Red Emma's Poetry Korner (January 2000)

From Dissent 41

“It is the soldier, not the reporter, who has given us freedom of the press. It is the soldier, not the poet, who has given us freedom of speech. It is the soldier, not the campus organizer, who has given us the freedom to demonstrate. It is the soldier, who salutes the flag, who serves beneath the flag and whose coffin is draped by the flag, who allows the protester to burn the flag.”

—“A Poem to a Soldier” by Father Dennis Edward O’Brien. U.S. Marine Corps Chaplain

 (Read at the Dec. 13 Board meeting.) 

     The assault on the body politic comprises, to put it militarily, a two-pronged strategy. Its onslaught on spirit is often as fierce as on the intellect and occasionally, as above, it is a simultaneous offensive, sublime in its total(itar)ity. 

     The above poem (sic), offered in strict tones by a presumed member of the Sons of the Revolution (a solemn daughter, actually), the local citizen PR militia, which bivouacked briefly at a recent SOCCCD Board Meeting, leaves even this hardened political reporter breathless. And keep in mind that Red has experienced actual personal conversations with Steve Frogue (alum, USMC) and Lee Walker, himself a member of the Fife and Dumb Corps which entertained the Board of Trustees that night. 

     Where to begin? As an educator and writer, I’ll resist the urge to explicate this bit of martialistic Ann Landersite barber shop inspiration. Its many errors speak for themselves, and loudly: single cause fallacy, either/or fallacy, cause/effect incongruity, ahistoricity, illogic, and so on. 

     Just one observation: As much as Red Emma opposes militarism and the military and soldiering generally, it’s important to note the good father’s utter contempt for the actual soldier, who is reduced, like the reporter, poet, and organizer, to a sad cartoon. Can’t soldiers also be poets, organizers, or reporters? No, not in the unvivid and fabulously one-dimensional civilian vs. soldier world of Padre Dennis, U.S.M.C. 

     Frankly, this kind of writing gives war a bad name. That the War Boosters show up at public education venues at SOCCCD Board meetings speaks both to their contempt for intellect and their commitment to a right-wing esprit de corps or, in this case, esprit de corpses. They toss up the moldering cadavers of victims of patriotic state terror in an attempt to intimidate the rest of us. Francis Scott Key. George Washington’s teeth. Paul Revere’s horse. This works in South Orange County. 

     Watch the Cox Communications video and be amazed: A group of off-key Minutemen staggers around the board chambers. Everybody pledges allegiance to Old Gory. An illiterate student reads a high school style chronology of George’s life: Born. Killed others. Elected President. Became a god. Dorothy basks in the Burt Parks role. Marcia pulls a bugle out of her ear. Drummer Lee nearly trips over the camera tripod. Embarrassed, frightened, or reduced perhaps to stunned disbelief, board members who might otherwise resist or object cannot, presumably for fear of being put in stocks, tarred and feathered—or otherwise politically attacked—by this minority of bunting-clad necrophiliacs. 

     Of course, the spectacle pretends to be about the idea that foreign powers might take over and deprive Orange County citizens of our sacred rights. A modest perusal of the record of recent U.S. wars indicates that none in the last 50 years has been anything other than a war of empire. Even WWII is today seen as something less than the “good war” once imagined by many. 

     But that’s not the point, is it? The point is to consolidate political power by wrapping everybody up in the flag, a tried and true strategy. 

     Here, then, is a modest corrective to the sadistic, cloying and repugnant versification of the Sons of Revolution and their dimwit spiritual leader. It’s a real-life song sung by real-life (later, real dead) British soldiers marching to their doom during World War I. You can hear it performed on CD by Red’s favorite band, Chumbawamba, a musical cooperative with perhaps a more realistic assessment of the war Game.

Hanging on the Old Barbed Wire

If you want to find the General, I know where he is 

He’s pinning another medal on his chest. 

I saw him pinning another medal on his chest 

If you want to find the Colonel, I know where he is. 

He’s sitting in comfort, stuffing his bloody gut. 

I saw him, I saw him, sitting in comfort Stuffing his bloody gut 

If you want to find the Sergeant, I know where he is. 

He’s drinking all the company rum. 

I saw him, I saw him, drinking all the company rum. 

If you want to find the Private, I know where he is. 

He’s hanging on the old barbed wire. 

I saw him, I saw him, hanging on the old barbed wire.

     Finally, two poetic suggestions from Red. First, insist on Board pre-meeting ceremonies which more accurately reflect the values of most South County voters. Upcoming events which might merit acknowledgement by our elected education officials: 

Martin Luther King Day (January 17), 

Angela Davis’s birthday (January 26), 

Bob Marley’s birthday (February 6), 

Susan B. Anthony’s birthday (February 15), 

Women’s History Month (March), 

Cesar Chavez’s birthday (March 31). 

     You get the idea. 

     Speaking of Cesar Chavez (a United States Navy veteran!), somebody needs to ask the SOCCCD Board to weigh in on the current effort to make the birthday of this internationally recognized fighter for justice and peace a state holiday. A resolution from our school board could only help the campaign, headed by state senator Richard Polanco to pass Senate Bill (SB) 984. 

     Many local governments and school boards across the state have publicly backed the bill. An earlier measure was passed by the California Legislature but vetoed by—surprise!—former Gov. Pete Wilson. 

     Red Emma attended a weekend rally in Santa Ana supporting the effort and was impressed with a college president I like to call the anti-Mathur. Rancho Santiago College President Enriqueta Ramos is some kind of dream. She’s elegant, competent, and her roots are community-based, not corporate. 

     In short, she’s on the right side, not the far-right. 

     Second, check out PBS’s upcoming “P.O.V.” airing of “Regret to Inform,” the documentary story of a recent U.S. war widow whose pilgrimage to Viet Nam explores the real meaning of organized state violence. 

     Peace. —RE

Andrew Tonkovich