Marco Werman: The first time I protested

Not the last time, but the first time I protested.

In 1965, my mom and dad took my sister and me to the Fifth Avenue Peace Parade against the war in Vietnam. A family outing. Before that, we had marched in New York for civil rights. Or rather, we didn't march: My parents held my hand as they marched. But I'd have done the same if I were their age.

That political spirit at home led me later to become an armchair activist at the young age of 8. I wrote a letter to President Nixon telling him that I wanted the war in Vietnam to end. I got a reply back, signed by Noble Melencamp, the president's staff assistant. That felt pretty good.

A year later, the war wasn't over. I sent Nixon another letter. Again, I got a reply from Mr. Melencamp.  Aside from the first line, the message was identical to the year before. It didn't dawn on me when I was 10, but now that I look at Mr. Melencamp's signature, it looks to be a robo-signature.

It took a lot of air out of my belief in the power of writing to elected officials. They might listen. They might write back. But it didn't seem to be a grand way of bringing about change. It didn't feel like activism.

A couple of years later, Charlie Chaplin's second-to-last film, "A King in New York" was released in the US. It had been banned here when it came out in 1957. My dad took me. I was entranced by the revolutionary kid in the film — he edits the school paper — who befriends Chaplin's fictional deposed king from Europe who comes to the US for asylum. That kid was played by Chaplin's own kid, Michael. 

"Leadership in government is political power," Michael Chaplin declares in the classroom to the king, "and political power is an official form of antagonizing the people." So, I thought, journalists can be activists in their own right. As I look at the young man now, he's kind of obnoxious. But in any form of activism, don't you need to be pushy to get stuff done?

Marco Werman, host of PRI's The World, wrote this essay ahead of a panel at SXSW entitled, "Activism in the Age of Snowden.'' PRI's The World will be broadcast Monday from KUT Austin, and his panel is Sunday afternoon.