Pass It On

We went to see the new movie about John Kerry's life and times tonight, after first having the pleasure of meeting and hearing Max Cleland speak at Kerry HQ in Albuquerque. Sen. Cleland provided alot of moving commentary during "Going Upriver: The Long War of John Kerry" and he was equally impressive face to face.

Since I was in college during the pivotal year of 1968 and beyond, watching the incredible footage from that era was both gut-wrenching and inspiring. It brought me right back to how heroically so many of us viewed Kerry back then, testifying about the horrors of a war gone mad and meaningless. It is hard to reconstruct now just how courageous it was back then for anyone to speak up and tell the truth, let alone veterans.

As we know, the battles continue today between those who owned up to the realities and errors of the Viet Nam war and those who clung to stubborn myths of glory that had clearly been undermined by facts on the ground. Here again is John Kerry being muddied by the manufactured distortions of the Nixon creation that is John O'Neill. It's still a struggle between those who found healing and a thirst for peace by absorbing the truths of Viet Nam and those who are still seeking scapegoats thirty-some years later because they've never learned the lessons or admitted the horrors and their roles in it.

The bullying of cowards continues and grows. As I was writing this post I heard a car door open, footsteps and shuffling, and then a car door slamming out front. It sounded suspicious so we went out and, sure enough, our two Kerry signs were gone. All of a sudden, here comes a vehicle that stops across the street in front of a neighbor's Kerry sign and out pops some guy. All we had to do was yell, "hey don't take that sign" and the chicken raced off as fast as he could floor the thing. These types are always so brave.

Anyway, I hope you'll take the time to see "Going Upriver," get a DVD and share it with everyone you can. A new site called KeepItGoing.org is about continuing the conversation inspired by the movie, and making it easy to pass it on. And if you'd like to read the testimony of the Winter Soldiers shown in the film, whose views Kerry represented at the Senate hearing, go here.

(Poster of My Lai Massacre from The Sixties Project's collection of political posters. Click the image for a larger version.)