anyone recall the Peekskill riots of 1949?

[OneBlueSky]

on today's MetaFilter there's a great link to Howard Fast's account of this incident . . . I remember Pete telling the story of how he and his family had to escape in a car while being pelted by rocks . . . the triggering event was the appearance by Paul Robeson, and Fast's narrative is a good first-person account of what it was like to be there . . . and a warning of the kind of thing that could happen if the left-right split in this country gets any more vile than it already is . . . sometimes it's important to look to the past for lessons about the present and the future . . . it's also just an fascinating read for those who may be interested in some important left-wing lore . . .

http://www.english.upenn.edu/~afilreis/50s/peekskill.html

[OneBlueSky]

1. this reminded me of another incident that I actually witnessed . . .

It was 1970, and the Hudson River sloop CLEARWATER was in her second year as an early environmental symbol designed to bring people down to the shore to experience the river as an environmental and recreational resource and, hopefully, grow to love it again. I was working with the organization at the time, and we had scheduled a series of concerts by the Hudson Valley Philharmonic, one of which was in Cold Spring, New York, where we had the Hudson River Sloop Restoration (HRSR) office. We had a pretty good relationship with the village, and no trouble at all whenever the CLEARWATER docked near the beautiful gazebo at the foot of Main Street. On this particular night, the Philharmonic had brought in a portable stage (sponsored by Schlitz beer, believe it or not), and were prepared to play a fairly traditional program of standards and light classical stuff. The audience was about 300 and all over the lot, from young kids to senior citizens with their lawn chairs.

Now Pete Seeger, who was the guiding light of the project, lived one town away in Beacon, and wasn't even there that night. Nevertheless, some right-wingers decided it would be a good idea to disrupt the proceedings, and much to our suprise we looked up and saw this band of hard hats marching down Main Street, waving American flags and yelling things like "Seeger go home!" The sloop was docked near the gazebo, and when the mob arrived, they started pelting her with rocks and bottles, forcing the crew to take cover and dodge the projectiles. The incident was turning really ugly until the Philharmonic's conductor (whose name I unfortunatley can't remember) came up with a brilliant idea. As I watched, he started waving his index finger to the musicians, indicating that they should get ready to play their song #1 -- the National Anthem.

As they began to play the Star Spangled Banner, the mob at first looked confused, but then they all stood at attention, either saluting or placing their hands over their hearts. I saw my chance, ran down to the dock, and told the captain to cast off and get the boat our of range of these crazies pronto. By the time the last note sounded, the CLEARWATER was safely in the middle of the river, the state police had arrived to restore order, and Pete (who they had called) had been convinced to stay home, though he badly wanted to run on down and confront these idiots.

With no target either in the form of the CLEARWATER or Pete, the demonstrators started ambling back up Main Street, and the concert went on as planned. An ugly incident that could have gotten a lot uglier was defused by the quick thinking of the conductor, the quick arrival of the cops, and Pete's very wise decision to stay away.

And a good time was had by all . . . :)

[KoKo]

2. One Blue, enjoyed your story about "Clearwater." I attended one of those

"Save the Hudson" concerts and my husband is from that area. It was later than 1970, but I remember how bad those times could get. Your story is good for us to read to keep a perspective that the "freep types" have always been around, and not be discouraged.

[Lars39]

3. I just learned of this a while back.

Very disturbing, and it did make me think of strategy and what might possibly be ahead.