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William Durso

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I am a seventy-one year-old retired musician who was politically educated by my father at ten years old. I was raised a traditional democrat which, in my estimation, no longer exists. I was twenty-one when President Kennedy was shot. My father, who loved him, died the previous year on November 19th, 1962. The coincidental anniversaries of their deaths have been indelibly tattooed on my soul. The hell and glory of the 60's sculpted my being forever. As a band leader, I used the bully pulpit of my position to rouse people to action regarding civil rights, the Viet Nam war and equality for women and government corruption in general. I marched, protested and participated in the struggle for these values along with the rest of the informed citizenry of the times. We got results. We helped stop the war and made progress in civil rights but only because we acted collectively, whereas today, with even more immediate danger facing us, ie: the destruction of the planet, the criminal politics of the right-wing, the re-emergence of blatant racism, the incredible greed of the corporate powers that be, the mind-boggling disparity of wealth between the richest and the suffering poor, the corrupt military and the illegal wars that have nothing to do with ''bringing democracy'' to the rest of the world but everything to do with the destabilization and occupation for the corporate takeover of the resources of the country du jour. And the destruction of the education system, robbing the ''black and the poorest among us of a chance to participate in the public discourse. Then there is the re-emergence of blatant racism because there is a black man in their White House. The corporate takeover of the land, the public bail-out of the criminal banksters of whom, not one executive even saw the inside of a courtroom. The continuing poisoning of our waters and air, the imperviousness of the oil and mining industries with no regard for the health of the populace. Then we have the spineless democrats who continue to appease the criminals instead of wringing their necks politically if they had the will to do so. Finally, the populace, unlike those of us who raged against the machine in the sixties, is busy with their noses buried in their smart-phones, reading about Justin Bieber's latest spoiled rich-kid antics or what's happening with the Kardashians or Miley Cyrus's ass. The political awareness in the present is non-existent. So, the steamroller comes and we stay in place until it flattens us with no resistance. I fear for the youngest among us; the defenseless, unaware children who will enter into the hell that has been allowed to flourish by our indifference. No matter to me - I'm at the far end of my life and glad of it. I've seen and met or seen some of the greatest artists and creative minds of my time; the likes of John Coltrane, Miles Davis, Bill Evans, Jimi Hendrix, Dizzy Gillespie, Joni Mitchell, Crosby, Stills and Nash and so many other geniuses who participated in the struggle and gave us so much of themselves. They were ambassadors of peace wherever they went. Their true (real) music spoke to our hearts and intellects. I am proud to have participated in that creative effort in some small way. I can only say that this is what formed me and it's what's left of me. I can go in peace, carrying those memories that the youth of today will never know. May the powers that be help us all.

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