Pete, Bruce, Beyonce and Obama: the Changing of the Guard

There they are: two of the cultural icons of my political life.  Pete Seeger, close to 90, peer and colleague of Woody Guthrie, creator of We Shall Overcome and Turn Turn Turn, of Abiyoyo and Sam the Whaler, leader of The Almanac Singers and the Weavers.  If there was a civil rights rally or a labor rally or an anti-war rally, he was there. 

Beside him, Bruce Springsteen, a modern troubadour whose songs speak for many Americans whose opinions are never sought, whose voices are seldom heard.

As they stood together at the Lincoln Memorial in celebration of the Inauguration of Barack Obama, they represented, to me, all that I had believed and tried to help bring into being.  To many, though, they were "the ultimate in subtly old-left populism."  Speaking about the concert early Sunday before it began, I kept talking about Bruce.  A younger friend gently suggested that he was probably not the day's headliner.  That would be Beyonce Knowles, she said.  I'm sure she's right. 

As one who was present the last time "the torch was passed to a new generation;" as a strongly defined Baby Boomer, it's painful to hear anchormen celebrate the fact that "there will never be another Baby Boom President."  It' s not that I mind the fact of that; it's just painful that it seems to be something to celebrate.  So many of us have tried so to be productive agents of change, have spent our lives working either full or part of the time to see that our country offers more to the least powerful, demands quality education, justice and maybe, even peace.  So to hear Joe Scarborough revel in the fact that "16 horrible years of baby boomer presidents is over" really hurts.  All my adult life we've been tarred by the brush of the least attractive of us while the work of the rest of us went unnoticed.  For most campaigns, as I've written before, we were the secret weapon of the right.

So as exciting as all this is, especially for one who has supported Obama for so long, it's also bittersweet because I feel the shadow of the disdain in which so many of us are held.  I really don't know how to respond.  If I were to try, it might be by offering some of the words to Si Kahn's They All Sang Bread and Roses.  It's better with the music, but it does the job.

They All Sang "Bread and Roses (Si Kahn, 1989, 1991)

The more I study history,

The more I seem to find

That in every generation

There are times just like that time

When folks like you and me who thought

That they were all alone

Within this honored movement

Found a home.

 

And 'though each generation fears

That it will be the last,

Our presence here is witness

To the power of the past.

And just as we have drawn our strength

From those who now are gone,

Younger hands will take our work

And carry on.

Comments

[JP]

@ CosetTheTable -

16 Years ago, I was 14, in high school, connected to the internet and reading the WSJ and Boston Globe.

I watched Somalia and Yugoslavia unfold on national TV. I watched reports of cruise missiles shot into god-knows-where in order to detract media time from local scandal.

People, especially younger people have a simply staggering amount of access to information, as compared to Baby Boomers/Jones/X. It's a progression as communications technology improved during the cold war.

Scarborough, according to his Wikipedia Page, was born in 1963. That'd make him 46 now and 30 in 1993 (the first year of Baby Boomer misguidance).

For a generation that believed they were fully aware adults at 17-18-19, you certainly do sound like an ageist. In fact, you probably sound like your parents.

[this view from there]

I agree with you about the boomer bashing. People have been way cruel toward Boomers. Boomers did a lot of good for the country, and I don't think their moment is over. We could still have another Boomer President in the future. Even if Obama is President until 2016, a Boomer born in, say, 1950, would be 66 then...certainly not too young to be Prez.

[this view from there]

Well-written post. Relevantly, as many nationally influential voices have repeatedly noted, Obama is part of Generation Jones, born 1954-1965, between the Boomers and Generation X. Google Generation Jones, and you'll see it’s gotten a lot of media attention, and many top commentators from many top publications and networks (New York Times, Time magazine, NBC, Newsweek, ABC, etc.) are specifically referring to Obama, born in 1961, as part of Generation Jones.

[CosetTheTable]

... I'm not sure that I would take something Joe Scarborough said personally. While I take most of what's said by the media (even the media I like!) with a grain of salt, I take JS with a big chunk of salt.

Honestly, it's been 16 years. How old was he 16 years ago? What kind of perspective can he have on this one????