It is an exciting day for me. My first convention was the 1964 Washington State Presidential Caucus in Tacoma. They, i was only 11, nominated Lyndon Johnson and Hubert Humphrey. I got a whole lot of buttons, pins, and some of the first bumper sticker's, as I learned more about cradle to grave health care, union activities, the Progressive party and Adlai Stevenson, as well as the starting discussion of racism, George Wallace, the differences between Barry Goldwater "nuke Vietnam" and Barry Goldwater, not yet the days of Bull Conner, the fire hoses, the dog's and the lynchings in the South.
I started early, walking with my mother and father on Broadway in the 50's as they protested the atomic bomb and nuclear energy. My father's number one tennis partner was probably the second black physician in Oregon History, (Dr. UnThank) Walt Erickson. We chose the Warm Springs Tribe to replace my father's Crow and Blackfoot heritage, and became close to Chief Summer's the tribe and close friends with Ed Manion, who escorted a 99 year nature cure lease into the modern age, and a place known as Ka Nee Ta Reopened this year, but for 60 years a family destination with hot springs, tribal celebration's, horses, and nature. The tribe had been primarily a lumber economy, but alas, the trees didn't keep up. Two yearths before the lease expired, the tribe found a market for "Honolulu rock", a red volcanic rock, which became a contractor's dream accent. Two years later, under Lyndon Johnson, the Bureau of Indian Affairs granted a three million dollar grant to demolish the old structures and pool and replace it with a fine and attractive tourist destination. It would, of course, add a Casino, with the federal changing tides in the 80's.
We had native friends at dinner, Jewish friends down the street, dad and I would alternate from Knott Street, an all black weight lifting and boxing club, to the Y, and then the Jewish Community Center. In between we would hike up steep trails, swim in the Columbia Channel and later take on a plethora of local stairs in up hill sprints.
So when the 68 election came along, McCarthy, Humphrey and Kennedy were running. I chose McCarthy, and Kennedy was assassinated before the convention. Chicago is almost a corrupt as Portland, and then Mayor Daily not only controled the police and city, but locked down election's with dead ballot's and intimidation. 7 would be called the Chicago 7, and one, Professor Tom Hayden, would become a friend, as I would be his three campus coordinator in 1972,
So, as we enter the week, with the democrat's back in Chicago, I look forward to maybe, just maybe, the completion of part of what we were working for in 1968.
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