LOS ANGELES — Long before he became a renowned scientist who fought for environmental justice in Los Angeles and beyond, John Froines was an antiwar activist who became a familiar face as a member of the fabled Chicago 7.
The Vietnam War was at a pitch, the nation was heaving with racial tension and college campuses had become battlegrounds when Froines joined Abbie Hoffman, Tom Hayden and the others at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago in 1968 to protest the long-running and increasingly unpopular war.
The convention was a loud, blurry, chaotic event. Activist Jerry Rubin tried to nominate a pig for president and then speak on the hog’s behalf. Dan Rather was roughed up by police while trying to interview delegates, and author Norman Mailer waded through the crowd trying to get a handle on what it all meant — if anything.
