NEW YORK (WCBS 880) -- In January of 2021, rioters stormed the U.S. Capitol. Fifty years earlier, in March of 1971, left wing extremists bombed the Capitol building.
What turns someone into a revolutionary willing to put themselves in harm’s way or hurt others to achieve a political objective? That is what the podcast series "Mother Country Radicals" aims to tackle.
"Mother Country Radicals is a family history. It’s a story of my family, which is kind of a crazy story,” Ayers Dohrn told the WCBS 880’s "In Depth" podcast.
His parents were notorious Weather Underground founders Bernadine Dohrn and Bill Ayers wanted by the FBI and Chicago authorities for the “Days of Rage” street protest and actions by the radical group including bombings at the Capitol, State Department and Pentagon.
“The podcast was a family history about my parents and why they decided to have kids while on the run and it’s also a political history… of resistance movements in America,” he said.
Zayd Ayers Dohrn speaks honestly about the history of the Weather Underground including the relationship with the more militant Black Liberation Army which was fighting what it called “a war of oppression” against American authorities.
Ayers Dohrn says the revolutionary movements eventually “went off the tracks” with terrible mistakes and “in some cases unconscionable crimes” but the podcast airs the first person accounts of this history through the voices of those who lived it, along with their now grown children.
Zayd Ayers Dohrn addresses the controversial topics that involved the Weather Underground members and Black Liberation Army including the case of Joanne Chesimard – still on the FBI’s most wanted list and the 1981 Brinks Robbery in suburban New York City.
In one episode, you hear the voice of Weather Underground member Kathy Boudin who speaks about her role in the Brinks case and her regrets about leaving her then-14-month-old son Chesa with the babysitter.
Boudin served 23 years in prison for her role. Her son was raised by Bill Ayers and Bernadine Dohrn. Two weeks ago, Chesa Boudin was recalled as San Francisco District Attorney in a case that Zayd Ayers Dohrn says was orchestrated by the San Francisco Police union and “right wing Republican money.” He says people were afraid of the reform Boudin was proposing in that city and never gave it a chance.
"Mother Country Radicals" is a ten episode podcast from Audacy and tackles all of these topics including the complicated lives it left for the children of the revolution.
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