October 18th, 1967

Another picket at the Induction Center this morning. A throng of 2,500. 91 arrested. Cops disperse crowd.

Then we rally on Berkeley campus. There’s an injunction against rallies to defy the Draft, but the students hold the rally anyway. Students gather on Sproul Hall Plaza to listen to speakers on steps.

Members of the Steering Committee split on whether to go back to Induction Center tomorrow or wait to evaluate what’s happened & make more tactical moves.

Another guy comes up to the mike & says we'll organize at Lafayette Park in Oakland at 5 AM, then another says let's wait till Friday. People hollering "sell-outs!"

There’s more talk of violence, one kid jokingly screaming that he’s got the armaments to blow up the Induction Center, put all the cops in prison & take over the state of California.

Girl starts screaming that we can’t have violence, that we’d only be doing what they’re doing, the same thing we’re trying to stop.

Spades screaming, "Man, they beat up your women there! You're not even mad! If they beat up your women, think what they do to us? We're going back to the ghetto. Don't bring the cops in there. We got enough trouble. Come back when you want to start shooting!"

But violence will only alienate the rest of the nation. Non-violence creates bloody martyrs who will shock the workers watching their newscast after dinner. But how many of them will say the kids deserve it & how many will forget the shock as soon as their favorite show comes on?

I'm despondent about the possibilities of non-violence, but if things were pressed to a violent stage the army would crush all resistance.

I feel the situation is hopeless, but I’ll spend a year seeing if I can do anything to help the Resistance.

» October 20th, 1967 : Shut It Down!