I’m excited to watch this movie about the trial that resulted from the 1968 protests at the Democratic National Convention.

The subject of my narrative nonfiction manuscript, Camilla Hall, did not think too highly of the protesters, even though six years later she would embrace her own brand of political violence as a member of the Symbionese Liberation Army.

After the DNC, she wrote to her parents and said that the riots deflected from what really mattered.

People have forgotten already (for “practical” purposes such as the election) what happened at Chicago—not the hippies and yippies bit, but the fact that McCarthy and Kennedy ran away with all the primaries and had the popular support of the people (not with the machine obviously) and yet didn’t get the nomination.

The Democratic nominee was defeated again in 1972, continuing Richard Nixon’s reign. Though much of the New Left movement had died down by then, leftists who remained tended to be more radical and violent than before. In that way, it’s not a surprise that a group like the SLA rose up and attracted national attention through their violent acts.

I think today we’re also seeing the effect of frustrations that have built up over the years.