FriendBurst Blog

In 1968 I was in Chicago during the Democratic Convention and witnessed everything that went on. Rennie Davis became my hero and will be forever embedded in my mind. He was on the stage telling people to remain calm during all that happened, even when the police charged through the crowd swinging their batons at everyone on their charge at the stage. He kept saying remain calm, do not incite the police. Even as blood sprouted from his head as it was bashed by police batons he was telling the crowd to be calm.

“August 28, Wednesday: 10-15,000 gather at the old Grant Park bandshell for the MOBE’s antiwar rally. Dellinger, Gregory, Ginsberg, Norman Mailer, Jerry Rubin, Carl Oglesby, Hayden, and many others speak. 600 police surround the rally on all sides. National Guardsmen are posted on the roof of the nearby Field Museum.

In the Convention at the Amphitheatre, the peace plank proposed for the Democratic party platform is voted down.

At the bandshell rally, news of the defeat of the peace plank is heard on radios. A young man begins to lower the American flag flying near the bandshell. Police push through the crowd to arrest him. Then a group, including at least one undercover police officer, completes the flag lowering and raises a red or blood-splattered shirt. Police move in again. A line of MOBE marshals is formed between the police and the crowd. Police charge the marshal line. Rennie Davis is beaten unconscious.”