Mike's tribute to comedian-activist Dick Gregory

[rn57]

It's hard to think of two people whose political affiliations are more diametrically apart than those of Mike and Dick Gregory who died on Saturday night, but nonetheless this was posted yesterday on Facebook. Come to think of it they did share some preferences when it came to diet.

It has been said that humor is often used to mask pain. It's also said that there is truth in jest. Dick Gregory in his unflinching way dealt with the pain of a whole segment of American population and through his brand of humor helped make an enormous issue understandable and relatable to many who might otherwise remained fixed in the status quo. Whereas humor may indeed mask pain in many instances in Dick Gregory's case, humor propelled justice through truth in jest. In addition to his social impact, which was huge. I remember reading “All About Food For Folks Who Eat”, by Dick Gregory. He was a fascinating man who helped evolve a nation. Rest In Peace Brother Gregory.
Love,
Mike Love

[Don Malcolm]

This might seem naive, but I tend to think that Mike is someone who might well distance himself from "45" at some point. He seems to fit into a subset of voters who came from strong and long-standing Republican roots, and who've showed some movement away from that predisposition at times, but who "returned to the fold" in the Reagan years and have firmly remained there in the years since. He doesn't strike me as being as die-hard as, say, Bruce. For Mike this has become part of the way he conducts business, recognizing that a significant portion of his bread and butter comes from nostalgia--hence a skew toward an older demographic--which means that he needs to pay attention to his "base" in an analogous way. But I also think that he has "been all around this great big world" to be able to see a bigger picture, and that he is among those Republicans who are likely to withdraw their support depending upon how matters play out. He could be in that segment for whom Charlottesville is a tipping point.

All of which would support the notion that he's very capable of writing such a remembrance of Dick Gregory.