‘Raise Your Voice’ Archives
Vietnam and Naked Truth
By Peter Molenaar A good part of our neighborhood gave its attention to THE VIETNAM WAR on public television. For my generation, the series was an edifying reminder of that war”'s impact upon our inner-being. Kent State Massacre, May 4, 1970”¦ Nixon”'s people informed the grief stricken parents: You should be happy your son was killed, he was “just another communist”. Who were these “communists”? As far as I know, the Communists thought it was wrong to compel working-class youth to war on behalf of capitalists who wanted space for the deindustrialization of our country”¦ thereby smashing our jobs base, our unions, and our wages. Then later, 1979. In the northeast corner of the Smith Foundry shower room at 1855 E. 28th Street: I was stark naked with my back to the corner, while an African-American Korean War veteran taunted me. Evidently, the Mai Leis of that war had resurfaced. I asked him: Would you kill a man who had faced down the [...]
Ready for Some Football?
By Peter Molenaar I trust that no Vikings fan from this neighborhood has given up their seat or TV time to boycott the NFL. However, in D. Trump”'s words, those who “dishonor our flag” are “sons of bitches.” The historical “bitch” was, of course, the enslaved woman the master would rape”¦only to have her mixed-race children torn from her breast and sold “down river.” These were the Black mothers who cradled the men who built the house D. Trump lives in now. Charlottesville”¦ We witnessed the Nazis rally their friends, with an eye towards the “final solution.” To the consternation of “traditional conservatives,” D. Trump did not fully condemn these forces. Yet, push come to shove, such conservatives will combine with the Fascists”¦ democracy be damned. This too, we know from history. Children ask: What happened to that nice man who was our president? Yet, some “leftists” [...]
Two Harveys Among Us
By Peter Molenaar Almost everyone in the Phillips Community knows something about Hurricane Harvey and associates. Not as many are acquainted with Harvey Winje, editor of the Alley Newspaper. So sad. Truth to tell, Harvey (the hurricane) is not a totally bad sort of being. Actually, Mother Earth deploys hurricanes to flush excess heat from her oceans into outer space. As is revealed in great beds of fossils, this was a common practice in olden times. However, it is no longer the methane of dinosaur farts which confines Sun”'s rays to our atmosphere, rather it is the burning of fossil fuels. So in the recent teaching moment, H. Harvey posed some questions: 1.) How much energy will it take to create the infrastructure for a post-fossil-fuel economy? 2.) How might we mitigate ongoing damage in the process? 3.) Will the pivot from coal to natural gas slow global warming? 4.) Are market forces combined with the profit motive impeding necessary [...]
