Lethal Weapon actor Danny Glover has a long history of radicalism, from the opposition to the Vietnam war, through to the Panthers, the Iraq war and anti-racism today.
Not too old for this shit yet: Danny Glover
Born in San Francisco to two postal workers and NAACP activists, Danny Glover went on to study at San Francisco State University where he participated in the longest student strike in US history.
In November 1968, the Black Students Union, of which Glover was a member, and the Third World Liberation Front (a coalition of black, Asian and Latin American student groups) organised a strike alongside staff demanding an expansion of the new Black Studies Department and the creation of a School of Ethnic Studies.
After five months on strike, the university gave in to the students' and faculty's demands, creating the country's first School of Ethnic Studies.
Although not a member of the Black Panthers, Glover worked in their free-breakfast-for-children program and helped them organise their newspaper.
While living in a political commune for a year, he was also involved in the movement against the Vietnam War, in support for struggles against colonialism and racism in Africa and in campaigning for greater equality of access to education.
On May 1st 2006 Glover spoke at an immigrants' rights rally in San Francisco.
When asked recently by AARP magazine if there was cause for him to be optimistic, he replied:
"I try to find hope in struggle and resistance in small places as much as I can. The progressive movement against the war of occupation in Iraq is a reason for hope, as is resistance to free trade agreements in Latin America. Those are moments that we have to celebrate: that people still find the resolve and energy to resist."
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