Interview with Jeff Jones, Co-Founder of the Weather Underground and Co-Author of Prairie Fire
Execution on a Saigon Street, Photo by Eddie Adams (1968)
Excerpts from Interview with Jeff Jones:
RITKES: Years of protests didn’t change a lot in terms of foreign policy, the war, and racism, so it looks like it had little effect.
JONES: Let me disagree with that very strongly. I wish that the demonstrations had had immediate success, but I think this was one of the most important lessons that we’ve learned from fighting against the war in Vietnam, and U.S. intervention in countries all over the world … They don’t change just because you point out that they’re hypocritical or dishonest or unjust or immoral. It takes organizing. It takes a long time. It takes a lot of commitment. While the demonstrations didn’t have immediate success, they achieved the goal. It’s hard to say that when you think that 3 million Vietnamese were killed, and 57,000 American troops were killed. That’s a brutal toll, but that is also the real world, the world that we were living in then and the one that we’re living in now….
“… We had been close to Fred [Hampton]. I had spent time with him about 10 days before he was killed. We had arguments and we had agreements, but we had a real relationship. And then he was killed. He had been drugged and was shot by the police multiple times. We were dealing with what was called the Chicago Red Squad, and they wanted to get us, too. Once Fred was killed, we realized that it could easily happen to more of us. So, we put the wheels in motion to get ready to become fugitives at the end of March 1970. In my mind, this is the beginning of the Weather Underground.”
RITKES: What did it mean to be underground in terms of lifestyle and activities, and political involvement?
RITKES: During the time you were underground, did you ever consider leaving the country?