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Just a few weeks ago, I would have seriously considered a response to this article a sure way to come under increased government scrutiny and surveillance. I remember feeling exactly the same way in 1968 while attending anti war planning meetings in Los Angeles.
One thing William Ayers described in this interview is the absolute pain, desperation and terror many of us felt in 1968 as the war expanded and two of our nation’s most important voices were silenced by assassination. A lot of that pain and grief has faded over the years, but anytime it gets mentioned I remember the feeling of helplessness and rage mixed with a strong dose of, “hope I die before I get old”; a dangerous combination.
Although I refused to give voice to it, I know a lot of folks that were reliving some of that panic as this election cycle started to give legs to the dream of Barack Obama’s election.
Extreme pain, desperation, depression and moral outrage can cause people to justify a lot of things. 9/11 is one example where killing thousands of innocent people in a far away land finds justification in the warped and twisted minds of Islamic extremists. Another is the Weather Underground where citizens target institutions of their own government taking as much care as their morally challenged minds can muster to avoid injury to their fellow citizens as a protest against the mass killing of innocent people in a far away land. There is a difference.
Aside from whatever his personal regrets are, in my book, William Ayers has nothing to apologize for.
