[This] occurred in an affluent community, a community that cannot be written off, as "them." So when the young survivors began organizing and speaking out so articulately, they conveyed a stunning reality: This could happen anywhere. It could happen to your children. To their immense credit, the Parkland teens reached across the line to young people of color and created a movement that transcended any artificial division.

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My guest today is Bob Koehler, author, activist and peace journalist. Welcome back to OpEdNews, Bob.

Joan Brunwasser: I'm sure that many of our readers are not yet familiar with your most recent piece, Change is Coming. Let's bring them up to speed. What precipitated it?

Bob Koehler: Hi Joan; it's good to be back. What precipitated this week's column? Oh, the last 10,000 years or so of human violence ....More specifically, of course, it was the March for Our Lives events all across Planet Earth, including one here at Union Park in Chicago, which I attended. Like so many of us, I've been deeply stirred by the activism that has emerged in this country since the horrific Parkland shootings last month -- as though enough is finally enough, and energized young people are not going to let go of this issue till something changes. I want to give my voice over to this movement.

JB: So, what do you see that's different this time?

BK: Something is stirring up the national spirit. One analysis of "why now?" that makes a pragmatic point is that the Parkland murders occurred in an affluent community, that is, a community that cannot be dismissed, relegated to the margins of public compassion, or written off, ho hum, as "them." So when the young survivors of this latest mass shooting began organizing and speaking out so articulately, they conveyed a stunning reality: This could happen anywhere. It could happen to your children. To their immense credit, the Parkland teens reached across the line to young people of color and created a movement that transcended any artificial division. A true national movement emerged out of this coming together. With the ascension of Trump to the presidency and all the chaos and unconcealed racism that has come with it, an enormous number of people in this country had already been aware that our social structure is in danger of collapse. I believe, as young people across the country speak out about the violence they have personally endured, people just plain get it in a way they can no longer avoid facing.

JB: How does this tie in with the Women's Marches, both last year and this? Or doesn't it?

BK: I certainly think they're connected. Maybe the issues the two marches focus on differ superficially, but they both address violence, marginalization, dominance -- a problematic, unfair social structure. Both movements are about people uniting in compassion to create a world where everyone is safe and has a chance to live a full life. And the larger unity beyond that pulls in the movement to address climate change and create an environmentally sustainable society. I hope the next step is that such principles finally gain political traction.

JB: Tell us more about the march itself. You participated, correct? I haven't heard you so enthused since the huge Chicago Sanders rally in 2016. Am I misremembering?

BK: Thousands of people were jammed into tiny Union Park, two miles west of the Loop. The morning was bitter cold. I put on both a sweater and my winter jacket, and did not regret being dressed so protectively. I was near the back of the crowd, but the organizers presented the event on a giant screen, so I could see the speakers close up. One young person after another addressed the crowd with a personal story about violence in their lives. In between speakers and performers, including rap and poetry, the crowd would chant "vote them out!" The participants were diverse in age, race, gender and everything else. As I noted in my column, the creative diversity of the signs people held was extremely compelling. Some of them (which I enjoyed, of course) were borderline obscene, like "Truck Fump" and "FCK the NRA." This was completely the opposite of what I call "spectator culture," where the role of the American public is to watch TV, shop, cheer for their team and allow themselves to stay trapped in a mental cage defined by the media, making minor choices on trivial issues and avoiding all serious thought about the future or who we are as a society. The young speakers broke though this barrier with passion and anger.

JB: There's a tremendous amount of energy out there, largely fueled by outrage. We've all seen this before: Occupy, the Women's March and now. Are you worried this force will gradually dissipate into nothingness? How do we keep that from happening?

BK: It won't -- it can't -- dissipate into nothingness, though it can disappear from the media for a while. If that happens, if the size of crowds at major public events diminishes for a while, that's no reason to give up hope. The 2018 elections are coming up. "Grab 'em by the midterms," one of the signs at the Chicago rally proclaimed. Political involvement -- holding pols accountable -- may be the next major focus of this movement. There's always some way to stay involved. Write, talk, blog, communicate with your reps. Never give up hope. The terrible irony is that it takes the deaths of schoolkids to wake people up, to inflame and empower a movement for change. I hope people can feel empowered simply by the need to prevent the next killing. This keeps me focused.

