22 March 2003
Bruce JacksonWhy protest? Why write?
Most email I get at Buffalo Report is from readers suggesting links they think might be of interest or people submitting articles or ideas for articles. A few are from morons saying things like "If you don't like this country go back where you came from!" If I didn't think it might encourage them to correspond further, I would ask what, exactly, would be accomplished by my moving from Buffalo back to Brooklyn? A few have told me that if I'm not willing to fight for my country I should stop demeaning patriots who are. I don't know that I've ever demeaned a patriot willing to fight for his country, but I am convinced that standing up for the Bill of Rights and the other principles upon which this country was founded—in a demonstration, a letter or petition to an elected official, or by writing something that might bring light to the apparently benighted—is as patriotic as strapping on a weapon or a bunch of things that blow up and going where they tell you. Anyway, I did that when, as a kid, I spent three years in the U.S. Marine Corps. I never got shot at, a piece of good fortune for which I remain enormously grateful to this day.
Back to the email. I answer just about everything that comes in except, as I said, people I don't want ever to hear from again who write things that do not invoke ordinary epistolary politeness. Hardly any of the exchanges would interest you. But I thought this one—a March 22 email from a Buffalo resident who asks two very good questions and my brief attempt at an answer—might.
He wrote:
Mr. Jackson,
Two things:
1. Everyone in this beautiful country has a voice and a choice. I don't agree with you most of the time but I respect your point of view. What are you attempting to accomplish with all of these anti-war protests? What is your goal?
2. Since you dislike so many of the "gutless" Common Council members, why don't you run for a seat?
Thank you very much.
I responded:
Dear Mr. _________:
Two good questions.
The first I can only begin to answer; the second I can answer completely.
I can't speak for everyone else, but I hope to accomplish two things when I take part in an anti-war protest. One is to indicate to people who might not have given the matter any or much thought that there are many of us who disagree with the policy and path our government has taken and seems likely to continue to take. With the Vietnam war, we who opposed it were at first a minority and in time we became the majority and Nixon left the war—with almost exactly the terms he'd been offered his first day in the White House. As a result of the great public opposition that developed to the Vietnam war, our government has been far more cautious about involving itself in long-term land wars between two parties in distant countries. So the protest had an educational effect.
Equally important is bearing witness, the simple fact of standing with others and saying, "We think this is wrong." Even if no one listens, it is important to name a wrong when you see it.
As for running for Common Council, I have no temperament for elective politics and I would be bad at it. When someone does something really stupid or immoral or unethical I have a difficult time standing by in silence, and a lot of politics seems to be doing exactly that. I wouldn't attempt to repair the dents in my car either, but I see nothing wrong in saying that the shop that did it performed well or badly and I feel I'm qualified to say to other people "They do good work" or "They do shoddy work." We all do what we can do. I'm a schoolteacher and a writer. So that's what I do. Furthermore, I think those Common Council jobs should go to young men and women so people who do well in them can have the opportunity to move up to more responsible positions, just as Byron Brown recently did. At 66, I'm far too old to play in that arena, but I see no reason I can't yell from the sidelines, or even coach.
Bruce Jackson
Copyright 2003 by Buffalo Report, Inc.