As I think about the up-coming 40th (!!) anniversary of the occupation and arrests at Columbia University, in late April, 1968, where I was a student and arrested (along with 711 others) for occupying the university buildings against the wishes of the Administration, I recently read a book that Mark Rudd gave me, Letters From Young Activists, edited by Berger, Boudin and Farrow.  I was especially struck by one young letter writer, Nilda Laguer, who writes “Dear Movement….Truth is, I am unsafe with you.  …now I know that rallies and protests and boycotts and grants and programs and trainings and media packets and press conferences and campaigns can’t win anything if we don’t know how to talk to each other and how to trust each other”  I was so touched by her eloquence and the basic point she was making; that if this work of social justice is going to amount to much, as we do it, we need to be kind and respectful of each other.  More and more this simple truth seeps out and I was so glad to see it in print by someone who came to understand much earlier in her life than I have.

The personal story of Gerardo Reyes Chavez, of the Coalition of Immokalee Workers, a farmworker organization, also struck me with the stark truth of where he came from and what he and his Coalition had accomplished.  The book itself might be uneven in its eloquence, but the overall punch is worthwhile.  ...   more »