Pay no attention to the Parade behind the curtain! Each year in June, in the State of Rhode Island, the towns of Cranston and Warwick have a parade. The Gaspee Day Parade. It’s billed as a celebration of what is considered the “first” act of aggression against the British, to start the American Revolution. Colonists burned the HMS Gaspee on June 10^th, 1772, which had run aground in Narragansett Bay, on what is now known as Gaspee Point. Minus the fire, I have seen this many times, but it usually involved sailboat skippers who got too greedy on a port tack during a summer sailboat race!

The raiding party was led by Abraham Whipple, and John Brown. Ah yes, John Brown; statesmen, merchant, shipbuilder, and one of the founding fathers of what is now known as Brown University, a very prestigious Ivy League college in Providence. While we are throwing out facts, let’s not forget to add rum-runner, and another small tidbit we like to call SLAVE TRADER!

Let’s face it; 1772 was a long time ago, and the parade is a great time for kids, and bands, and community. For adults, it’s a time to see friends, and neighbors; some you haven’t seen for 10 years, and others you cross the street fast, and hope you don’t see them for another 10. Brown University is a magnificent school with much too be proud of, including trying to make peace with its past.

There is a nagging point lurking in the background. It comes from the idea in this day, and age, that John Brown can be viewed as a “founding father” of America now, but at the time was viewed as a terrorist, and pirate. As this website likes to point out, “Time Loves a Hero!” I’m not saying I don’t love the idea of living in America, and I am grateful for what the Colonist did, but Americans need to understand that sometimes, there is a fine line between John Brown and his “boys” as lovable “Pirates of the Caribbean,” and detested “Pirates of Somalia. “