I will forever be grateful to our former public defender, a man I greatly admire, a man who helped change my life for the better.
Back in the late 1980s, I taught a class at Durango High School called Legal Education. Our local bar association, the district attorney’s office, the district Court judges, as well as the Durango police and the sheriff’s departments were very helpful, volunteering as guest speakers in the classroom, and helping enact mock trials in the courthouse.
One of the most helpful attorneys was our local public defender at the time, the late Alex Tejada.
Alex made multiple visits to my classroom, and after one particular visit, in chatting with him between classes, I mentioned that I felt that the older I got, the more conservative I was becoming. “That’s because you’re lazy,” he replied.
That was quite a shock, but it was also very true.
Having been an anti-war activist and civil rights advocate myself, his comment was a sharp but welcome reminder that the changes my generation were advocating in the 1960s and ’70s would take constant vigilance and effort to defend.
Yes, I had become lazy.
In fact, I think far too many of my baby-boomer cohorts have become lazy about those issues we cared so passionately about in our youth: civil rights, voting rights, women’s rights, reproductive rights, economic and racial equality, the end to senseless and illegal foreign wars, care for our planet and environmental awareness, union rights and organizing.
Sadly, now it seems that so much of the support the MAGA movement receives is from aging boomers. An April Pew Research Center poll showed that 52% of registered voters 65 years and older would vote for Donald Trump. Although this was before his conviction of 34 felony charges, the level of support from my generation for the twice impeached, convicted fraudster, legally liable defamer and sexual predator is appalling.
In just the past 20 years, we have seen this packed Supreme Court rescind, cancel or gut so much of the progress our nation achieved in the ’60s and ’70s, as well as recently granting virtual immunity to the former president.
Never before in our history has a court canceled more personal rights nor gutted the power of the federal government than this court has. Preceding these trends, the Citizens United decision opened the floodgates of dark money that has created a situation whereby billionaires can influence and purchase politicians, influence federal policy and, seemingly, capture the Supreme Court with their largesse.
I needed the shock that Alex Tejada gave me that day, and I hope he would approve of the devotion I have given since then to not being lazy. It seems, though, that so many of my generation have given up on protecting the progress achieved during our active youth, and now serve as roadblocks to others trying to protect those very changes we sought and worked so hard to achieve.
My hope is that the youth of today (18 to 34 years old), as well as the beneficiaries of 20th century progress, can pick up the banner, turn out the vote in record numbers and help turn the red tide of MAGA extremism and reversal of progress.
The “good old days” prior to the activism of the ’60s and ’70s were not an idyllic time of our nation’s history. They were days of racial discrimination, misogyny, inequality, prejudice and suppression.
We are still striving for “a more perfect union,” and it takes work, perseverance and participation. I will continue with this struggle and, honestly, think Alex would approve.
Gene Orr is a retired educator with 43 years of experience teaching social studies and history in middle school, high school and college in Durango. He has a master’s degree in education and lives in Kline.
