Howard Zinn, 1922-2010

Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Dear Rethinking Schools friends,

We just learned that Howard Zinn died of a heart attack today in California. His passing is an enormous loss for everyone who cares about justice and equality. Historian, professor, lecturer, playwright, and most recently a filmmaker, Howard Zinn was many things. But above all, he was an activist — a socialist, a pacifist, an antiracist, who never strayed from his conviction that humanity was capable of making this a much better world. ‘

Throughout his long life, Howard Zinn had seen enough of the world’s horrors that it would have been understandable had he become a cynic. But if there is one word that should be forever associated with him, it’s hope.

When George Bush launched his endless war on terror after 9/11, Rethinking Schools looked for a quote that could sum up our belief that it was not ridiculous to still be hopeful. We turned to the final paragraphs of Howard Zinn’s autobiography, You Can’t Be Neutral on a Moving Train:

“To be hopeful in bad times is not just foolishly romantic. It is based on the fact that human history is a history not only of cruelty, but also of compassion, sacrifice, courage, kindness.

“What we choose to emphasize in this complex history will determine our lives. If we see only the worst, it destroys our capacity to do something. If we remember those times and places–and there are so many–where people have behaved magnificently, this gives us the energy to act, and at least the possibility of sending this spinning top of a world in a different direction.

“And if we do act, in however small a way, we don’t have to wait for some grand utopian future. The future is an infinite succession of presents, and to live now as we think human beings should live, in defiance of all that is bad around us, is itself a marvelous victory.”

Howard Zinn lived a politically engaged life of joy and solidarity. His life was indeed a marvelous victory.

Bill Bigelow for the Rethinking Schools staff and editors

P.S. Last week, I interviewed Howard Zinn for the Zinn Education Project, posing questions that we had collected from teachers around the country. To listen to the interview, go to www.zinnedproject.org/news and click on the “Authors on Air” icon.