Some of us can recall the day the music died with Buddy Holly’s demise.

Many of us remember the day Dr. King gave us a dream,

but we were shocked the day much hope died with JFK.

Many of us lived through that horrible year of 1968 –

the Tet Offensive, James Earl Ray, Sirhan Sirhan.

Then there were four dead in Ohio.

And Watergate.

And Gerald Ford’s pardoning.

But we did get Brown v. Board,

the Civil Rights Act,

Roe v. Wade,

the Clean Water Act,

and the EPA.

And we got Whitey on the Moon.

And redlining.

Harlem and Watts.

Detroit and Newark.

Urban renewal, but at what cost.

And yet another rebirth of the Klan.

The backlash to our “progress” then

was the rise of Reagan, supply-side economics,

deregulation and much lower taxes for the rich.

Union busting and the return of monopolies.

Iran-Contra and the S&L crisis.

Massive debt and the Lebanon bombing.

But we could invade Grenada.

And Panama.

And of course spark riots in LA.

Soon we saw economic prosperity though,

a budget surplus,

and the Brady Bill.

Then the Supremes stole an election,

and in the 21st we just wash and rinse and repeat again.

Gene Orr

Kline