Robert Kennedy was a great man, as was Martin King Jr. and all those other famous guys. I want to talk about one of the “ordinary people” who helped my country in its progress.
Mario Savio left us almost exactly nine years ago. I remember watching him as a young girl in upstate New York when the Reagan-infested board of regents of the University of California moved to suppress civil rights and political activism on campus, and because of him, I was willing to put myself on the line at my own University. He was magnificent in his unpolished passion.
Mario was an inspiration that we were privileged to hear speak to us on our televisions. Those glory days of our youth in a free society have disappeared into the maw of corporate greed. But those of us who were inspired have not forgotten. By remembering his lessons we carry his spirit forward in America.
Internet Modern History Sourcebook tells us:
Savio is remembered for the words he spoke on Dec. 2, 1964, from Sproul Plaza in front of Berkeley’s main administration building, to a large crowd of protesters, many of whom took part in a sit-in inside the building and a campus strike.
“There is a time,” he said, “when the operation of the machine becomes so odious, makes you so sick at heart, that you can’t take part; and you’ve got to put your bodies upon the gears and upon the wheels, upon the levers, upon all the apparatus and you’ve got to make it stop. And you’ve got to indicate to the people who run it, to the people who own it, that unless you’re free, the machine will be prevented from working at all.”
The police arrested 800 of the protesters in what was the largest mass arrest in California history.
I believe that record will soon be broken because we have returned to that same point on the circle of our evolution. I’m remembering the spirit of Mario because the time has come for the people to rise up again. Maybe even by just repeating his words I can throw a little sand into the machine.