From the University of Chicago Chronicle (Nov 6., 1997)
Close-up on juvenile justice
Author, former offender among speakersBy Jennifer Vanasco
News OfficeChildren who kill are called "super predators," "people with no conscience," "feral pre-social beings" — and "adults."
William Ayers, author of A Kind and Just Parent: The Children of Juvenile Court (Beacon Press, 1997), says "We should call a child a child. A 13-year-old who picks up a gun isn’t suddenly an adult. We have to ask other questions: How did he get the gun? Where did it come from?"
Naw, it doesn’t seem to be a once only of "hey, so he held a political event for me" on the part of Ayers for Obama. Seems that more and more is coming out – too bad that the MSM has been completely in the tank for Obama and refusing to put in the effort to vet Obama (hey, they ARE trying to vet Governor Palin, right?).
There seemingly a more deeper and more involved relationship between this unrepetant radical bomber (Ayers) and the former community organizer / lobbyist Obama.
And as an aside, an accident, I can handle. A juvenile with a rap sheet as long as the kid is tall? Committing a violent crime with a weapon? Why do we want these kids out on the street?
Ayers, who spent a year observing the Cook County Temporary Juvenile Detention Center in Chicago, is one of four panelists who will speak on juvenile justice at 6 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 20, in the C-Shop. The panel, which marks the 100th anniversary of the juvenile justice system in the United States, is part of the Community Service Center’s monthly discussion series on issues affecting the city of Chicago. The event is free and open to the public.
Ayers will be joined by Sen. Barack Obama, Senior Lecturer in the Law School, who is working to combat legislation that would put more juvenile offenders into the adult system; Randolph Stone, Director of the Mandel Legal Aid Clinic; Alex Correa, a reformed juvenile offender who spent seven years in Cook County Temporary Detention Center; Frank Tobin, a former priest and teacher at the Detention Center who helped Correa; and Willy Baldwin, who grew up in public housing and is currently a teacher at the Detention Center.
The juvenile justice system was founded by Chicago reformer Jane Addams, who advocated the establishment of a separate court system for children which would act like a "kind and just parent" for children in crisis.
One hundred years later, the system is "overcrowded, under-funded, over-centralized and racist," Ayers said.
Michelle Obama, Associate Dean of Student Services and Director of the University Community Service Center, hopes bringing issues like this to campus will open a dialogue between members of the University community and the broader community.
"Students and faculty explore these issues in the classroom, but it is an internal conversation," Obama said. "We know that issues like juvenile justice impact the city of Chicago, this nation and — directly or indirectly — this campus. This panel gives students a chance to hear about the juvenile justice system not only on a theoretical level, but from the people who have experienced it."
And never, ever forget Michelle in all this. Certainly, it seems that there is more of a collusion and partnership than what the campaign wants to admit to.
The Internet never forgets….
