Posted Jul 09, 2008 at 10:12pm
My Hometown
NEWARK, NJ- "Now Main Street's whitewashed windows and vacant stores
Seems like there ain't nobody wants to come down here no more
They're closing down the textile mill across the railroad tracks
Foreman says these jobs are going boys and they ain't coming back to your
hometown."
Bruce Springstein "My Hometown"
It would be just, plain, wrong to talk about our stops in New Jersey without leading in with some of the Boss's best lyrics. I can't think of many people that can sum up the everyday hardships, joys, and fears of working Americans better than the Boss. He can take the most serious, depressing, subject matter and make it into something beautiful, simple and unpretentious. I had the good fortune of meeting a creative person with a similar talent at our Newark, NJ stop this morning. Andrew Lichtenstein is a photographer who came out to take photos of the bus. He recently completed a book called Never Coming Home which is a compilation of photographs of the funerals of American soldiers killed in the Iraq war.
The project started with one funeral. With the permission of the family, Andrew photographed the funeral of a young soldier from Long Island, NY. Andrew was so struck by the funeral and by the idea that no one should die for this unnecessary war that he decided to travel the country photographing the funerals of the young men and women that have given their lives for their country. He visited 60 funerals. The families granted their permission and many of them shared their son's and daughter's stories with him. Some of the families were now strongly against the war in Iraq and some of them maintained that the war was necessary. Andrew made a point to not share his personal feelings about the war with the families he spoke to.
"A lot of military families are very patriotic. Who am I to say that the justification for their son's death is meaningless? In fact, the families have taught me a lot."
One particularly haunting story was that of an 18 year old from Arkansas. He enlisted after high school and was deployed to Iraq. Before leaving for Iraq, he gave away all of his possessions to his family and friends because he believed he was not coming back. He did not. He was killed on his first day in Iraq. Another tragic story was that of a Marine from Queens, NY. He was watching the news after Katrina hit and saw the destruction and had to help. He literally put on his Marine uniform and on his own accord-completely unconnected to any government entity or effort-drove down to Louisiana to help in any way he could. After he returned from New Orleans, he was deployed to Iraq where he lost his life. Andrew comments on how much this story of pure good will makes the waste of this young man's life even more enraging.
"This is the best America has to offer and this good will has been used and manipulated by the Bush and Cheneys of the world. They don't deserve the good intentions of people like that."
The event in Newark was outside of the Newark Bears Stadium and was a home run (couldn't resist, sorry). Crystal Snedden from New Jersey Citizen Action brought out a great crowd and invested a lot of time and effort into the event. Greg Payton from the Communication Workers of America spoke about many of the issues that are illustrated on the bus and how they have impacted the Newark area. As a community leader he works closely with many area social service organizations and has seen first hand the hardships that people are facing given the current economy. He deals with people all the time who desperately want jobs but cannot find anything that will come close to paying the bills. He has seen people lose their homes and not be able to afford critical medical care. Payton spoke passionately about the desperate need for change in this country. Although Newark is a 15 minute train ride from the center of the financial world, it is a city that bears the brunt of the failed economic policies of this administration. It is fortunate that there are people like Payton that are working day and night to try and right the wrongs of our current system. Here’s to hoping that in the future the Boss will have less song material concerning the way the economy has decimated cities in New Jersey or anyone’s hometown for that matter.
