By Jenn Meeropol, RFC Executive Director
There are two recently published books which I think will be of particular interest to the RFC community. The first, Dangerous, Dirty, Violent and Young, is Zayd Ayers Dohrn’s exploration of his experience growing up as the child of 1960s radicals Bernardine Dohrn and Bill Ayers. I imagine RFC beneficiary families will recognize the mixed emotions Zayd unpacks in this thoughtful exploration of his past: love for his parents, how “normal” his upbringing underground felt for so much of his childhood and the hard questions he has about his parents' choices. They clearly loved their children but also took enormous risks, which carried the real possibility of lengthy if not permanent separation from their kids.
After reading Zayd’s book, my mother, RFC advisory board member Ellen Meeropol, mentioned that she thought it was a fascinating companion piece to my father’s memoir, An Execution in the Family. Both explore sons' questions about their parents’ political choices, how their parents’ activism impacted them and how their views of their parents and their choices have changed over time.
I was struck by the deep sense of community Zayd experienced as a child. That sense of solidarity and connection is at the heart of the RFC project; one of the most frequent responses we receive from beneficiary families is the significance and impact of this tangible sense of community support.
Or, as Zayd’s father shares towards the end of his book, “how do you take responsibility for yourself and your family and at the same time take some responsibility for the larger world? That’s challenging, that’s difficult.”
The second book, Harriet Clark’s novel The Hill, follows a young girl as she grows up visiting her mother, a political prisoner, in a jail “on the hill.” Harriet Clark’s mother, Judith Clark, served more than 35 years in prison for her alleged role in the 1981 Brinks robbery. The Hill will be the focus of a September blog on our blog page (stay tuned). You can join our email list to be notified of future blog posts.