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

ANN ARBOR—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 associations?Bill 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’ views?wrought from his confrontations with entrenched institutional powers?are 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.