Freedom fighters

Marilyn Katz speaks out in Lincoln Park in August 1968

Knowing what you know now, what might you have done differently?
Katz Nothing!
James Well, we never got the police car over.
[Everyone laughs.]
Kurshan As a woman, I would have fought harder and stronger to have my voice be heard earlier.
Rose I cannot look back at ’68 and say we made a tactical mistake or something I should have known to do differently. It didn’t turn out exactly the way I wanted, but I can’t say it was due to a mistake on our part.

Do you think people were more passionate then?
Rose If the times seemed more intense during Vietnam, I would attribute it to a more deadly, 50,000 dead, war, plus the existence of the draft.
Katz I don’t think the issue was passion, but a sense of possibility. We felt very empowered in the ’60s, that what we did would or could make a difference. I think today there is a greater sense of desperation, a sense—a reality—that nothing we do will affect Bush, et al.
Peck Many today are passionate; we were in the crucible.

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