Revolution#132, June 15, 2008
Taking Away With All Gods! To Track & Field!
Each year the California state high school track and field championships draw thousands of avid track fans from all over the state to some of the most exciting sports competition in the country. For two days a multinational crowd comes together to celebrate the efforts and accomplishments of high school athletes of all nationalities, some just a few years away from becoming world level competitors. A group of us decided to get to this year’s championships at Cerritos College in the L.A. area early so we could engage the crowd entering the stadium over the harm being done by religion—and especially the rise of fundamentalist religion—in this country and the world, and the need for people to break with the slavishness it promotes and to get with revolution and communism.
Many of the current national high school track and field records were set at this meet in previous years by athletes who later became world champions. And this year was no exception.
It was the long distance events that stood out most at the May 30-31 finals. Woodbridge-Irvine senior Christine Babcock’s 4:33.82 broke the national record in the girls 1600 meter run—that she had set only eight days earlier! And German Fernandez of Riverbank in the Central Valley broke the meet record in the boys 1600 meter run, then came back a few hours later and won the boys 3200 meter run in 8:34.23—breaking the national record by nearly 8 seconds!
We came to the meet with lots of t-shirts with the famous picture of sprinters Tommie Smith and John Carlos on the victory stand at the 1968 Mexico City Olympics with their black-gloved fists thrust in the air in support of the struggle of Black people in the U.S. Next to the picture is written “We Need a Lot More of This…” On the back of the shirt is a picture of football player Terrell Owens, on one knee pointing to “heaven”—with the words “… Not This.” And we came with plugger cards promoting Bob Avakian’s new book, Away With All Gods! Unchaining the Mind and Radically Changing the World, to make sure as many people as possible came away learning about the book. We also sold copies of Revolution newspaper. The book title interested some people in knowing what a revolutionary communist leader had to say about religion, and they got the newspaper to learn more. Overall it was an exciting afternoon—controversial of course, but also challenging and inspiring for us as well as the fans.
The picture on the front of the t-shirt resonated with many track fans. It made people smile, call out their names, and talk about the special meaning that historic moment had for them. One fan went to school with them at San Jose State; others had run with them, or been coached by them. Many remembered seeing it on TV; and one person remembered the fool George Foreman, who opposed their action by waving a huge American flag in the ring before his fight. And many knew what a price they were made to pay for their courageous act.
When people saw the back of the shirt and the pluggers for Away With All Gods, things sharpened up. Some got it right away and agreed with it. They knew Terrell Owens, and how so many athletes are into “giving thanks to god” for their accomplishments, and wanted the shirt. With many, there was some direct experience with national oppression and more openness to revolutionary politics. And we were able to get into the connection between breaking with this slavish thinking and radically changing the world. Among these folks we sold 17 t-shirts. A pair of youth, one Latino and one white, asked, “Is that an atheist shirt?” The Latino wanted to know all about it, including why we didn’t believe in God. His friend really wanted to get one to wear back in school.
Many others doubted the possibility of “radically changing the world,” or that we had to “unchain the mind” to get there. One youth couldn’t fathom how anyone would want to contribute anything to society without god, if you thought that you’re nothing after you die. Some people wore Obama t-shirts.
Strongly religious people didn’t like the shirt, front or back, and often walked away disturbed—especially when they saw the title of the book. Some stayed to argue that praying to Jesus made a difference in their lives, and often said people are to blame for their own conditions, whether it’s those who died after Katrina; or the one-in-nine young Black in prison; or the people of Haiti so desperate they’re being forced to eat cookies made of dirt.
A discussion with three Black youth captured some of the contradictoriness we experienced more generally outside the meet. The most religious among them was also the most close-minded. He dismissed the extreme punishments called for by the Old Testament against gays, rebellious children, adulterers, etc. by saying Jesus “changed” all that. His belief assured him that if you worked hard you could “make it,” something the others also shared, at least about themselves. And essentially his outlook toward the conditions of people here and around the world was that it should be left to god to deal with.
But as we talked more about the gulf between the reality faced by people here and worldwide and the way things could be—the incarceration rates of Black and Latino youth, and the dead-end futures most see; the incredible exploitation and suffering of people all over the planet by imperialism—the others reacted differently. The second youth wanted to know why he couldn’t be part of resisting all of that and still believe in god. We united with what was positive in this sentiment and urged him to act on that, while explaining that the slavishness that religion promotes among the masses is rooted in the whole idea of the existence of some kind of divine, all-powerful being, and people have to break with this and confront reality as it actually is in order to change it.
The third, a young woman, agreed that the tremendous oppression and inequality in this country, as well as what the U.S. is doing in the world—from the Iraq war to the global exploitation—was a crime. And was trying to understand what we were saying about the role of religion in enslaving people’s minds when they need to be resisting all this and becoming emancipators of humanity. We began to talk about the fact that all the major religions strongly promote the patriarchy—a word she was familiar with—and the shackles that this “traditional morality” puts on people’s minds, and the tremendous harm it does. As the discussion began to change, the first youth decided we needed to end it!
We almost got arrested at the end when five cop cars showed up. It took them forever to find something in the code book to charge us with. People came around, wanting to buy the shirt and shocked at what the cops were doing. They gave one of us a citation for vending without a license and kicked us all out. One Black youth, who had paid to see the meet but stood by and watched because he wanted a shirt, was ordered to leave as well. He had competed a few years ago at this meet, now goes to college in Atlanta, and felt that what happened just reminds him of home. By the end, hundreds had gotten the plugger and learned about the book Away With All Gods!; many went home with a t-shirt, the newspaper, and something challenging—and inspiring—to think about. Now we’re looking forward to the next opportunity where we can do this again!
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