i like having political discussions with amado, who is 4. sometimes they are tricky. we've talked about the police, for example, a zillion times. he knows they hurt & kill people. but he also really likes vehicles & uniforms & sirens, which complicates things. in general, though, he really impresses me with his political analysis. a few months ago i was talking to him on the phone, telling him about my day and that i had been at this mission anti-displacement coalition event. land use issues are pretty easy to talk about with kids. i told him, we want them to make this parking lot into housing for poor families and a community center. i asked him what he thought, and he said he thought it was a good idea.
then there was a pause in the conversation and then he added:
y tambien queremos que cierren todas las cárceles and also we want them to close all the jails ...
y tambien queremos que todos los policias se vayan muy muy lejos and also we want all the police to go far away ... y tambien queremos libertad and also we want freedom ...
verdad, nina? right, nina?
umm... sí! that about sums it up.
it's a delicate operation, raising leftist children. you want to encourage their critical thinking skills, and at the same time you want them to develop a deep sense of what we believe and why. but you can't tell them what to believe, unless you want to see them end up like one of those ex-red diaper babies who is now an adult reactionary or self-indulgent pain in the ass.
cultivating little roquer@s, and proper appreciation of good music in general, is kind of similar i think. just enough, not too much. they'll come along :) i remember when amado was a baby, we were in the car and fabulosos cadillacs revolution rock was playing. i turned around to say something to him and found him with his arms in the air dancing around in the back seat. no encouragement needed. eso!
foto: the other day amado came downstairs to ask for help with his hair, out of the blue, to make it "parado". oh man, i love this kind of tia responsibility!
ok, so here are a few songs for nayahuari, la baby cumbiambera, & mayari, amado's new little sister (born november 18th!), the two littlest roqueras (and future izquierdistas) de la familia rsf... to get them off to a good start!
amado likes these, as well as classical music (??!) and the star wars soundtrack.
que calor : pibes chorros
ooh child : nina simone (original the 5 stairsteps)
the memorial service for larry lattimore was this past saturday afternoon. it was a beautiful & fitting tribute for a man like that, a working class hero, a beloved compañero. held at grace tabernacle in the bayview, the last surviving black neighborhood in san francisco, the officiating pastor wore a keffiyeh around his shoulders, played the saxophone, and spoke of larry as a fierce warrior in the fight against the ruling class. at them marches in the street, he called, when larry would roar, you just knew the enemy was backing up! ..amen! people called back. they talked about the times larry put himself in front of the police line, the way he would watch out for people's kids, his love for the grito ¡si se puede!, his relentless fight for a living wage for all workers.
larry was a lead member at p.o.w.e.r./people organized to win employment rights for the better part of 11 years. he was a workfare worker who organized fellow g.a. recipients to fight for their rights as low-wage laborers. he confronted evil real estate developers trying to steal the bayview from its residents. he stood with immigrant women workers against state repression & poor working conditions. he was the campaign co-director of the sf living wage coalition which won for san francisco the 2nd highest minimum wage in the entire united states.
larry is loved. he is missed.¡larry vive vive! ¡la lucha sigue sigue!
**
these songs are from the mixed cd that was given as a recuerdo at the memorial...
move on up : curtis mayfield
for god's sake (give more power to the people) : the chi-lites
damas y caballeros: the lovely... the incomparable... ms. nina simone!!
revolution : nina simone
aahh, just beautiful, ms. nina...
and this from her interview in the french-made filmnina simone : la legende : ...i could sing something to help my people. and that became the mainstay of my life, that became most important to me ... civil rights movement music. if i'd had my way, i'd a been a killer, ok? that's true. i would've had guns and i would've gone to the south and i would've gave 'em violence for violence, shotgun for shotgun, if i'd had my way. but my husband told me i didn't know anything about guns, and he refused to teach me, and the only thing i had was music...
**
backlash blues : nina simone
mr. backlash, mr. backlash just who do think i am you raise my taxes, freeze my wages and send my son to vietnam
you give me second class houses and second class schools do you think that alla colored folks are just second class fools mr. backlash, i'm gonna leave you with the backlash blues
when i try to find a job to earn a little cash all you got to offer is your mean old white backlash but the world is big big and bright and round and it's full of folks like me who are black, yellow, beige and brown mr. backlash, i'm gonna leave you with the backlash blues
mr. backlash, mr. backlash just what do you think i got to lose i'm gonna leave you with the backlash blues you're the one will have the blues not me, just wait and see
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