I heard, on NPR a couple of weeks ago, a marine discussing the anti-war movement...or rather, the lack of one. The obvious comparison that he made was to the protests of the Vietnam war. He said that Americans don't care enough if they don't have skin in the game.
I thought: "well, I don't have skin in the game, and I have been to a few protests, and they were sizable"
That was before the Latino-rights movement took my breath away and showed me how wrong I was.
People totalling in the millions walked off their jobs and out of school for an uncle, cousin, friend or mother. For several days this went on. In my own small town the high school students left school and convinced the city council and mayor to draft a resolution in solidarity with the protesters to be taken to Washington DC.
Prior to the anti Vietnam War protests was the civil rights movement. In the late 60s Martin Luther King Jr. expanded his mission to include poverty and the war. He toured around the country on these issues.
So did the civil rights movement influence the people's movement against the Vietnam war? You bet. Will the Latino-rights movement influence movement against the Iraqi war?
I sincerely hope so.
Otherwise it is our sham