When we protest we exist in several places along the continuum of time. The prevailing opinion will always say we are living in the past: When we protest today, we are living in the 1960's, as though we suffer segregation or the draft; when we protest in the 1960's, we are living in the 1930's, as though the Great Depression is at our backs; when we organize during the Great Depression, we are living during industrialization, as though we knew anything about children in factories.
Our champions exist in the future: When we protest during industrialization, people of the 1930's have child labor laws; when we protest during the Great Depression, people in the 1960's have social security and a 40 hour work week; when we protest in the 1960's, people in 2003 have anti-discrimination laws and a lesson called the Vietnam War.
When we protest we are justified in the future and past; in the present we are attacked. This is the way that history happens.