JB: The NRA and its bought and paid for pols have been quite successfully oblivious, or shall I say impervious, up to now. How do we crack through that wall?

BK: I believe that wall is cracking right now. Continuous public pressure is crucial, of course. The pressure needs to be applied to mainstream Democrats, not just Republicans. Also, I believe the old saying "let your reach exceed your grasp" applies here. If we reach no farther than gun regulations, our grasp may be no more than such minor changes as an age limit to buy an AR-15 (you have to be over 21, or whatever). If we reach for global nuclear disarmament, a Department of Peace and " oh, unarmed policing " and I mean REACH, with all our hearts, then the smaller changes we actually get may be larger than what we currently can even imagine. We have to change the culture of violence!

JB: Agreed! Anything you'd like to add before we wrap this up?

BK: The world is changing. Change is inevitable. I'll turn it over to Martin Luther King: "The arc of the universe is long, but it bends toward justice." If we give up, we let the cynics win.

JB: Let's not! Thanks for chatting with me again, Bob. I always enjoy it.

***

Some of the pithy and powerful signs sighted by Bob at the March:

Am I next?

My outrage does not fit on this sign

Grab 'em by the mid-terms

Would you rather give up your guns or bury your children?

The only thing easier to buy than a gun is a GOP candidate

Grab 'em by the mid-terms

Bob's favorite:

I can vote in 10 years. Change is coming.

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Bob's website

Bob's book: Courage Grows Strong at the Wound (Xenos Press)

Some prior interviews with Bob:

Bob Koehler Weighs in on the Recount 12.2.2016

It's About Time for the Human Race To Grow Up 9.2.2016

Reaching Beyond the Candidates with Bob Koehler 8.4.2016

Bob Koehler, Peace Journalist, Feels the Bern 3.17.2016

Peace Journalist Bob Koehler on Presidential Politics and the American Soul 1.29.2016

Bob Koehler Reflects on Charleston Church Killings and the Larger Picture 6.24.2015

Journalist Robert C. Koehler says: Abolish the CIA!12.19.2014

Bob Koehler on Justice with Healing at Its Core 6.23.2014

Bob Koehler, Peace Journalist, on "Courage Grows Strong at the Wound" 12.17.2010

Getting the Scoop from Nationally Syndicated Journalist Bob Koehler 12.24.2009

Exclusive Interview with Syndicated Columnist Bob Koehler 12.9.2007

Authors Website: http://www.opednews.com/author/author79.html

Authors Bio:

Joan Brunwasser is a co-founder of Citizens for Election Reform (CER) which since 2005 existed for the sole purpose of raising the public awareness of the critical need for election reform. Our goal: to restore fair, accurate, transparent, secure elections where votes are cast in private and counted in public. Because the problems with electronic (computerized) voting systems include a lack of transparency and the ability to accurately check and authenticate the vote cast, these systems can alter election results and therefore are simply antithetical to democratic principles and functioning.



Since the pivotal 2004 Presidential election, Joan has come to see the connection between a broken election system, a dysfunctional, corporate media and a total lack of campaign finance reform. This has led her to enlarge the parameters of her writing to include interviews with whistle-blowers and articulate others who give a view quite different from that presented by the mainstream media. She also turns the spotlight on activists and ordinary folks who are striving to make a difference, to clean up and improve their corner of the world. By focusing on these intrepid individuals, she gives hope and inspiration to those who might otherwise be turned off and alienated. She also interviews people in the arts in all their variations - authors, journalists, filmmakers, actors, playwrights, and artists. Why? The bottom line: without art and inspiration, we lose one of the best parts of ourselves. And we're all in this together. If Joan can keep even one of her fellow citizens going another day, she considers her job well done.


When Joan hit one million page views, OEN Managing Editor, Meryl Ann Butler interviewed her, turning interviewer briefly into interviewee. Read the interview here.

While the news is often quite depressing, Joan nevertheless strives to maintain her mantra: "Grab life now in an exuberant embrace!"


Joan has been Election Integrity Editor for OpEdNews since December, 2005. Her articles also appear at Huffington Post, RepublicMedia.TV and Scoop.co.nz.