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Quote by Bill Ayers

“There was a sense of palpable relief that George [W.] Bush was leaving and that the Republicans had slipped back and that was a wonderful feeling.”

Quote by Bill Ayers

Author

Bill Ayers (born December 26, 1944) is an American educator and former professor who taught at the University of Illinois at Chicago. He earned his doctorate in education from the University of Michigan and specialized in curriculum theory, teacher education, and educational reform. Ayers is a controversial figure due to his past involvement with the Weather Underground, a radical left-wing organization in the 1960s and 1970s. He has authored several books on progressive education and teaching methods. His academic work has influenced educators in the progressive education movement, though his historical association with radical groups remains a subject of public debate. more

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“I found the place where I was beaten bloody forty years earlier and dragged to jail and that made me cry. When the family came out, that made me cry, and the reason I had a hard time leaving Grant Park was that to see a million people like that, feeling the way that million people felt, was so exhilarating.”

People Way Years Made Hard Reason Feelings Found Felt Millions Cry Leaving Parks Hard Times Forty Grants Jail Bloody Beaten Exhilarating Made Me Cry

Author:Bill Ayers

“It wasn't [Barack] Obama per se; it was the feeling on the ground; it was seeing an old black woman in a wheelchair being wheeled by her son waving a big American flag, and then seeing a guy with his baby in his arms saying, "I didn't want her to miss tonight! I wanted to be able to tell her!" And to see all these people, a Hispanic cop dancing with an old white woman, wow! I mean, that's the world I want to live in, and because it's the world I want to live in, I had a hard time leaving.”

“It was the Democratic Party, it was the Presidential election. We elected a president [Barack Obama]; we didn't elect a king. So all the speculation in the next three months - people camped out at his house, and wondering who's coming to visit, who's going to be the Secretary of State - that all struck me as inane and stupid.”

“It's not Lyndon Johnson who makes the black freedom movement; it's the black freedom movement who makes Lyndon Johnson.”

Black Movement Johnson

Author:Bill Ayers

“We just watched this budget debacle right? Seventy-three percent of Americans want to tax the rich. Why can't the politicians respond to that? Because they are the rich. And they are beholden to the rich. It's a captured system.”

Want Three Rich Politician Taxes Percent Budgets Seventies Captured Debacles

Author:Bill Ayers

“Politicians are conservative by nature.”

Politician Conservative

Author:Bill Ayers

“Where's the activism? Nobody knows. And anyone who thinks they know, like Todd Gitlin, has their head up their ass. Nobody knows. The day before every revolution that's ever happened, that revolution was impossible. The day before Rosa Parks, that was impossible. The day after, it was inevitable.”

Thinking Knows Impossible Happened Revolution Activism Ass Inevitable Parks Nobody Knows Heads Up Rosa

Author:Bill Ayers

“That's in the nature of social change. So you can analyze what didn't work, but it's very hard to predict what will work.”

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Author:Bill Ayers

“All that means to me is that people who have a vision of a better world have a responsibility to open their eyes, to pay attention, to act on what the moment demands, and to be humble about that action.”

People World Mean Moments Eye Action Pay Attention Responsibility Vision Demand Humble Pay Attention Be Humble

Author:Bill Ayers

“I know that's a little jarring, coming from a Weatherman, but what I mean by being humble is doubting if your action did anything. So you have to open your eyes, act and doubt. And then you have to repeat for a lifetime.”

Ifs Knows Mean Littles Eye Action Doubt Lifetime Humble Repeats Be Humble Weathermen

Author:Bill Ayers