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| Photo by Cheryl Himmelstein |
Jody A. Forrester is the author of the new book Guns Under the Bed: Memories of a Young Revolutionary. It focuses on her life in the radical Revolutionary Union group during the Vietnam War era. Her work has appeared in a variety of publications, including Prime Number and Claudius Speaks. A former chiropractor, she lives in Los Angeles.
Q: Why did you decide to
write this memoir?
A: Guns Under the Bed is an
examination of three-plus years in my life that had long remained secreted. I
was embarrassed by the extremity of the path that I took and was afraid that even
friends would negatively judge me. Other than my husband, I told nobody about that
time in my late adolescence and early twenties.
But finally it was time to reclaim
those years, to bring them out of hiding, and understand the choices that I
made at the time.
Q: You write, "So
many in my generation protested the unjust war in Vietnam and marched for
civil rights. How was it that I was one of only a few hundred who went
on to join an organization with the most extreme of ideologies?" How would
you answer that question?
A: I was, and am still,
passionate about fairness, or the lack of it, to those who didn’t have the
privileges of my comfortable white middle-class home. It felt so wrong to me
that civil rights were constantly violated for people of color and those stricken
by poverty. Even worse, the Vietnam War was raging with no possible end in
sight.
Without a clear-cut ideology,
marching on the streets wasn’t enough for me, and the Revolutionary Union, a
communist organization, attracted me with their coherent solutions to the double-edged
sword of capitalism and imperialism. Following the dictates of Chinese ruler,
Mao Tse Tung, I came to believe that a working-class uprising would be the most
viable banner to march under.
I was 17 and full of
idealism, but in the end, the organization’s suppression of individuality and
violence towards what was identified as the enemy was no longer something that
I wanted to be a part of.
Q: How was the book's title
chosen, and what does it signify for you?
A: I chose the title fairly
spontaneously, before the first draft was finished. It was remarkable to me
that I slept for years with guns under my bed in readiness for the anticipated
uprising against the ruling class. If it came to that, would I have pulled the
trigger? That question plagued me in nightmares for decades, and was one of the
driving forces that drove my writing of this memoir.
Q: What do you hope readers
take away from the book?
A: The necessity for protest.
In the end, my generation was responsible for the U.S. pulling out of Vietnam.
Activists are a powerful bloc that can, indeed, influence public policy. Now,
more than ever, they need to make their voices heard, both on the streets and
in voting booths.
On the other hand, my memoir
can also be a warning not to give your choices over to a hierarchical ideology
that dictates such a narrow path. In retrospect, I see the Revolutionary Union
as a cult – never a good thing.
Q: What are you working on
now?
A: As I am with a small
publisher without a publicist on staff, I’m concentrating on marketing the
book. I do have a few ideas for short stories, something that I was doing
before this memoir took over. We’ll see!
Q: Anything else we should
know?
A: Nothing that hasn’t been
said before. Have empathy and compassion for those oppressed by our country’s
disregard. Be true to the best part of yourself. Even one person can make a difference!
--Interview with Deborah Kalb
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