Fresh Prince of Bill Ayers

William Ayers is a former member of the radical terrorist group called the “Weather Underground”, which has claimed responsibility for several bombings during the early seventies including bombings to the Pentagon, US Capital building, and the NY City Police Headquarters. All of this was done to protest the unnecessary war that America started in Vietnam. The FBI labeled them a “domestic terrorist group”, and although nobody was ever killed in these attacks, several were injured.



Since then Ayers has become a distinguished professor at the University of Illinois-Chicago, has publicly apologized for his acts, and has even written letters of apology to the individuals who were injured as a result of his violence. A lot of controversy arose in 2001 when, in a NY Times interview, Ayers said, “I don’t regret setting bombs” and “I feel we didn’t do enough”. Although on the surface this sounds like more terrorist rhetoric, Ayers corrected the way in which his words were interpreted after the interview was publicized. Ayers said that by “not doing enough” he was speaking in reference to not having done enough to stop the American government from waging an unethical war in Vietnam, and did not mean to imply that he wished he had set more bombs.



Ayers became the center of attention for much of the 2008 political campaign after news came out that President-Elect Barack Obama and Ayers were friends. Vice Presidential republican nominee Sarah Palin went as far to say that Obama “pals around with terrorists” in an interview a couple months prior to the 2008 Presidential Election. All of this talk about Obama being connected to a terrorist arose because between 1999 and 2002 Obama and Ayers were both members on the board of an anti-poverty group called the Woods Fund of Chicago. Obama also received and accepted a 200-dollar campaign contribution from Ayers.

I can understand the concern here with Obama’s judgment with whom he “pals around with” but let’s be serious folks. Obama was 8 years old when the Weathermen were active. Obama has also come out and condemned the acts taken by the Weatherman Underground. It’s not like the two go golfing on the weekends, they simply served on a board together over 15 years ago. Connecting Obama with events that occurred almost forty years ago was a far stretch, and a desperate attempt for the John Mccain-Sarah Palin campaign, and boy am I glad it didn’t work.

Please enjoy a video short made by my friend and fellow Real Talk Politic blogger, Louis Armistead. The video is called “The Fresh Prince of Bill Ayers”, and is set to Will Smiths legendary “The Fresh Prince of Bell Airs”. It gives a great interpretation of the Obama-Ayers connection that Mccain-Palin brought to the spotlight. Enjoy!