THE WORDS ON THE PROPHETS ON THE SUBWAY WALLS

Today, The Grandma has been remembering the Anti-Vietnam War protests held in Central Park in the 1960s. 

In the 1960s, several be-ins were held in Central Park, Manhattan, New York City to protest against various issues such as U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War and racism.

During the 1960s America was involved in the Vietnam War. This war was a controversial one because many people were against the United States' involvement in South Vietnam. 

Adding to the tension of the Americans against the war was the emergence of a generation of people who were a part of the counter-culture and believed that they should do anything possible to go against the establishment.

The counter-culture generation decided that Central Park would be the perfect host for their demonstrations.

In 1965, citizens of New York experienced their first blow against their freedom of speech as Commissioner, Newbold Morris, refused to give them a permit that they would need in order to use a section of the park for anti-war speeches. Opponents of the ban called it a form of discrimination. 

In 1967, Parks Commissioner August Heckscher II said that Central Park would no longer be allowed to serve as a venue for mass demonstrations because they were disruptive and caused damages to the park which were costly. After Hecksher was met with great opposition by protestors who held up unauthorized banners and burned draft cards in the park anyway, he decided to set up designated areas just for these types of demonstrations such as Randall's Island. As a part of the compromise made by the New York Civil Liberties Union, a separate area in Central Park was set aside for big demonstrations.

More information: Museum of the City of New York

On New Year's Eve 1967, a group of one thousand people accompanied by music and geese burned down a Christmas tree in Central Park. The city's parks commissioner, Thomas P.F. Hoving, was present at the event. About this demonstration, he stated, We're going to do this again... you know, it's old hat to go to Times Square when we can have such a wonderful happening in Central Park.

The Easter 1967 be-in was organized by Jim Fouratt, an actor; Paul Williams, editor of Crawdaddy! magazine; Susan Hartnett, head of the Experiments in Art and Technology organization; and Claudio Badal, a Chilean poet and playwright. With a budget of $250 they printed 3,000 posters and 40,000 small notices designed by Peter Max and distributed them around the city. The Police and Parks Departments quietly and unofficially cooperated with the organizers. An estimated 10,065 people participated in the event at the Sheep Meadow in Central Park.

The majority of participants were hippies. They were joined by families who had attended the Easter parade and members of the Spanish community who were notified of the event by Spanish language posters.

The New York Times described them as poets from the Bronx, dropouts from the East Village, interior decorators from the East Side, teachers from the West Side and teeny boppers from Long Island and said that they wore carnation petals and paper stars and tiny mirrors on foreheads, paint around the mouth and cheeks, flowering bedsheets, buttons and tights.

During 1968, the Peace Rally and the Easter Be-In were combined into a single event. In April, about 90,000 people ranging from veterans to religious groups to African Americans to Puerto Ricans to women groups to labor groups to students gathered at Sheep Meadow.

During the early 1969 Be-In/Peace Rally, The Village Voice reported that there was said to be between 15,000 and 20,000 people in attendance.

On June 28, 1970, there was a massive Gay Be-In held in Sheep Meadow to commemorate the first anniversary of the Stonewall riots. The Gay march went from Washington Place in Greenwich Village uptown on Sixth Avenue to end with a gay-in in Sheep's Meadow.

More information: Zinn Education Project

The Sound of Silence, originally The Sounds of Silence, is a song by the American music duo Simon & Garfunkel. 

The duo's studio audition of the song led to a record deal with Columbia Records, and the original acoustic version was recorded in March 1964 at Columbia Studios in New York City for their debut album, Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M. 

Released on October 19, 1964, the album was a commercial failure and led to the duo disbanding; Paul Simon returned to England, and Art Garfunkel to his studies at Columbia University.

More information: Far Out

 And in the naked light, I saw
Ten thousand people, maybe more
People talking without speaking
People hearing without listening
People writing songs that voices never shared
And no one dared
Disturb the sound of silence

Paul Simon & Art Garfunkel