Ayers Talks Death Penalty at Law Center
Anti-war activist William Ayers, who attracted national attention during the presidential campaign for his past connections to President-elect Barack Obama, highlighted the need for conversation between people of different beliefs in a speech at the Law Center last night.
Ayers, who is currently a professor at the University of Illinois, was invited by the National Lawyers Guild at Georgetown. During his speech, Ayers did not mention his career with the Weather Underground, a radical organization responsible for numerous acts of domestic terrorism, nor did he mention the controversial accusations leveled against him in the recent presidential campaign. Ayers dismissed accusations that he and Obama were closely associated, but expressed the widely felt optimism surrounding the new administration.
“You should have been in Grant Park [on Nov. 4],” he said. “This was the first large crowd I’ve been in that was all love, all unity, all hope — and it was exciting.”
Ayers also emphasized his opposition to the death penalty and gay marriage bans, flaws he perceives in the judicial process.
Ayers specifically condemned the atmosphere at the execution of serial killer John Gacy in 1994 and said that the death penalty evokes disturbing emotions and occasionally punishes the innocent.
“Leading up to the execution, Chicago — and the whole state worked itself into a frenzy of glee,” said Ayers. “There was something about it that was sickening to me.”
Ayers noted that Illinois has reformed its investigative procedures by taping interrogations, but cautioned that circumstantial evidence still results in unfair convictions.
The speech was followed by a question-and-answer session, during which a student asked whether Ayers had ever planned to kill soldiers, referring to rumors that Ayers once targeted an Officer’s Club dance in Fort Dix, N.J., when he led the Weather Underground. According to the New York Times, Ayers wrote in his book that he “participated in the bombings of New York City Police Headquarters in 1970, of the Capitol building in 1971 and the Pentagon in 1972”.
Although Ayers released this information in his book “Fugitive Days”, last night he flatly denied the reports.
“Not only did I never kill or injure another person, but the Weather Underground — in the six years it existed — never killed or injured another person,” he said. “If you ingest way too much Fox News, you’re going to be confused about a lot of things.”
Ayers cautioned against censorship when a student criticized his presence at the Law Center.
“You cannot move forward as a society until you enter into a dialogue with people you do not agree with all the time,” he said. “You have to be willing to accept that there are a range of opinions across the board.”
Ayers also challenged claims that he is a terrorist, criticizing the Vietnam War and the current war in Iraq as terrorist acts. “Let’s not forget that governments also carry out acts of terror,” he said. “I always think it’s interesting when my name is raised in this notorious context, it is always the question of, ‘why did you do that tactic at that time?’ and yet when [Henry] Kissinger speaks, no one asks him about the three million deaths [in Vietnam]. How does he account for that?”
Some students and alumni in attendance questioned the Law Center’s invitation to Ayers, arguing that the Law Center should not condone violent radicalism.
Nov 18 2008 at 5:28 p.m.
It is not necessarily contradictory for Ayers to acknowledge in his book that he participated in various bombings the Weather Underground, but to state in his talk that neither he or organization killed or injured another. It is my understanding, particularly after three members of the weather underground died while making a bomb, that the organization took special care to make sure that target area was clear and that no one would be hurt.
Although Ayers seems to have made it clear that he is trying to address more current topics -- his history is undoubtedly part of the reason he was invited to speak. The Weather organization lost their way as a result of their own rhetoric and increasing frustration in the face of the Vietnam War. Maybe there are things to learn from that.
Nov 18 2008 at 5:31 p.m.
Point of clarification: Ayers denied the WU killing anyone, despite the fact that the WU technically caused the deaths of its own members with that pipe bomb plan at Fort Fix. That's the contradiction though it got muddled in editing and stuff.
Nov 19 2008 at 1:24 a.m.
What a hypocrite! So Ayers sets off bombs, and the only reason that he did not kill the young mother and her son in the capitol building was simply luck. She and her son were spared by a few seconds!
So he is against capital punishment to punish murderers and to prevent further murders, but he and his buddies set off bombs.
Georgetown University's Law School, of all places, should be ashamed to allow such a criminal to speak to their students who are supposed to be trained to uphold the law of the land no matter if you agree with the law or not. Even though I disagree with abortion, it does not give me the right to bomb abortion clinics or to targt abortionists. Ayers is so lame--who would want such an idiot to speak to their law students. Georgetown University has lost its way.
Nov 19 2008 at 10:05 p.m.
Setting off bombs in public places is inherently dangerous and manifests a reckless disregard for the lives of others regardless of whatever measures may be taken to ensure that a target area is clear and no one will be hurt. You cannot always control for the possible unforeseen consequences of such actions. It is disingenuous to try to excuse your actions on that basis and you have to accept the consequences.