Stu Albert was a co-founder and more quiet member, if such a thing is possible, of the Youth International Party (Yippy) which was formed back in the maelstrom of the 1960s.
He follows more famous pranksters - Abbie Hoffman and Jerry Rubin - to that great political protest in the sky, the one that truly smites the world as it is, and summons forth the land of milk and honey where we make it easy to love one another.
Albert once wrote a book called “Who the Hell Is Stew Albert” that made fun of his shadow-walk through American history, but the highway scribe remembers being taken by Rubin’s description of him in one of his books (not “Steal This Book,” the other one) as a long blonde-haired, blue-eyed revolutionary the kind of which nobody in middle class America (of that time) had ever seen before.
He was from Brooklyn and met with Hoffman, Rubin, Tom Hayden, and Paul Krassner out in Berkeley, California. He got caught up in the Chicago 7 trial as un “un-indicted” co-conspirator, whatever that means.
More importantly, according to his obituary in the "L.A. Times", “With his wife, Judy, Albert also co-edited 'The Sixties Papers,' a document-based history of the era published in 1984 that is a widely used college text. They assembled the book on a computer bought with the help of a settlement from a successful lawsuit against the FBI, which had planted an illegal surveillance device under their car in the 1970s.”
Albert was harassed and went after his tormentors, demonstrating how it literally pays to question authority (if you want it to go away). He took the money and constructed a monument to everything the FBI would like you all to forget- a little thing called the hippy movement.
Born a working class boy, he was profoundly impressed by the what he saw of the early Cuban revolution during a visit there. It changed the direction of his life.
So take that.
the highway scribe adores the kind of in-your-face, harmful-only-to-the-sensibilities political street theatrics the yippies were all about (serious/fun). He views it as the most noble form of American protest and something of a dying art today when a kind of street-theater-for-cable-television would be necessary to reach the people, such as they are.
Tom Hayden, in the obit, said “He had the ability to blend easily into any setting, from Yippie to Black Panther to New Left, partly because he had an infectious sense of humor...and partly because he was well-read and capable of understanding a lot of viewpoints and simultaneously. He was very much a self-made intellectual.”
That’s the best kind of intellectual. Who wants an intellect made by someone else anyway?
No self-respecting Yippie, that’s for certain.
Stew Albert just died and he will be missed.
So will this guy, whose death Albert probably protested to save, only to be characterized as unpatriotic...
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger Issues Statement on Death of La Habra Marine
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger today released the following statement regarding the death of Lance Cpl. Hugo R. Lopezlopez of La Habra:
“Lance Cpl. Lopezlopez’s bravery is an example of the determination and courage that makes our nation strong. Those willing to sacrifice their lives for this country and our freedom deserve our utmost respect and deepest gratitude. Maria and I join all Californians in sending our condolences to Hugo’s family as they mourn the loss of this brave Marine.”
Lopezlopez, 20, died Jan. 27 at Brooke Army Medical Center, San Antonio, from wounds sustained from an improvised explosive device while conducting combat operations against enemy forces in Rawah, Iraq. He was assigned to 2nd Battalion, 11th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Pendleton, CA. During Operation Iraqi Freedom, his unit was attached to 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force.
In honor of Lance Cpl. Lopezlopez, Capitol flags will be flown at half staff.
Maybe it's the patriots that kill.
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