chanting very pithy things like 'one, two, three, four, we don't want your fucking war,' a chant I remember ol pete not too happy with... we didn't do it long. This was suburban America, after all and that's our parents and their friends driving by. We were being radical... but not that radical.
Later in life I had a phone conversation with Pete a couple of times when I was organizing to raise money for one thing or another. One of my treasures, sitting on the shelf in my office at home, is a handwritten note from Pete that he sent with his small check and signed "ol Pete."
Seeger was Thoreau in the 60's. He lived in a cabin in Beacon with his wife of a million years, Toshi, who died just last year. And he spoke out, usually quietly and with his music, against oppression, war, racism and all the other ills that many of us speak about, though to a much smaller audience.
My kids know Pete, or at least would know the music, because I usually had the Weavers or his records (round plastic things with a hole in the middle; When you put an arm with a needle on top it made music) on the record player. Turn, Turn, Turn one of my all-time favorites. But his Concert from Carnegie Hall was the one I played the most (over and over, I seem to remember, until one of the kids yelled "hey, can we hear some music from the 20th century please?!"). That record had Guantanamera, Cho Cha Losa (sp?) and others that weren't usually sung at protest rallies. I still sing out loud when I hear them by chance...
Pete Seeger meant honesty to me. He joined the Communist Party in 1950 (later denounced it) and refused to answer questions to the House un-American Activities Committee and was cited for contempt of court (later overturned)... his honesty was in not responding. And in saying he was as American as the men on the dais.
The blacklist followed... for those that don't know, there was a period in our country when 'controversial' (read radical) performers were banned from entertaining and television for their views. Ah, the home of the free...
I worry that the Pete Seeger's of the world are no more. Today celebrities take up a cause for an hour and a half so TMZ will catch them leaving a benefit concert. Then they disappear behind the walls of their enclosed homes with body guards, only emerging again when the next opportunity for attention arises.
I fear my grandchildren will not see people like Pete Seeger rising up and opposing things. Oh, I think my daughter will make sure they are aware of the issues, but she and her husband will have to do the work, I fear. The art of celebrity protest actually getting things done seems lost.
Last week I spent several days at The Open Door, an intentional Christian community in Atlanta that I support and used to volunteer with. There a couple of Pete Seeger types, Eduard Loring and his wife Murphy Davis have been carrying the protest banner for 50+ years. We had several good conversations including one in which I said I was kind of done with protests. I said I thought the chance Obama would close Guantanamo based on a protest in front of the White House were not only slim, they were none. I argued that we should spend our time in direct service and expressing our opinions certainly but not with chants and placards.
Murphy caught me up short--she said, yes you might be right the protest might not change policy. But she said "we have to bear witness to the injustice. We have to say what you're doing isn't okay with me. Otherwise the bastards (my word, not hers) will feel they can do anything without consequences."
Ol Pete would have agreed with Murphy. Ol Pete would have gently chided me for giving up and taking the easy way out. Pete would have shown his disappointment in me quietly, gently, but nevertheless clearly...
RIP 'ol Pete.'. Those of us left will keep 'singing' our protest, I promise.
Pete Seeger died last night. At 94 he spent a good part of his life wreaking havoc on the establishment and calling us all to a peaceful way of living.
His passing hit me hard, I must admit. I spent my first anti-Vietnam War protest with 'ol Pete' as he called himself. We picketed the Ossining NY Post Office... that's right, the Post Office. The logic was it was the only federal building within reach and as good as any in calling attention to the injustice of that war.
It was also right on Highland Ave. across from the high school so all the traffic in and out of town had to pass us marching, carrying signs, chanting very pithy things like 'one, two, three, four, we don't want your fucking war,' a chant I remember ol pete not too happy with... we didn't do it long. This was suburban America, after all and that's our parents and their friends driving by. We were being radical... but not that radical.
Later in life I had a phone conversation with Pete a couple of times when I was organizing to raise money for one thing or another. One of my treasures, sitting on the shelf in my office at home, is a handwritten note from Pete that he sent with his small check and signed "ol Pete."
Seeger was Thoreau in the 60's. He lived in a cabin in Beacon with his wife of a million years, Toshi, who died just last year. And he spoke out, usually quietly and with his music, against oppression, war, racism and all the other ills that many of us speak about, though to a much smaller audience.
