You were PROTESTING the Dem Convention in ‘68?
No, me and a few buddies went to watch the hippies and find my sister.
It was quite the specatacle. The cops were fire hosing the hippies and sending dogs on them and it was on TV for the previous 3 nights, so we wanted to go.
My sister was in love with the hippies (go figure right?), and I was on leave and went down there because my dad sent me to find my sister (we lived on Addison and Leavitt, a few miles from the protests).
So I hopped on a bus (in uniform) with a school buddy (not in uniform) and we went to Grant Park. Well, the police started putting up barricades and making like a cattle coral, and you had to go only one way, and me and my buddy ended up jumping out of the barricades, and we got grabbed by some cops on horseback.
We were put in a paddy wagon, and sat there with the hippies, who dared not look me in the eye while I was wearing my fancy ass spec 4 stripes! heh
We got to the Belmont station and the hippies were sent inside, the cops saw me in uniform, asked what was going on, I told them about my sister, they told me to take a hike. I said “he’s with me” and pointed to my friend, and they sent us both on our way.
BUT, don’t get the impression that I was a Republican. I was not. I come from Chicago, and from a Chicago family of welders, plumbers and pipefitters. My dad and his brothers, everyone I knew were dems (I was a registered dem until this year). But, that was old school dems, and even Hon Daly had no use for hippies, nor did the cops. So we wanted to see the hippies get busted up.
I’d say our family was the Archie Bunker type D.
Now, don’t jump on me and ask why I’ve been a registerd D all these years (my last vote was for Perot, before that was Reagan 2x then “read my lips” Bush). I haven’t voted since, until this primary.
But that story of why I was a dem will either just piss you off and take up about twice a post this size, which you probably won’t read, OR you’ll just understand and not really need the diatribe as to why a Chicago contractor needs to be a registered D to function.