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My mother-in-law, a fine lady in her mid-80s, recently said, in my presence, that she has never liked John McCain, but she was voting for him, because she was afraid of Barak Obama. I think my mother-in-law is similar in many ways to a lot of older white voters in this country, in not being comfortable with Barak Obama. Obama has a funny name, which sounds Islamic to them, especially his middle name. My mother-in-law's friends fill her email in-box up with stuff circulating around that is unsigned, cites no sources, but, it is in an email, it did come from a church friend of hers, and it claims that Obama is a Muslim, and he is going to take her Bible away and take Lawrence Welk re-runs off the air forever. People like my mother-in-law are part of the target audience for the campaign to attach Obama to William Ayers, a man they say is a domestic terrorist.
When I heard that Obama was 8 years old when William Ayers committed his terrorist crimes, the allegation lost its fear-factor for me, but it did peek my interest. I wanted to know more about Mr. Ayers. Here is what I found out, and my reaction to that information:
William Ayers came from a fairly well off family, and was attending college during peak of the Vietnam war. Ayers was affected when the Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) President, Paul Potter, at a 1965 Ann Arbor Teach-In against the Vietnam War asked his audience,
"How will you live your life so that it doesn't make a mockery of your values?"
Ayers later wrote in his memoir, Fugitive Days, that his reaction was:
"You could not be a moral person with the means to act, and stand still. ...To stand still was to choose indifference. Indifference was the opposite of moral"
Now I was in high school when all this stuff was happening, but I remember that there were hundreds of thousands of teens and young adults protesting lots of stuff during this period in our history.
Ayers was involved in a 1965, protest at an Ann Arbor Michigan pizza place because they had refused to seat black people. Later Ayers was arrest for participating in a sit-in at a local draft board.
Ayers jointed the SDS, and became one of their leaders being active between 1968 and 1969. As outrage grew toward the atrocities of denying civil rights to blacks, and the growing entanglements of the US in Vietnam , a more radical segment of the SDS separated and became what was eventually known as the Weather Underground. The Weather Underground is most famous for a campaign consisting of bombings, jailbreaks, and riots that took place between 1969 and 1970.
Something called the Days of Rage was scheduled for October 8-10, 1969 . Mr. Ayers wrote of the Days of Rage:
"The Days of Rage was an attempt to break from the norms of kind of acceptable theater of 'here are the anti-war people: containable, marginal, predictable, and here's the little path they're going to march down, and here's where they can make their little statement.' We wanted to say, "No, what we're going to do is whatever we had to do to stop the violence in Vietnam ."
Ayers has admitted that in an effort to jump start the "all out civil war" he and others bombed a statue on the evening of October 6th 1969 . Only property damage was caused by this bomb set at a statue in a park, but it did break hundreds of windows.
[The statue selected as a target was one commemorating the death of riot police killed in an 1885 riot with labor supporters. What is even more interesting is that this statue was rebuilt, and unveiled in May 1970 and was blow up again by Weather Underground members 5 months later.]
The Days of Rage protest was actually intended to show some support for a group of protest leaders known as the Chicago Eight (or the Chicago Seven), protest leaders accused of inciting the riots at the Democratic National Convention. Most historians today consider that riot to be a police riot, but at the time, many Americans were shocked by the long haired hippie protesters and felt the country was chaotic and in desperate need for this violence and unconventionality to be stomped out.
The Days of Rage protest turned out to be a failure. The Weather Underground and Black Panther leaders had expected 25,000 to attend, and instead only a couple of hundred showed up.
In 1970 Ayers and several members of the Weather Underground had assembled a nail bomb and the devise exploded killing Ted God,, Terry Robbins, and Ayers' girlfriend, Diana Oughton. Kathy Boudin and Cathy Wilkerson both survived the blast. Although Ayers was not, immediately charged with a crime he choose to became a fugitive and went into hiding. Later, charges were filed against Ayers in that bombing.
Ayers, admitted in his book, Fugitive Days, that he was later involved in other bombing incidents:
a bombing of a New York City Police Headquarters (1970)
the bombing of the Capitol Building (1971)
the Pentagon in 1972
The bombing of the Pentagon actually was, in Ayers' opinion, of limited success, because the explosing caused a water leak, and that caused enough damage that aerial bombardments during the Vietnam War were halted for several days.
Ayers writes:
Although the bomb that rocked the Pentagon was itsy-bitsy - weighing close to two pounds - it caused 'tens of thousands of dollars' of damage. The operation cost under $500, and no one was killed or even hurt.
Eventually, Ayers married a fellow Weather Underground member, Bernardine Dohrn. The two remained fugitives together, changing identities, jobs and locations. In 1976 the charges against Ayers and Dohrn were dropped due to prosecutorial misconduct. The Counter Intelligence Program (COINTELPRO) within the FBI, used a number of covert operations in order to disrupt dissident political organizations. The target of COINTELPRO included the Klu Klux Klan, the Black Panthers, and the Weather Underground.