My kids know Pete, or at least would know the music, because I usually had the Weavers or his records (round plastic things with a hole in the middle; When you put an arm with a needle on top it made music) on the record player. Turn, Turn, Turn one of my all-time favorites. But his Concert from Carnegie Hall was the one I played the most (over and over, I seem to remember, until one of the kids yelled "hey, can we hear some music from the 20th century please?!"). That record had Guantanamera, Cho Cha Losa (sp?) and others that weren't usually sung at protest rallies. I still sing out loud when I hear them by chance...
Pete Seeger meant honesty to me. He joined the Communist Party in 1950 (later denounced it) and refused to answer questions to the House un-American Activities Committee and was cited for contempt of court (later overturned)... his honesty was in not responding. And in saying he was as American as the men on the dais.
The blacklist followed... for those that don't know, there was a period in our country when 'controversial' (read radical) performers were banned from entertaining and television for their views. Ah, the home of the free...
I worry that the Pete Seeger's of the world are no more. Today celebrities take up a cause for an hour and a half so TMZ will catch them leaving a benefit concert. Then they disappear behind the walls of their enclosed homes with body guards, only emerging again when the next opportunity for attention arises.
I fear my grandchildren will not see people like Pete Seeger rising up and opposing things. Oh, I think my daughter will make sure they are aware of the issues, but she and her husband will have to do the work, I fear. The art of celebrity protest actually getting things done seems lost.
Last week I spent several days at The Open Door, an intentional Christian community in Atlanta that I support and used to volunteer with. There a couple of Pete Seeger types, Eduard Loring and his wife Murphy Davis have been carrying the protest banner for 50+ years. We had several good conversations including one in which I said I was kind of done with protests. I said I thought the chance Obama would close Guantanamo based on a protest in front of the White House were not only slim, they were none. I argued that we should spend our time in direct service and expressing our opinions certainly but not with chants and placards.
Murphy caught me up short--she said, yes you might be right the protest might not change policy. But she said "we have to bear witness to the injustice. We have to say what you're doing isn't okay with me. Otherwise the bastards (my word, not hers) will feel they can do anything without consequences."
Ol Pete would have agreed with Murphy. Ol Pete would have gently chided me for giving up and taking the easy way out. Pete would have shown his disappointment in me quietly, gently, but nevertheless clearly...
RIP 'ol Pete.'. Those of us left will keep 'singing' our protest, I promise.
nicely written… not sure who you would piss off with this one…. maybe someone who did not know what
ReplyDeletethe 60’s and early 70’s were like…. made me think of that time again, and I think of it with confidence and
comfort knowing that the protests, while not always done right, were important in our country’s history. In many
ways, because of the big money and big voting blocks that vote based on what I consider outdated reasons (color
of skin, political party, etc), the protests may be as your friend in Atlanta said, the only way to stick the flag
in the ground and say “this is wrong”. While we (you and I) may not always agree on the particular thing to
protest (though I think we usually do), I think we would agree that sticking the flag in the ground is important
for causes that are important. Too often the noise occurs over something that might be better served by other
methods of resolution. Yet, when all else fails, the protest of citizens matters. I did not know Pete Seeger,
but I admired him for his backbone and the quiet way he spoke his piece. Nice article.
ernie
I remember listening to Pete Seeger's music freshman year in college in Ohio, and hearing him speak and sing at an anti-Vietnam war meeting in New England in 1966. Wonderful the way he acted on his beliefs...and the way he talked and sang!
ReplyDeleteThanks Barbara... there was something in his voice that gave you confidence that all was not lost, wouldn't you say? I especially enjoyed the concerts with Arlo Guthrie... thanks for your note.
DeleteKurt, beautiful reflection on Pete Seeger. Thanks for sharing it.
ReplyDeleteI was struck by your “worry that the Pete Seeger's of the world are no more.” I’ve wondered myself over the past decade or so why we haven’t had the kind of protest songs that helped fuel the antiwar movement of the 60s and 70s. We haven’t had that kind of movement either, and maybe there’s a chicken-and-egg aspect to the question. Then again, I don’t really follow celebrities or pop music, so maybe there’s more out there than I’m aware of. Some people see Springsteen as part of that protest tradition. And from what I know, Bono seems to have a genuine, long-term commitment to fighting global poverty, although I haven’t heard anything about him lately.
Anyway, I’m sorry to see “ol’ Pete” go. And, you won’t be surprised to hear, I agree with your friend Murphy about the importance of witnessing. We may not reach a Bush or Obama, but we may reach a passerby or two.