At 10:50pm on this day in 1980, John Lennon was shot to death by Mark David Chapman outside The Dakota in New York City.
As always, this day will be marked with memorials at Strawberry Fields in Central Park and outside the Capitol Records building in Hollywood.
He lived in another time, but one that was not so very different from our own.
In 1969, Richard Nixon took the oath of office as President of the United States. One of his campaign narratives was that he had a plan to end the Vietnam War. Then, as now, no such plan really existed. After taking office, Nixon came up with the "Nixon Doctrine" which was basically the same "as they stand up, we'll stand down" policy that Bush espouses today. It would be 6 more years and over 20,000 more dead before the fall of Saigon in 1975.
In 1969, John Lennon recorded "Give Peace a Chance" on a rented 8-track in a hotel room in Montreal, Canada. Many folk artists such as Dylan and Baez had played anti-war songs, but John Lennon was one of the first "pop" superstars to sing in protest to the Vietnam War. The song was unofficially adopted as the anthem of the anti-war movement over the next several years.
In 1971, Lennon made plans to tour the country during the 1972 Presidential election year in order to spread the message of the anti-war movement, as well as register 18-20 year olds who had recently been given the right to vote.
This did not make the Republicans happy. Strom Thurmond is credited with notifying the Nixon administration of Lennon's plans in a February, 1972 memo where he suggested that "deportation would be a strategic counter-measure". Nixon listened, and less than a month later the INS began deportation proceedings against Lennon. Lennon would live with the spectre of deportation, FBI surveillance, and wiretaps until the Ford administration.
John Lennon will be remembered as someone who decided to use his fame to further the cause of peace in the world. On this day we should remember him as we wage our own struggle for peace in our time.
Imagine
Imagine there's no Heaven
It's easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky
Imagine all the people
Living for today
Imagine there's no countries
It isn't hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace
You may say that I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will be as one
Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world
You may say that I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will live as one
And from the John Lennon Offical Website, an excerpt of a message posted to mark this day by his widow, Yoko Ono.
To the people who have also lost loved ones without cause: forgive us for having been unable to stop the tragedy. We pray for the wounds to heal.
To the soldiers of all countries and of all centuries, who were maimed for life, or who lost their lives: forgive us for our misjudgments and what happened as a result of them.
To the civilians who were maimed, or killed, or who lost their family members: forgive us for having been unable to prevent it.
To the people who have been abused and tortured: forgive us for having allowed it to happen.
Know that your loss is our loss.
Know that the physical and mental abuse you have endured will have a lingering effect on our society, and the world.
Know that the burden is ours.
::snip::
Let's wish strongly that one day we will be able to say that we healed ourselves, and by healing ourselves, we healed the world.
With deepest love,
Yoko Ono Lennon
New York City 2006
Amen, Yoko, Amen.
And thank you John, we will remember.
Peace.