MENDOCINO Co., 9/17/21 — Many North Coast residents have their own memories of Judi Bari and Redwood Summer, and beginning this weekend, a new exhibit and series of events will open at the Mendocino County Museum in Willits highlighting her life and environmental activism. The exhibit will showcase materials from the museum’s archives along side those from private collections, including the car from the 1990 Oakland bombing involving Bari and organizing partner Darryl Cherney, and programming will include a series of events and workshops over the next month.
The exhibit opens Saturday, September 18 and will remain open until October 24. Here’s the announcement from the Mendocino County Museum, located at 400 East Commercial Street in Willits:
The Mendocino County Museum will exhibit artifacts from its permanent collection and the private collection of Darryl Cherney that document the life of renowned activist Judi Bari. The exhibit will reflect on Bari’s role in the 1990 Earth First! Redwood Summer movement, an organized effort to protect old growth redwood forests from logging. Judi Bari and her longtime organizing partner Cherney were driving in a car when it exploded in Oakland on May 24, 1990 on the cusp of their organizing work for the campaign known as Redwood Summer. The Museum will feature the never-before-seen bombed car and key evidence used in the trial. After the bombing, the community responded with an outpouring of support for Judi’s legal defense. A quilt created as a fundraiser and a puppet used at a victory party to celebrate the outcome of their lawsuit against the FBI, in 2002, will be on display.
In conjunction with this exhibit, the Mendocino County Museum will host a series of programs and guest speakers organized by special guests Darryl Cherney and Alicia Littletree Bales.
Alicia Littletree Bales joined the direct action group Earth First! in 1991 and Judi Bari became her mentor on the front lines of the Albion Uprising in 1992. Alicia was a tree-sitter, as well as coordinator of the mass mobilizations and nonstop nonviolent direct action blockades of the movement to protect the ancient redwoods of Headwaters Forest. After Judi’s untimely death from breast cancer in 1997, Alicia joined the legal team of Bari vs. the FBI, and dedicated herself to winning the civil rights case against the FBI and Oakland Police. She is the current program director at KZYX Mendocino County Public Broadcasting, and the former President of the Board of Directors of the Mendocino Environmental Center in Ukiah.
Darryl Cherney has been with the Earth First! movement for 35 years, has written scores of topical songs, and was in the passenger seat of the car when the bomb exploded. He was Judi’s co-plaintiff in their lawsuit against FBI agents and Oakland Police officers and produced a feature documentary, Who Bombed Judi Bari?, on the subject. He resides in Southern Humboldt County where he substitute teaches, hosts a show on KMUD-FM, continues to write songs, raises his daughter, and is the Executive Director of Environmentally Sound Promotions, which is assisting in the curation of this exhibit.
PROGRAM CALENDAR
Saturday, September 18, 1-3 pm: Redwood Summer 1990 Retrospective, with Naomi Wagner, Karen Pickett, Dave Walsh, Mickey Dulas, Tracy Kattleman, Darryl Cherney and Pam Davis.
Friday, September 24, 5:30-7:30 pm: Remembering Judi Bari with her friends and comrades, Alicia Littletree, Naomi Wagner, Daphne Martin, Larry Evans, Linda Perkins and Bill Heil.
Friday, October 1, 6-8 pm: Songs By and About Judi Bari: A Live Concert with Alicia Littletree, Francine Allen, Mokai, Rosebud Ireland, Bear Dyken and Darryl Cherney with Edie Morris.
Sunday, October 10, 1-3 pm: Judi Bari Versus the FBI: Discussion with the legal team. Attorneys Dennis Cunningham and Ben Rosenfeld, Legal Assistants Josh Morsell and Alicia Littletree, Juror Mary Nunn and Plaintiff Darryl Cherney.
Wednesday, October 20, 5:30-7:30 pm: The Day of The Car Bombing of Judi Bari— Firsthand Accounts with Darryl Cherney, Karen Pickett, and others.
Sunday, October 24, 1-3 pm: Building Bridges: with Timber-workers, Union Organizing and Earth First! with timber workers Ernie Pardini, Art Harwood, IWW union activist Steve Ongerth, and Darryl Cherney.
Wednesday, October 27, 6-8 pm: Book Discussion of Timber Wars by Judi Bari with Cultural Services Agency Director Deb Fader via Zoom.
Further details regarding the exhibit and program calendar to be announced, please check our website for updates and additional information. www.mendocinocounty.org/museum
The Mendocino County Museum is located at 400 E Commercial St. Willits, CA. Contact us at (707)459-2736 or [email protected].
I have a memory of this incident from reading about it in the newspapers at the time. As I recall, there wasn’t a conclusive outcome as to who caused the car bombing. The usual suspects were loggers and of course, the occupants of the vehicle who were thought to be carrying an explosive device and it blew up on them, (Government viewpoint). It was all left hanging up in the air and could not be determined by any evidence. So now I wonder how the 20-20 Hindsight Mob will treat this? Fairly? Unfortunately I suspect a story line of glamorization, hero worship and extremist environmentalism will be the prevailing theme, with loggers being the villains. Who stands up for loggers these days? Nope, you gotta have a bad guy to have a story. Anyone who has ever read a bedtime story to a child knows this.
I met Judi Bari before she was Saint Judi of the Redwoods. In the 1980s, I was one of the organizers of a Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Santa Rosa. After our extensive fund raising and some intense lobbying for a nonpolitical memorial service, Judi and friends decided they were entitled to hold a protest march aimed at our memorial. I was the liaison between the Vietnam Veterans and her protest marchers. She would not understand the gravity of the situation. I knew of several combat-fatigued veterans that wanted to stomp her; they took some serious dissuasion.
I realized then that Judi was a potential martyr, with a total blankness when it came to practical dangers. I was not surprised or shocked when Judi blew up. I did find myself hoping a veteran didn’t plant the bomb.