1968

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• 4/2/2023
  

  After April 4: The 1968 Rebellions and the Unfinished Work of Civil Rights in DC

  by Kyla Sommers

  As Congressional controversy over DC's criminal law reforms shows, there remains significant unfinished business in the longstanding quest of DC residents to govern their city on their own terms. 

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• SOURCE: Made By History at the Washington Post
  3/1/2021
  

  ‘The Trial of the Chicago 7’ is the Film to Help Us Understand 2021. Here’s Why

  by John Beckman and Theo Zenou

  Abbie Hoffman used his conspiracy trial as a guerrila theater stage, the peak of his career as an activist who used absurdity and wit to expose the hypocrisies of American society. 

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• SOURCE: Texas Monthly
  11/4/2020
  

  Olympic Protester Tommie Smith Reclaims His Legacy in a New Documentary

  "There’s a lot of people out there who lived the history I lived way back then. That history is not gone, and it will never die."

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• SOURCE: The Nation
  11/3/2020
  

  Aaron Sorkin’s Inane, Liberal History Lesson

  by Charlotte Rosen

  Aaron Sorkin's Chicago 7 film strips away the radical, anti-imperialist, anti-racist, anti-capitalist politics of the 1960s New Left to make the defendants heroic defenders of liberal democratic politics. 

• 
• SOURCE: Variety
  10/26/2020
  

  MC5’s Wayne Kramer Files Suit Over ‘No on Prop. 23’ Ad for Using 1968 Band Footage

  More bluntly, in keeping with the tone of MC5 songs like “Kick Out the Jams,” Kramer said, “Give me a break with your jive bulls—.”

• 
• SOURCE: The Nation
  10/21/2020
  

  Aaron Sorkin Sanitizes the Chicago 7

  by Jeet Heer

  According to Jeet Heer, "Sorkin takes many liberties with the facts, most of which are designed to make both the New Left and its conservative opponents more palatable to contemporary liberal viewers."

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• SOURCE: Miami Herald
  10/19/2020
  

  After Chicago 7 Trial, Mrs. Jean Fritz Helped Change the Course of History

  A look back at the Chicago 7 conspiracy trial through the eyes of one of the jurors reveals an America that was less completely polarized than one might think. 

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• SOURCE: Chicago Sun-Times
  10/14/2020
  

  How Aaron Sorkin Preserved the Disorder of Chicago’s 1969 Courtroom ‘Circus’

  by Richard Roeper

  Aaron Sorkin discusses the work of creating authenticity for his Netflix series on the conspiracy trial that followed the protests at the 1968 Democratic convention. This was complicated, as he admits, by being only vaguely aware of the case before Steven Spielberg suggested making a film about it.   

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• SOURCE: The Guardian
  10/13/2020
  

  'I Was Hit and Knocked to the Ground': The True Story of the Trial of the Chicago 7

  “There are some things that I wouldn’t agree with how Sorkin has characterised certain figures in the trial, myself included. But the impact of the movie is there and I certainly endorse and support it," says Chicago 7 defendant and antiwar activist Rennie Davis.

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• SOURCE: The New Republic
  9/4/2020
  

  The “Law and Order” Backlash Against Biden Was a Mirage

  Donald Trump's "law and order" campaign message has failed to gain significant traction, which should put lazy comparisons to 1968 out to pasture. 

• 
• 7/26/2020
  

  Will the Crisis Year of 2020 Turn Out Like 1968?

  by James Thornton Harris

  Trump’s attempt to use Nixon’s outdated playbook will fail. Our nation is younger, more diverse and better educated now. We know better. 

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• SOURCE: The Guardian
  6/16/2020
  

  Riots Helped Elect Nixon in 1968. Can Trump Benefit From Fear and Loathing Too?

  According to New York University historian Timothy Naftali, Trump's mimicry of Nixon's '68 campaign is "based upon a fundamental misreading of history."

• 
• SOURCE: Washington Post
  6/11/2020
  

  Stop Comparing Today's Protests to 1968

  by Thomas J. Sugrue

  The who, the where and the why of 2020 cannot be boiled down to a reprise of 1968, nor can we predict political responses by catching a glimpse of the past through our rearview mirrors.

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• SOURCE: Bloomberg
  6/7/2020
  

  2020 Is Not 1968. It May Be Worse.

  by Niall Ferguson

  The Hoover Institution Senior Fellow suggests that the current political climate--a reelection campaign amid multiple national crises--has both similarities and differences from 1968. 

• 
• SOURCE: NPR
  6/9/2020
  

  Trump v Nixon on Race: Why 2020 Isn't Quite 1968

  According to Adam Serwer, 1868 is a more apt comparison.

• 
• SOURCE: The Charlotte Observer
  6/7/2020
  

  Orangeburg Massacre to George Floyd: How Change Came to SC Protests for Racial Justice

  In South Carolina, 2020 is markedly different from 1968. Here's how.

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• SOURCE: Washington Post
  5/31/2020
  

  History, Right Now: Echoes of 1968, and Other American Years

  Historian Thurston Clarke describes the year 2020 as "a convergence of the greatest catastrophes of the past 100 years or so, all hitting us at once."

• 
• SOURCE: The Atlantic
  5/31/2020
  

  Is This the Worst Year in Modern American History?

  by James Fallows

  All of this is bad, and it's getting worse.

• 
• SOURCE: Washington Post
  6/2/2020
  

  Law And Order Won’t Help Trump Win Reelection

  by Kevin M. Kruse

  The call for “law and order” is a complaint that those tasked with upholding the law and maintaining order have failed at the job and need to be replaced.

• 
• SOURCE: New York Times
  6/2/2020
  

  You Can’t Be the ‘President of Law and Order’ if You Thrive on Chaos

  by Jamelle Bouie

  We should be aware of the past — we should understand the processes that produced our world — but it shouldn’t be a substitute for thinking. We are not them, and now is not then.