NEW EXHIBIT AT MENDOCINO COUNTY MUSEUM
The Car Bombing of Judi Bari: A Community Remembers
Showing: September 18-October 24
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.