The tactics used by COINTELPRO included
Infiltration
---not merely spying on political activists, but with the goal of discrediting and disrupting the organization. Their main purpose was to discredit and disrupt. Their very presence served to undermine trust and scare off potential supporters. The FBI and police exploited this fear to smear genuine activists as agents.
Using psychological warfare
---planting false media stories
---circulating bogus leaflets
---a whisper campaign spreading misinformation
---intimidated parents, employers, landlords, school officials, and others to cause trouble for the targeted activists.
Using the legal system for harassment
---using perjured testimony
---fabricated evidence as a pretext for arrest
---discriminatory enforcement of tax laws
---overt or conspicuous surveillance
---free and frequent use of grand jury subpoenas as a tool to silence or intimidate targeted supporters.
Using authority figure force and violence. The FBI and police would:
---threaten, and use vandalism, assaults, and beatings aimed at targeted people including Blacks, Porto Rican and native American activists, and actually there are allegations that political assassinations took place.
Apparently there were enough questions raised regarding the FBI/ COINTELPRO activities against Ayers and the Weather Underground had tainted the charges against them, and so all charges were dropped.
Since Ayers has admitted domestic terrorist crimes in his book Fugitive Days, we can say that while he is not legally guilty of domestic terrorism, he is certainly morally guilty, and he is most defiantly Not Innocent.
Nevertheless, Ayers today is not the Ayers of those turbulent Vietnam protest days. In Chicago Magazine, in 2001 Ayers and his wife Dohrn apologised for their part in those violent protest activities.
Ayers has not received general forgiveness, despite his apology because of an interview he gave to the New York Times when he is reported to have said he did not regret setting those bombs, and that he felt they [the Weather Underground] hadn't done enough. When asked if he would do anything like that again Ayers reported answered,
"I don't want to discount the possibility."
So when Republican's say that Ayers is an unrepentant domestic terrorist, they have some grounds for that statement. For his part, while Ayers has not actually denied saying these things about his terrorist past, he did write a letter to the editor saying that the report had deliberated distorted his words and taken things out of context. Ayers could have out right denied the statements, but he did not do that.
Ayers did, however, write a letter to the editor in the Chicago Tribune, in which he wrote:
"I condemn all forms of terrorism - individual, group and official".
He also condemned the 9-11 terrorist attack in this same letter, saying:
"Today we are witnessing crimes against humanity on our own shores on an unthinkable scale, and I fear that we may soon see more innocent people in other parts of the world dying in response."
Ayers has never been convicted of a crime [although he probably should have been], and Mr. Ayers is currently working as a Distinguished Professor at the University of Illinois at the Chicago College of Education. He is a free man, he is not a fugitive from the law, and he is interested in and involved in a number of social issues and causes, some of which involved urban educational reform, and working with and for children in trouble with the law.
Ayers worked with Chicago Mayor Daley in shaping the city's school reform program, and was one of three co-authors of a grant proposal that in 1995 won $49.2 million over five years for public school reform. Also, in 1997 Chicago awarded Ayers its Citizen of the Year award for his work on the project. Since 1999 he has served on the board of directors of the Woods Fund of Chicago, an anti-poverty, philanthropic foundation. Mr. Ayers was not, however the ONLY member of the Woods Fund of Chicago. Among the other board members was a rising young politician named Barack Obama.
Here is my point:
1. Ayers admits having a domestic terrorist past, but when he was committing his crimes Barak Obama was a little boy. In no way is Barak Obama to be considered connected to those crimes.
2. Ayers is not a fugitive from justice, law enforcement knows where he is, and they have not arrested and prosecuted him. This means that Ayers is a citizen of this country and as a citizen he is active in politics, and community development. This means that other people involved in politics and community development will cross paths with him.
3. Ayers was supportive of the political ambitions of Barak Obama. However, this is not the Ayers of 1969, a young angry protester of the Vietnam War, this is an older wiser, man who has behaved with some responsibility since these sins of his past. Obama has had associations with Ayers, but so has Mayer Daley
When asked about his associations with Ayers Senator Obama said:
This is a guy who lives in my neighborhood, who's a professor of English in Chicago who I know and who I have not received some official endorsement from. He's not somebody who I exchange ideas from on a regular basis. And the notion that somehow as a consequence of me knowing somebody who engaged in detestable acts 40 years ago, when I was eight years old, somehow reflects on me and my values doesn't make much sense.
There is evidence that Ayers, at one time, contributed $200 to the Obama re-election fund,.
If Ayers so evil why is he allowed to walk our streets? Why is Ayers allowed to teach at a public University. Why isn't he hounded out of neighborhoods and forced to register like some sexual predator where ever he goes? Do we have a list of everyone who knows and has had associates with William Ayers? Should we? Would it be legal and morally right to isolate and persecute William Ayers for the rest of his life because of something he did during his youth, but was never prosecuted for?
