© Written and edited - April 22nd, 2017 - 12:14 pm to 1:30 pm
Where are You Going? That's Robby Meeropole
I don't remember my lived experience of the details. I think Paul and/or others talked about finishing the march that was interrupted on November 3rd several months before anticipating the 25th anniversary.
I remember, as we finished marching and stood in the Governmental Plaza to hear speakers. People might have started leaving a little bit towards the end of the last speakers.
But, I was really struck when Robby Meeropole was speaking. While there are alot of differences in the details of our journeys or lives, there's something about him and his experiences that resonated with me, some common elements in our human experiences. Those elements might be shared experiences as it related to communism, losing loved ones (parents, stepparents) in the context of communism, social justice. Also, some support with people of like mind, people around us (his parents and others) my stepfather, mother, CWP 5, and others, being, dehumanized and demonized by a dominant narrative and actions in the legal system and media. I didn't verbalize in that moment. I'm only able to verbalize it consciously now, April 22nd, 2017 at 1:03 pm.
But I think that I had those thoughts subconsciously and the thoughts were fleeting. At one point when Robby Meeropole was talking, a think a few minutes or so after he started talking, I noticed people around me leaving the march.
"Where are you going? That's Robby Meeropole." I thought. "He has alot to teach us." I thought to myself. I think one of the things that resonated with me is not just our past, but seeing an example of a future with shared experiences, perspectives, etc. I know that we're not carbon copies, but I felt and feel that there might be ways of being that he's experienced himself and with others, that I can learn from.
And while I like to learn from anywhere, there were some aspects of Robby Meeropole and his life that resonated with me and still does.
But my next and immediate thought after wondering where people are going and why they're leaving was, "What a beautiful sight. To see people walking away casually at their own pace." Because, I reflected on that moment, finishing the march 25 years after it was interrupted by guns and violence that led to death, injuries, and some wounds that would continue for at least 25 years then, 37 now and counting.
The sight of seeing people fade away at their own pace, by their own decisions about their lives. And not by other people's deathly decisions that will impact their lives and the lives around them forever.
People fading away and not being interrupted by death and violence.
That's so beautiful.