Pete Seeger made magic at our health care rally

I can’t stop singing this:

Well I’ve got a hammer
And I’ve got a bell
And I’ve got a song to sing
All over this land
It’s the hammer of justice
It’s the bell of freedom
It’s the song about love between my brothers and my sisters
All over this land

Yesterday was a beautiful day and evening to rally for health care reform and for those who live in the Hudson Valley, there was no better place to have one than riverside in Nyack’s Memorial Park. More than 700 people attended the rally and we had many great speakers and musical acts. But when Pete Seeger showed up, it turned a great rally into a magical event.

Our rally, called “Health Care for All” was started by myself and a handful of concerned Rockland County residents who had a living-room discussion last month about having a small rally. A month later, this small rally grew into a full-fledged concert, with many great performers such as Tom Chapin, Emory Joseph, Michael Mark, and The Roues Brothers. And of course, Pete Seeger.

Yes, we expect to see the teabaggers there. Some of them had even promised to shout down “that unrepentant ’60s communist, Pete Seeger” when he arrived.

But the teabaggers were soon disarmed by the patriotism of our large audience. After a musical prelude, we began our program with a sing-a-long of “America, the Beautiful” and the singer who led us, Orangetown Councilwoman Nancy Low-Hogan, had the American flag waving next to her. Not a single “tea party” person sang with us, not a single one applauded at the end of this patriotic standard. In fact, most of them milled around and talked among themselves while the rest of us saluted our nation.

They may have been discussing among themselves what went wrong. They thought they were going to take the field, but they were quite clearly in the minority. There was about 30 of them standing in back and at the time we had well over 400 people enjoying the festivities and support universal health care. My wife and a few friends kindly engaged them. One teabagger told us he was only carrying a sign because his boss told him to and he was afraid of being fired. Some teabaggers didn’t even have a grasp of what they were protesting.

“I believe that health care has to be reformed, but I don’t want it to become the way of socialists ,” [Mary] McCabe said. “I don’t like the idea that we are going to end up with the Canadian or British system.”

McCabe said people should not confuse health insurance and health care, saying that although she didn’t have health insurance at this moment, she has health care because she could go to an emergency room if she needed medical attention.

I had the opportunity to speak on stage for five minutes as did seven other speakers, including Congressman Eliot Engel (D, NY-17). Congressman Engel and me don’t necessarily see eye-to-eye on many things (which we won’t get into now), but yesterday we were brothers in arms. I have to say that the Congressman, who preceded me on stage, gave one of the more rousing speeches I’ve heard a politician give in years. He won over many of the skeptical progressives in the audience and was rewarded to a standing ovation, which was well deserved.

I much prefer blogging to speaking, but I had the confidence to boom into the sound system:

Some one hundred years ago, a former President, a former Republican, a man with his face carved on a mountain, Teddy Roosevelt, formed the Progressive Party and ran, once again for the Presidency. High on his agenda was a “social and economic justice” plan which would have created a Social Security-like system and universal health care for Americans. Are we to believe that Roosevelt was a Marxist?

This and my other comments were directed a the teabaggers, but I’m not sure if I got across to any of them.

Pete Seeger was due to arrive at 6:50 p.m as he finished his last performance in the city at 6 pm. (Pete did a concert in the New York City in the morning, another in Beacon, NY in the early afternoon, and a set at EcoFest back in the city late in the afternoon, imagine that!) Time ticked by and there was no Pete Seeger. The teabaggers went home at 7 pm, almost in lockstep.

About 400 faithful people remained. One of the local bands took the stage again to keep the audience entertained as we waited. Some of us watched the moon rise over the Hudson River. Soon after dusk gave away to night many of us began to give up hope. Then a thin shadow appeared on the hill at the park. It was soon evident that this figure was carrying an old bango and a guitar strapped over his shoulders. A collective gasp and then applause went through the audience. Pete Seeger walked on stage.

Before he played his first note, it became dead silent, and we collectively held our breath. And then he started into a set that included “If I Had a Hammer,” “Goodnight, Irene,” and Woody Guthrie’s “This Land is Your Land.” As my colleague Alan Levin put it in a letter to Seeger that he wrote today:

[It] was a transcendent experience for us all. You are, for many of us, a hero and an inspiration. That you continue to work so hard, as you did that day, to go so many extra miles in support of the people and causes that bring positive change to this world, moves us all to do more. I feel in my heart that the hundreds who waited to see you and sing with you will be braver in their commitment to continue the struggle. Certainly, I can say this is true for myself.

Alan is right, it was nothing short of spectacular. And when Pete told us from the park’s gazebo that he believed that “something good is going to happen, I know it,” we all knew that he was right. And then he said we’ve got to do more than just vote, we’ve got to act. And we agreed with him.

After a nice long set, Pete had everyone join him onstage and he signed autographs, talked with his fans, and ate pizza. And when it was time for him to go, we serenaded him with our own rendition of “This Land is Your Land.”

The beauty of this event was that so many people in our area were intimidated to come out and rally for health care reform because we felt threatened by the mob-like tactics of the teabaggers. It took Seeger, Chapin, et. al to drag us out into the open, but now that we all know we’re not alone, we feel so much more empowered. It was a magical night and I feel the momentum of this debate changing in my town.

Photo Courtesy of Brian Jennings, brianclayjennings@gmail.com