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Remembering Our Brother Dave Curry

By Orlando Tizon

When I arrived in Chicago in the early 1990s, some of the first people I got to know were Barry Romo and Bill Branson. They invited me to a VVAW cook out. It was during one of those cook outs that I first met Dave at Barry's old apartment.

We immediately got to talking. I pulled him to a corner of the house and invited him to join me with his beer and hotdog. I was especially excited when he said that he was a sociologist teaching in St. Louis. I was surprised to see a sociologist among a group of vets from all sorts of backgrounds and experiences, all related to the Vietnam war. But not a sociologist in this crowd! I told myself. But there he was.

I told him that I was planning to enroll in graduate school in Chicago and take up sociology. He very kindly asked me why I wanted to do this and I told him I wanted to go back to teaching. He gave me a few tips about graduate school in the US and about teaching.

During the few times that we managed to meet while I was living in Chicago, I got to know Dave a little better and at more depth. Knowing that he was in criminology I questioned him aggressively about his opinions on juveniles detained, especially Blacks and Latinos. He talked for an hour about young people he had met in detention and criticized the US prison system. Dave was not a typical academic hiding in the narrow offices of academe; he was down to earth and involved in grassroots movements for change.

He was an inspiration for me to go on and become a sociologist.

Orlando Tizon is a Professor of Sociology in Washington, DC and long-time friend of VVAW.