march18|40 years

40 years
(urgency | draft 3)



“Youth, Identity, Power”
Munoz speaks of the white New Left, the
intentional exclusion of “nonwhite youth”

let’s be real
we are people
people of Africa, Asia and the Americas
people of struggle
of resistance
of self determination
of unyielding circumstance

we are people of color

we were the clenched fists, the
pavement pounding feet that violently awakened the 60’s
they say
only white left-minded liberals got down with Free Speech
they say
we were too radically adolescent and rebellious, too
ethnocentric and reformist
This, was the people’s revolution
Although, the people’s revolution
was not really the people’s revolution

40 years to this day
the 60’s throwback liberated minds onto Sproul
the revolution resurfaces with a new pulse
that Thursday afternoon we gathered
spray painted yellow shirts and armbands
sweatshop free from American apparel
yellow flags and signs that spoke of lies
and deception
and empty rhetoric
the third world was ready
ready to
fuck shit up
ready to
break shit down

we were Mario Savio
we were the hunger strikers
we cussed our heart’s frustrations onto deaf ears
we say
third world college becomes Ethnic Studies, underfunded
we say
Amerikan Cultures, watered down
we say
Multicultural Center, just a room

two hours of unbroken solidarity
Our similarities built coalitions
Our voices retold histories
Our presence became known