If we are going to castigate political leaders for their associates then why is not more made of the fact that Republican Vice President candidate Sarah Palin's husband Todd Palin was a member of a separatist group in Alaska calling for the secession of that state from the United States . While the McCain campaign has denied this story the director of Division of Elections in Alaska , Gail Fenumiai, has revealed that Todd Palin was registered in October 1995 to the Alaska Independence Party, a radical group that advocates for Alaskan secession from the United States .
With the exception of a few months in 2000, Sarah Palin's husband remained a registered member of AIP until July 2002 when he changed his registration again to be an undeclared voter.The founder of the Alaska Independence Party was a guy named Joe Vogler who has professed his "hatred for the American government" and cursed the American flag as a "damn flag."
The AIP founder, Joe Vogler, in a 1991 interview Oral History Program in the Rasmuson Library at the University of Alaska , Fairbanks .
"The fires of hell are frozen glaciers compared to my hatred for the American government," ~Oral History Program in the Rasmuson Library at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks
Vogler has made no secret of his desire for Alaskan secession, and secession is the main purpose for the formation of the Alaskan Independent Party.
"And I won't be buried under their damn flag I'll be buried in Dawson . And when Alaska is an independent nation they can bring my bones home." ~Joe Vogler
Even Senator John McCain may have connections to Iran-Contra. News outlets are reporting that in the 1980s, McCain served on the advisory board to the U.S. chapter of an international group [U.S. Council for World Freedom] linked to ultra-right-wing death squads in Central America .
The U.S. Council for World Freedom, created by retired Army Maj. Gen. John Singlaub, was the U.S. chapter of the World Anti-Communist League, an international organization linked to former Nazi collaborators and ultra-right-wing death squads in Central America . After setting up the U.S. council, Singlaub served as the international league's chairman. For a time, this questionable group had John McCain's name on their letterhead.
McCain later resigned from the group, and asked that his name be taken off the letterhead. I do not believe that McCain is a terrorist, or that he is unqualified to be President because of this past association. I do, however, feel that McCain was an adult when he got involved with this organization and Obama was 8 years old when William Ayers was doing his terrorist stuff.
Sara Palin mocks Obama for "paling around" with a domestic terrorist, but she is married to someone who has years of membership in a group headed by someone who hated America and wanted the secession of Alaska from the Union . The last time States tried secession we had a Civil War.
I find the Ayers story interesting, and obviously he is not someone you would want to pal around with while running for public office, but the truth is that Obama is not associated with the crimes of Ayers, he was a child when they took place, and the guy is actually not been convicted of anything. The slight connection between Ayers and Obama is very thin, but McCain and Palin are trying to make things look worse then they are because they want to distract voters from the bad economic news.
Jesus said:
"Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye. ~Matthew 7:3-5 (New International Version)
When Palin and McCain start exaggerating stories to spread fear and misinformation they need to remember that the too have a past that can be questions, inspire fear, and can also be distorted. Remember:
When the poop hits the fan the crap is not distributed evenly.
Tex Norman is a Child Welfare worker, who likes to write. He sees ugliness every day. Writing is how he tries to think through the difficulties of life.
This author of this Article has choosen to make this article available with free reprint rights. Click here to copy this article.
Very insightful and informational. This is the best piece I have read about the life of William Ayers. If people would only seek the facts, the truth, rather than spead hatred, racism and divisiveness, the world would be a better place. To my amazement, there are many so-called Christians who have latched onto this venom in an attempt to discredit Obama. On the campaign trail McCain and Palin continue the dangerous game of inciting people's worst instincts by fueling people to say evil, reckless things about a candidate. Even numerous Republican strategists have called for a cease fire! We are all vulnerable, transparent human beings who need God's grace. Isn't THAT what the Gospel is all about? Thank you for this work.
Wow! How very kind you are. I just finished reading several of your works so I was surprised to see your name pop up with this comment. I think it is very hard to find the real information when the feelings are so strong on all sides. I am an Obama supporter, but my fear is that my support of him may, at times, blind me to the truth. What I am finding is that the way candidates present information is always slanted to address their goal. They rarely really lie, but they have rationalized so much with themselves that they no longer can see clearly, or, they over state their case to make their case.
No body is all bad, and I think that is too bad. I wish my opponent was all bad, with red skin, a pointed tail, horns and a pitchfork. If only we lived in an either or world.
Thanks for your comments. I'm new to this site and it is nice to have someone enjoy my work. I know you know what I'm talking about because I have seen that some of your articles have 1000+ readers and lots of comments. Keep writing. Thanks again. tex
Well written, well formatted and an informative read.
Your first paragraph about your mother-in-law's predisposition is simply spot-on, and perfectly captures the mind of that demographic. I know one, she is my mother.
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