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Like Bill Ayers, I rejoice in the election of Senator Obama as president, and in the vision of what Mr. Ayers calls this "beautiful young family" which will occupy the White House, hopefully, for the next eight years. I am 57 years old and a teacher in the Boston Public Schools, an unrepentant radical and life-long socialist throughout my adult life, politicized by the Vietnam War, the Civil Rights struggle, and other movements for social justice in the late sixties. During that period I may have had political qualms about the work of the Weather Underground, and would not have engaged in the tactics which they employed.
That having been said, neither would I have condemned their actions, since I perceived, as they did, that our generation was at war with the government. If anything, I harbored a reticent satisfaction that others would undertake such bold action, which I dared not, in the face of what Ayers rightfully calls the terrorism of the government against the people of Vietnam and against African people right here in America. Witness his reminder of the cold-blooded murder of Fred Hampton by the FBI and the Chicago Police, shot point-blank in the head as he laid in his bed.
I am concerned, as Bill Ayers must be, at the extent to which Mr. Obama is veering toward centrist elements in the Democratic Party, and even toward conservative Republicans. I would like to see him include people like Rashid Khalidi and (yes) Jesse Jackson among his advisors. I also agree with Mr. Ayers' reminder that Obama should not be seen as a "savior", and that we should all fall back on his words (deliberately twisted in the media) that "we are the ones we have been waiting for". I am heartened by his recent promise to close Guantanamo, but am assuming that action in the streets will be necessary to force his hand toward a speedy end to the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Considering this country's dire economic straits, I feel that the people will respond affirmatively to the argument that, aside from the immorality of our involvement in these two conflicts, the $12 billion a month we dump into that sewer of oppression will be better spent at home.
Finally, Bill Ayers himself comes across as a serious thinker, committed and humane. I may step out to Barnes and Noble this very evening and try to pick up his book.
