Bill Ayers to talk about past as anti-war activist, need for reform

Bill Ayers to talk about past as anti-war activist, need for reform

http://media-newswire.com/release_1084529.html

2009-01-20

Throughout the Democratic primary season and general election
campaigns, Ayers refused to protest or publicly challenge the
characterization made by Obama's political opponents that he was and
remains a domestic terrorist.

ANN ARBOR, Mich.­When the intense presidential campaign descended
into a game of rhetorical name-calling, one person in particular was
invoked as a sign of Barack Obama's "questionable" personal
associations­Bill Ayers.

Throughout the Democratic primary season and general election
campaigns, Ayers refused to protest or publicly challenge the
characterization made by Obama's political opponents that he was and
remains a domestic terrorist.

Ayers will present a talk and read from the republication of his 2001
book, "Fugitive Days: Memoirs of an Anti-War Activist" at 7 p.m. Jan.
26 at the University of Michigan Hatcher Graduate Library Gallery, Room 100.

He will be joined by Bernardine Dohrn, co-author with Ayers of "Race
Course: Against White Supremacy." Dohrn is director of the Children
and Family Law Justice Center, and a clinical associate professor of
law at Northwestern University.

Ayers and Dohrn married during their times as fugitives while members
of the Weather Underground. The author readings are co-sponsored by
the U-M Library and Shaman Drum Bookshop in Ann Arbor.

A distinguished professor of education and senior university scholar
at the University of Illinois-Chicago, Ayers was the subject of scorn
and ridicule throughout Obama's campaign. Despite Obama addressing
what he characterized as a casual association on a nonprofit board,
his political opponents often castigated Obama for simply knowing
Ayers; a sign, some alleged, that he wasn't quite the moderate
reflected in his rhetoric of unity and bipartisanship.

While Obama's political critics proved to be exploiting the loose
connection, there's compelling relevance in revisiting the cauldron
of social activism of the radical 1960s, according to Ayers. The
ongoing war in Iraq, impending escalation of military operations in
Afghanistan and social unrest in response to current economic
calamities is stirring a desire for reform and accountability perhaps
not seen since the days of the Vietnam War protests and Great
Depression, he contends.

Ayers' views­wrought from his confrontations with entrenched
institutional powers­are based on his belief that racism and war are
interwoven issues. Today, Ayers is widely considered an expert on
educational reform, particularly elementary education in urban areas.

Yet despite his trenchant social analysis and contributions to
educational reform, there's no overlooking his infamous involvement
in the bombings of public buildings nearly 40 years ago cast doubt on
his methods. That Ayers was a topic in the past presidential election
points to the depth of the wounds inflicted on the American
conscience during the Vietnam war, a schism that continues today.

Ayers grew up outside of Chicago and earned a B.A. from the
University of Michigan in American Studies in 1968.

In 1995, Ayers collaborated with Chicago Mayor Richard Daley in
drafting the city's school reform program, and co-authored the
Chicago Annenberg Challenge grant proposal that provided $49.2
million to transform the urban education system. For his work on the
project, Ayers was named the city's Citizen of the Year in 1997.

Dohrn serves on many human rights committees and is on the law
faculty at the Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam. Her legal work in
Chicago focuses on reforming the juvenile justice system.

Contact: Frank Provenzano
Phone: 647-4411

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