During my stint in the Force, the Civil Rights Movement had perpetuated into full swing. Publicized sit-ins throughout the South garnered enough motivation to cause substantial numbers of folks from various social and cultural persuasions, to sympathize and participate in the cause for racial equality. A cavernous split in how to achieve this struggle occurred between Martin Luther King, Jr. and Malcolm X–both of who were assassinated in years to come. Nevertheless, the efforts of these two men were not in vain; since shortly after my discharge, job opportunities opened up for blacks. I began believing in a saying stated by my father that I use to vehemently deny: “Blacks in the South will one day be better off than blacks in the North.” In other words, as a big city boy from the north, I wasn’t about to relinquish my belief that southerners will remain inferior when it pertains to social emancipation for blacks.
Anti Vietnam War protesters
The weekend after the assassination, I and my partner Rob, had already mentally slipped into the evolving movement of the anti-establishment society. While we were partying up in Harlem, someone reminded us of a saying by comedian Moms Mabely. She had stated the following joke from one of her albums: “They say you should always say something good about the dead. . . . He’s dead–good.” We applied this to Kennedy getting whacked. Thinking in retrospect, I regret having said that.
In the meantime, the Haight-Ashbury district of San Francisco was becoming the center for the hippie culture, and a focal point of the Counterculture Movement. As the decade of the ’70s approached, numerous cults flourished due to the influence of religion, sex and drugs. Then midway through the decade, I became involved with anti-cult Christian ministries in the Bay Area, as will be detailed in later chapters.
The following is a YouTube video of The End by The Doors – prime movers and shakers of the counterculture movement, done by ThaG0DFATHER (3:50 mins):
Yeah, we may never really know the real truth about Kennedy’s assassination. However, I saw a documentary titled, “Loose Change,” that gave me a brand new perspective. The movie should be on video.
Paul, I get the following message when I attempt to view the movie on Youtube: “This video contains content from NBC Universal, who has blocked it on copyright grounds.”
You should be able to find it on Netflix.