The New Left’s Legacy
Louis Menand’s vivid piece about the New Left, and his detailing of the Free Speech Movement rallies in particular, transported me back to the University of California at Berkeley, where I was a grad student in the early two-thousands (“Change Your Life,” March 22nd). A quote from Mario Savio’s iconic speech was by then hanging on the wall at the Free Speech Movement Café, more decorative than anti-establishment. These days, at Amherst College, where I am a faculty member, there is a palpable tension on campus. The murders of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor and the racism of the Trump Presidency are still fresh. Yet, with the pandemic forcing students to interact mainly through Zoom, the protests are digital and activism is muted. Menand’s article reminds us, however, that student-led movements for systemic change will be ignored at our peril. Rest assured, my students are putting their bodies upon the virtual gears.