Show Student Page 12 Life Monthly Review izirzrzrr— Point of vie w continued Illustration by Richard Clawson The gun culture is obviously not about to change and one of the genuine miracles 1960's was that so few were armed Commission Com- mission a Kerner Commission an Eisenhower Commission and of the violent demon-strator- McCone a Commission numerous volumes exist that document and attempt to explain historical and contemporary Scranton a s American violence Apparently there is no end in sight One conclusion is blatantly obvious: the 1960's were an exAnyone cessively violent-decawho habitually watched the news or read the newspapers witnessed media coverage of the Whitman Speck and' Manson mass' mur-- ‘ ders The political assassinations of John F Kennedy Medger de CLOTHING FOR THE INDIVIDUAL" Evers Malcolm Lincoln Rockwell p©(LP OUST Arrow Layered Look Sweater Shirts What started on skis at St Moritz has become The sporty layered look Exemplified by these Arrow sweater shirts in the new deep spice tones in club prints checks and discreet stripes Decton Perma-Iro- n Arrow Getaway all-Ameri- Button-Dow- n the sweater shirt George Martin Luther King and Robert F Kennedy dramatically demonstrated the violence of the decade Then there was the futile expensive insane war and its refusal to go away Night after night millions watched actual humans be killed in a faraway land Fifty thousand Americans and hundred of thousands Vietnamese civilians were dead and suddenly the realization hit even before My Lai that defenseless victims were being killed by American bombers and soldiers By the end of the decade society was no longer shrugging and saying "So What?" but shaking and threatening to tear asunder The Kennedy and Johnson concept of the world and truth betrayed us in Indo-Chin- Arrow-- X a Through all protest of the of the violent 1960's the per- vading issues were human rights and the Vietnam war Billions of dollars expended and thousands of lives lost in Southeast Asia could have been better used in urban ghettos on rural farms and in ecological rehabilitation to Opposition the war tied black militants ideologically to student radicals for a brief period but 1969 witnessed the beginning of the end for organized few moratoriums were held but anarchy won out protest A Every day more news of meaningless terrorism and was reported Explosions obliterated university buildings banks ROTC facilities and public structures Even the bomb manufacturers destroyed themselves on occasion Black revolutionaries lured police into traps and shot them Violence was as obvious as ever but the organizations were gone and so was the rationalization The Vietself-destructi- nam war continued urban decay increased the Panthers split SDS fragmented and the ship of state continued on its way Protesters must be given some credit for American withdrawal from Vietnam but as Cambodia and air escalation indicate half loaves suffice for many Blacks and students had resorted to violence as a last frustrated resort but violence designed to reform a violent society did not succeed The numerous commissions reported and enunciated recommendations The reports were not read and the recommendations were not followed But America did learn something about how violent America really is According to the Natimal Commission of the Causes and Prevention of Violence between 1963 and 1968 22 million Americans were involved in either a political demonstration a student protest or an urban racial riot Less than 250 were killed and most of those were killed by the government control agencies and over 70000 were arrested During that same period 53200 Americans were murdered and over 11 million were victims of aggravated assault From 1962 to 1968 the annual and purchase of rifles hand-gun- s shotguns more than doubled and Continued |