--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: I was just a seventeen-year-old kid…" description: "\"I was just a seventeen-year-old kid, going to Times Square to participate in this left-wing demonstration. The signs were for peace and justice and so ..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6b8/howard-zinn-576_all-kinds_i-was-just-a-seventeen-year-old-kid-goin_1320881.jpg" --- # I was just a seventeen-year-old kid, going to Times Square… ![“I was just a seventeen-year-old kid, going to Times Square to participate in this left-wing demonstration. The signs were for peace and justice and so on. But then I was attacked by police mounted on horseback and on foot. Before I knew it, I was clubbed and knocked unconscious. So it gave me a…” quote by Howard Zinn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6b8/howard-zinn-576_all-kinds_i-was-just-a-seventeen-year-old-kid-goin_1320881.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6b8/howard-zinn-576_all-kinds_i-was-just-a-seventeen-year-old-kid-goin_1320881.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6b8/howard-zinn-576_all-kinds_i-was-just-a-seventeen-year-old-kid-goin_1320881.jpg) > “I was just a seventeen-year-old kid, going to Times Square to participate in this left-wing demonstration. The signs were for peace and justice and so on. But then I was attacked by police mounted on horseback and on foot. Before I knew it, I was clubbed and knocked unconscious. So it gave me a radical view of the United States, a critical view of the role of the state and of the instruments of the state - the police, the Army, and so on - as not being neutral at all in political battles, but being generally against workers and against striking people, against dissenters of all kinds.” [Howard Zinn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/howard-zinn/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The experience of police violence revealed state institutions as partisan tools against dissent and labor. **In simple terms:** Police violence shows state bias against protesters. Key Takeaway Recognize and challenge state power. Themes political activism state power police brutality labor rights Mood angustrated defiant Type political personal When to use this quote - activist organizing - legal reform - media coverage - public education Key Concepts authoritarianism state violence civil rights Questions to Reflect On - How can citizens hold police accountable? - What alternatives exist to confront state oppression? A Different Perspective State institutions may also protect citizens and uphold law. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Army](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/army/) [Battle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/battle/) [Justice](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/justice/) [Kids](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/kids/) [Left wing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/left-wing/) [Peace](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/peace/) [Peace and justice](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/peace-and-justice/) [People](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/people/) [Police](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/police/) [Political](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/political/) [Radical](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/radical/) [Times square](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/times-square/) ## Related quotes > [But we can also take the radical view that the test of an economy has to do with the extent to which it is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-korten/but-we-can-also-take-the-radical-view-that-the-test-of-an-economy-has/) [David Korten](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-korten/) > [No one comes to New York and says 'We've got to check out Times Square and Spa Castle!'](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joe-gatto/no-one-comes-to-new-york-and-says-we-ve-got-to-check-out-times-square/) [Joe Gatto](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joe-gatto/) > [I always have a positive reaction to Times Square - you've got so many people passing through here, so many cultures, and so many…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dhani-jones/i-always-have-a-positive-reaction-to-times-square-you-ve-got-so-many/) [Dhani Jones](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dhani-jones/) > [“If you've ever thought, 'The new Times Square is delightful but would be even better if it were more claustrophobic and nearly impossible to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-adams/if-you-ve-ever-thought-the-new-times-square-is-delightful-but-would/) [Mark Adams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-adams/) > [My mom was scared of the old Times Square so I was never allowed to go. Now I'm scared of the new Times Square,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/padma-lakshmi/my-mom-was-scared-of-the-old-times-square-so-i-was-never-allowed-to/) [Padma Lakshmi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/padma-lakshmi/) > [“One morning Profane woke up early, couldn't get back to sleep and decided on a whim to spend the day like a yo-yo, shuttling…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-pynchon/one-morning-profane-woke-up-early-couldn-t-get-back-to-sleep-and/) [Thomas Pynchon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-pynchon/) > [Twitter was around communication and visualizing what was happening in the world in real-time. 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I emerged…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-waits/i-was-born-in-the-back-seat-of-a-yellow-cab-in-a-hospital-loading/) [Tom Waits](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-waits/) > [Leo had recently discovered how to change the display, like the Times Square JumboTron,so now the banner read: Merry Christmas! 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So it gave me a radical view of the United States, a critical view of the role of the state and of the instruments of the state - the police, the Army, and so on - as not being neutral at all in political battles, but being generally against workers and against striking people, against dissenters of all kinds.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Howard Zinn" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/howard-zinn/i-was-just-a-seventeen-year-old-kid-going-to-times-square-to/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "All kinds" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/howard-zinn/i-was-just-a-seventeen-year-old-kid-going-to-times-square-to/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6b8/howard-zinn-576_all-kinds_i-was-just-a-seventeen-year-old-kid-goin_1320881.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6b8/howard-zinn-576_all-kinds_i-was-just-a-seventeen-year-old-kid-goin_1320881.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6b8/howard-zinn-576_all-kinds_i-was-just-a-seventeen-year-old-kid-goin_1320881.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“I was just a seventeen-year-old kid, going to Times Square to participate in this left-wing demonstration…” — Howard Zinn", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Howard Zinn", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/howard-zinn/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "I was just a seventeen-year-old kid,...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/howard-zinn/i-was-just-a-seventeen-year-old-kid-going-to-times-square-to/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/howard-zinn/i-was-just-a-seventeen-year-old-kid-going-to-times-square-to/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```