And then this: “No Weapons Allowed Except Guitars.”
It’s tribute to the fact that Guthrie — who wrote “This Land is Your Land” and who basically was Bob Dylan before Bob Dylan was Bob Dylan — used folk music to battle indifference to social inequities in the 1930s and ’40s. His stories were those of Dust Bowl refugees fleeing the Great Plains for California; of underpaid workers; of people who believed in the promise and spirit of America but who the country sold short.
“I’m too sober to foreclose on a widow.”
That’s from one of his notebooks at the Center.
We need more Woody Guthrie today.
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America is comfortable saying this is a land made … for me. Our challenge: Realizing that this country only remains the land of opportunity if it works for all of us. Not just the pop stars, most of whom are so obsessed with their own fame and gratification that they barely give a nod to reality; not just for Wall Street; and not just for those of us lucky to have an education, health care and housing.
For all of us.
“I am out to sing songs that will prove to you that this is your world,” Guthrie once said.
Take that as a challenge.
The opinions expressed in this column are solely those of John D. Sutter.
