Veteran journalist
Rex Wockner has this to say about the notion that Stonewall 2.0 is fizzling out:
That's because Stonewall 2.0 already happened. Stonewall itself lasted three nights in 1969, but it set the stage for much that came after it. Stonewall 2.0 lasted, at minimum, 11 days -- and, I suggest, set the stage for much that will come after it.
In David Carter's book Stonewall: The Riots That Sparked the Gay Revolution, one Michael Fader told Carter: "We all had a collective feeling like we'd had enough of this kind of shit. ... Everyone in the crowd felt that we were never going to go back. It was like the last straw. It was time to reclaim something that had always been taken from us. ... There was something in the air, freedom a long time overdue, and we're going to fight for it. It took different forms, but the bottom line was, we weren't going to go away. And we didn't."
Sound familiar?
4 comments:
theres a documentary about stonewall i want to see. i think i'm older than you,russ! lol!all the best!
Thanks Larry. There's a video called Before Stonewall that's really good. Also a book, Making Gay History by Eric Marcus. Both should be required reading/viewing for the younger generation.
Rather unfair of Savage and Staley to bitch when most of the problems of today are or where created by these guys - and others - who for all intents and purposes, fell asleep at the switch.
I'm convinced that if it weren't for the JTI, the Dan's and Peters of this world wouldn't have done a goddamn thing.
Better still, with respect to the Warren controversy, many of those bloggers who advocated for Obama during the election would probably have been falling over themselves in support of Obama's decision to have Warren deliver the invocation.
Actually, what Savage and Staley say is a good point; the big nationwide protest was a great accomplishment done on the spur of the moment, a historic turning point. But 'not every idea is a good one': we need more strategically focused events and incremental successes to keep the momentum going.
But JTI is not the one and only source of ideas or vehicle for our ambitions. Lots of creative juices are mixed with anger and determination now, and I expect there will be a number of new developments that we can't foresee right now.
And with the internet, everybody can participate to some degree or another, even if it's only sitting on the sidelines being a cheerleader. I'm stuck way to hell out on the prairie, and besides I'm a bit old now to be marching miles and miles in protests. (The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak.) But my hope is that now and then something I post will give somebody, somewhere the knowledge, the motivation, or the compassion to do something new, something different, something helpful.
I'm thowing pebbles into a great big pond, is what it feels like. But who knows where the little ripples will reach? It's what I can do for now, and better to do the tiny good that you can do, than to do nothing at all.
Post a Comment