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An evening with an unrepentant terrorist
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It was, largely, curiosity that led me into the old sanctuary of DC's All Souls Unitarian Church last night, and had me picking out one of the few empty seats in the pews. I'd heard from a friend just a few minutes before that this year's newest media villain, Bill Ayers was speaking there (he wanted me to see the protestors, but they were gone by the time I arrived) and I wondered, like so many, what did this man, so vilified, have to say? How did the public outcry towards him affect him? What did all this new hatred make him think?
Judging by the discussion, hosted by Teaching for Change and Busboys and Poets, it made him think about reforming the public education system.
While he is incredibly soft-spoken, Ayers gives you the feeling of being in a very well-taught class, or, given the setting, an especially compassionate congregation. While he comes across as a benevolent speaker, his words show his real passion for education, and his frustration at the other side's willfulness in opposing it: "When we talk about reform, it always comes up that, 'The research shows...', 'The research shows that class size doesn't matter'. Meanwhile [the researcher]'s sons to to Andover and Exeter where the class size is, five," was one of the many anecdotal 'lessons' he gave to the crowd, mostly made up of teachers, a few journalists, and a couple of TV camera crews. "People say you can't make the problem go away by throwing money at it, and when they do, I respond, 'Throw money at it!'" was one of his bigger applause-drawing lines.
While the crowd shared Ayers' passion for the education issue, the Q&A showed that they, too, wanted to know what has been on the public's minds. "Do you feel that the issue of g'uilt by association' has affected this election?" Ayers paused and gave a measured answer. That the election turned out how it did showed that this kind of politics didn't work, and telling another story about how his now-grown children would phone him during the debates (he says he doesn't watch TV, except apparently for The Colbert Report) to tell him that every time Sen. McCain or Sarah Palin would try to bring Obama down with a reference to Ayers, the undecided voters reacted negatively. "I expected," he added" the grown-up media to say this was irrelevant."
What left the largest impression on me, however, was the part of the talk that, admittedly, most sounded like it was rehearsed: "Remember," Ayers told his audience, like a preacher to his flock, "Lyndon Johnson passed the most effective civil rights legislation ever passed, but he was not part of the civil rights movement. Franklin Roosevelt ddin't run as a reformer and Abraham Lincoln was not a member of an abolitionist party. Our leaders respond to the movements on the ground." Saying he didn't want to "hars anybody's mellow" over the excitement that, especially in the District, has arisen over Barack Obama's victory, Ayers urged that people savor the moment and then get back to work, because the people must take the initative to bring the government to the Change that is no doubt coming.
Washington Post
Teaching for Change
Busboys and Poets
Bill Ayers
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