Pete Seeger

The Eternal Optimist

This machine surrounds hate and forces it to surrender.

The first time I saw Pete Seeger in concert, I was clueless. I mean I’d grown up singing his songs, but I had no idea who he was, what a force he was in music, what a giant in activism. But I knew I was going to enjoy his music when I noticed that he was wearing nonmatching socks. And he was apparently defiantly proud of it because one was red and one was bright green. I’ve worn mismatched socks ever since in his honor.

The second thing I noticed was his banjo. Remember, I didn’t know a thing about him, I didn’t know that he carried his banjo everywhere, that he offered to play a song for the House Un-American Activities Committee instead of naming names. I didn’t know he’d played We Shall Overcome on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial at the March on Washington in 1963. I didn’t realize that banjo had such a history. But as his fingers flew over the strings, I read the words that circled the instrument’s face: This machine surrounds hate and forces it to surrender.

Pete Seeger was an optimist, for sure. He started out singing for the rights of union workers with Woody Guthrie in the 1930s. Kept going. Fought Nazis in the 40s. Blacklisted by HUAC in the 50s. Kept going. Joined the Civil Rights movement in the 60s. Protested the Vietnam War. And then kept going.

If you think 2025 was a dreadful year (and it was) consider for a moment the year of 1968. Martin Luther King assassinated. Bobby Kennedy assassinated. More than 16,000 Americans dead in Viet Nam. Nixon wins the White House (Bad as he was, at least he didn’t decorate it in faux gold trim.) And the Hudson River, one of the most beautiful rivers in the world, was also one of the most polluted, with raw sewage floating on the tide.

Hardly anyone was worrying about the environment in those days. Earth Day was years in the future. But Pete, living on the banks of the Hudson, found time amid his anti-war work to dive into another cause. The first voyage of the Clearwater was in 1969.

[thanks to Nancy F. Castaldo for the photo]

Pete and Toshi Seeger founded a grassroots environmental organization in 1966, and began work on an old-fashioned sloop to bring music and activism to the Hudson. The Clearwater launched three years later. The beautiful craft, sailing up and down the Hudson, brought attention to the river’s plight. Education and music combined with aggressive political activism—Pete Seeger’s unique recipe for optimism.

In line with Pete’s environmental work, let me do a plug for an organization called EarthJustice which has done amazing work in the last year. They have no banjos, but they use litigation to beat back some of the worst excesses of the Trump administration in raping the environment. Their motto is “Because the Earth Needs A Good Lawyer.”

Info from one of my favorite Substacks, Chop Wood, Carry Water: “They successfully blocked the Trump administration from illegally opening one of the world’s most pristine tropical marine environments to commercial fishing.

“Earlier this year the Trump administration canceled more than 600 USDA grants, hundreds of which benefited farmers and organizations that work to strengthen rural communities, address food insecurity, advance sustainable agriculture, and more. Earthjustice was the organization that sued to get those grants restored.”

Click here to see more of their 2025 wins. In one of the most appalling years in America’s history, it’s an encouraging list. Shutting down polluters, halting oil drilling projects, fighting to restore federal grants and funding. They win some, they lose some. I’m sure they’ll lose some cases in 2026, but like Pete, they never give up trying.

The last time I saw Pete Seeger was at a protest to Ban Fracking in New York State, in 2013. He showed up—he always showed up. It was a winter’s day, bitter cold. Banjo in hand, he talked to the press, and marched with the protesters. And then he strummed the banjo and led us in a few verses of This Land. Ninety-three years young.

As we sail into the uncharted waters of 2026, I remember the only time I actually spoke to Pete Seeger. It was at a city park in Beacon NY, a benefit (of course) concert for the Clearwater. He must have been about 87. At intermission, I spotted him by himself in a quiet area of the park, and I got up my nerve to approach him and tell him how much I liked his music. He smiled and murmured a few words—he was always sort of awkward around people one-on-one. Then he said goodbye and went on with what he was doing.

He was picking up litter.

When one person taps out a beat while another leads into the melody, or when three people discover a harmony they never knew existed, or a crowd joins in on a chorus as though to raise the ceiling a few feet higher, then they also know there is hope for the world.”

~Pete Seeger

Dear Friends,

Are you furious about the state of the world and wondering what to do about it? I hope you’ll continue to check out The Optimistic Activist.

Every now and then I post some ideas for doing something. How to get out the vote, spread the word, and support progressive candidates. Ideas for simple but effective activism. As easy, as practical, as do-able as I can make them.

Together, I think, we can really make a difference.

“Optimism is a strategy for making a better future.”

--Noam Chomsky

Anitasanchez.com