OB Activism: In My Activist Youth
Ocean Beach attorney Robert Burns will speak about activism in Ocean Beach in the 1960s, in which he was heavily involved. Organizations and phenomena to be discussed encompass: Ocean Beach Planning Board, O.B. Free School, O.B. collectivism, O.B. Rock ‘n Roll bands, O.B. Tenants Union, Winchell’s opposition, Committee to Save Black’s Beach, C.E.A.N., O.B. C.R.A.B., O.B. People’s Food Store, Committee to Save Red House, Committee to Save Sunset Cliffs, and Friends of Famosa Slough. Burns grew up in Ohio where Lake Erie died, the Cuyahoga River caught fire, forests were clear-cut, farms were strip-mined, and students were murdered at Kent State by the Ohio National Guard.
After five months of ill living within the Big Ag plume in Imperial Valley, he moved to O.B. to go to law school with a passion for organic produce. Life in O.B. presented a continuous variety of grassroots movements and causes; he was involved in many in the 1970s and 1980s. He became a lawyer in 1980 and for awhile used the legal system as a vehicle for grassroots activism and change. Over time, marriage, children, music, and spiritualism competed for his time. Hear about O.B. activism history firsthand.