Talking Strategy, Making History
Nov 5, 2026 · 52 min · 11 segments
That's the title of Zayd Ayers Dohrn's much praised and discussed memoir of being raised by parents who were leaders of the post-sixties Weather Underground. The book inventories their crimes and…
Dick FlacksHostDaraka Larimore-HallHostWell, I'm using it in a class of teaching called activism, where we tried to talk about, you know, movement activity at the level of the individual and like what it means to be an activist, what kinds of strategies and tactics activists use, et cetera.
And so I'm using the book one first, you know, I'm always looking for things that are thick with knowledge, thick with facts, but not written for an academic audience as a entry point for undergraduates.
And then, and, and so this memoir, which is, I mean, I think you agree, Dick, just phenomenally well-written, just so good.
And of course is a story that is, I mean, one of my students, Right away, a twig to how cinematic it is.
And then, you know, I wanted to we were talking a lot about the 60s and 70s.
And the upsurge in activism for, to look at, at lessons for the kinds of decisions that activists made kinds of conditions, they found themselves in resistance and repression, all of these things.
And so, you know, here's a story that includes all of those things in an, in a narrative that's compelling and interesting.
And then, you know, the other, I think the last thing is that I try in all of my classes.
to give students tools for navigating the current political environment as political actors, as voters, as activists, as engaged people, as neighbors, as students, all of those things.
And one of the concerns that I have is kind of break in continuity and conversation between generations of activists.
And, and I see out in the world, people, young, young activists repeating some mistakes that were made in the past, continuing some traditions, unfortunate traditions that we could leave behind.
And, and, you know, one generation saying to another, like, Hey, maybe there's some things we shouldn't take along.
And again, another one of my students really grabbed onto this early on in the book airs door and says that reckoning with his childhood and, and his, what, you know, his parents were up to and so forth.
has made it hard for him to find his own activist voice, like his own... entry point into being an active person and a, you know, a leftist and engaged in politics in some level, which he thinks is a good thing to be.
So he didn't, he came out of all of this experience thinking that his parents were right in being active, in being radical, in being, you know, brave.
And he feels like, It's harder for him to do unless he reckons with the mistakes, the bad things that his parents were up to and thought.
Well, I'm using it in a class of teaching called activism, where we tried to talk about, you know, movement activity at the level of the individual and like what it means to be an activist, what kinds of strategies and tactics activists use, et cetera.
And so I'm using the book one first, you know, I'm always looking for things that are thick with knowledge, thick with facts, but not written for an academic audience as a entry point for undergraduates.
And then, and, and so this memoir, which is, I mean, I think you agree, Dick, just phenomenally well-written, just so good.
And of course is a story that is, I mean, one of my students, Right away, a twig to how cinematic it is.
And then, you know, I wanted to we were talking a lot about the 60s and 70s.
And the upsurge in activism for, to look at, at lessons for the kinds of decisions that activists made kinds of conditions, they found themselves in resistance and repression, all of these things.
And so, you know, here's a story that includes all of those things in an, in a narrative that's compelling and interesting.
And then, you know, the other, I think the last thing is that I try in all of my classes.
to give students tools for navigating the current political environment as political actors, as voters, as activists, as engaged people, as neighbors, as students, all of those things.
And one of the concerns that I have is kind of break in continuity and conversation between generations of activists.
And, and I see out in the world, people, young, young activists repeating some mistakes that were made in the past, continuing some traditions, unfortunate traditions that we could leave behind.
And, and, you know, one generation saying to another, like, Hey, maybe there's some things we shouldn't take along.
And again, another one of my students really grabbed onto this early on in the book airs door and says that reckoning with his childhood and, and his, what, you know, his parents were up to and so forth.
has made it hard for him to find his own activist voice, like his own... entry point into being an active person and a, you know, a leftist and engaged in politics in some level, which he thinks is a good thing to be.
So he didn't, he came out of all of this experience thinking that his parents were right in being active, in being radical, in being, you know, brave.
And he feels like, It's harder for him to do unless he reckons with the mistakes, the bad things that his parents were up to and thought.
The rest of this transcript — segmented and speaker-labeled, so you land on the exact moment something was said
Search every transcript — by keyword, by phrase, or by meaning, across every show Radar indexes
Trends — what is surging across podcasts, measured against its own baseline
Alerts — when a name you follow appears in a newly indexed episode
No account is needed to search Radar.