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Last Revised: June 1995

We didn't go out looking for all the "prisoners behind bars" stories that appear in this issue of the FREE PRESS but somehow they found their way to us. And I know you know this--it's only the tip of the iceburg!! My fear is that many "good people" will find them "depressing" and therefore won't read them. How easy it is to ignore the injustice in this world until it happens to you or one of yours. Please take the time and make the effort to let these few examples of injustice into your psyche and into your life. With very little effort you can make a difference--a big difference--to someone living their lives behind bars--think about it O.K.? Better yet, do something about it!

We all know the direction this country is going. You've heard it all before--money being taken from the frontend preventative programs-- schools, drug rehab centers, mental health programs, food and housing aid--and being put into more prisons--lock 'em up--problem solved. This is not a solution--this is punishment and it creates more of a problem not less. And it doesn't help to avoid the situation by not facing it. No need to get depressed!! Depression is anger turned inward.. Direct it outward where it belongs. Want an appropriate target?? Bohemian Grove will be happening in our community again in July. They'll be CREMATING CARE once again on July 15. And how do you feel about that?? Are you ready for the fact that this nations "leaders" stand around in red hooded robes and burn an effigy of "Dull Care" at the bottom of a 40 foot stone owl every year?? Hard to believe? We'll show you the picture. (Check out the Boho section of this web site.)

If I sound scattered and distracted it's because I had a whole litany of stuff I was going to write about: Robert McNamara's public turnaround about Vietnam, the sheriffs harassment at Round Valley Reservation in Covelo, the police harassment of my friend White Cloud Halconlobo Cuauhyotl Xochipillicueponi in Pinole (see article), our very successful Marcha por Justicia in early May from Healdsburg to Windsor (thanks to the U.F.W. and S.T.O.P.), the coming attack on Affirmative Action and the ongoing attack of Prop. 187 and our urgent need to organize within and in between our many communities. There are so many things going on all at once and I know it's not just me because I hear it from my friends--the everyday injustices they encounter out in the world and in their personal lives. So many little things that it's hard to let in the bigger things that are happening all around us but not necessarily to us. Better to keep that stuff at bay. Heaven forbid that we should let ourselves get depressed. It just wouldn't be fun anymore!! Don't worry--be happy!!

And then I hear from my grandkids that one of their friends hung himself from a tree in his fathers front yard in Sebastopol on a Sunday morning. They held the open casket funeral the following Wednesday and the young people of Graton gathered to say goodbye to Eli. People wonder out loud why he would do that? Shortly after I hear this news I open the paper to a picture of the newly instituted CHAIN GANGS in Alabama and it seems pretty obvious to me. If you are 18, about to go out into the world and are seeing it with any clarity then suicide ecomes one of your options. Not the only one of course, but increasingly one of the options of our young people. I sit down with my 16 year old grandson to talk about it and he reassures me that no way is he thinking along these lines.

So I feel relief but also wonder how many other kids are thinking along these lines. And what can we adults do to improve the situation so that this is not an option in the young American psyche? There are so many struggles around the world where the young people are trying to stay ALIVE!! Is this unique to us?

There are no easy answers but a couple of things come to mind. Get over your aversion to "being depressed"! We can't afford for you to be over in the corner contemplating your navel while Rome burns. Take that depression and turn it outward into some rightous anger that will get you off your butt so you can be part of the solution. Your time, money and energy are desperately needed. Do something to make a difference. Kids learn by example. If they see you at least trying to chew away at the beast, they'll know you still have hope and so will they.

Do it for Eli! Do it NOW! Please

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