Angela Davis to speak today at Student Center

Angela Davis to speak today at Student Center

by Alice Haymond

ahaymond@kykernel.com

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Students have two opportunities to hear Angela Davis,

a social advocate, academic and African-American

icon, today when she speaks on campus as part of the

Black Women's Conference.

Davis is the featured speaker at the Mary McLeod

Bethune Luncheon in the Student Center Grand

Ballroom today from 12 to 2 p.m. Tickets are $15.

She will discuss her stance on U.S. prisons as an

industry in her speech titled, "The Prison Industrial

Complex: Behind the Camouflage." In past lectures

she has criticized the government's use of prisons

as a source of profit and has emphasized the need

to educate criminals rather than incarcerate them.

Beginning at 2:30, Davis will hold a separate question

and answer session, which is free and open to the

public, in the Student Center theater.

UK English professor Nikky Finney planned the

conference activities and said Davis, who is a

long-time friend of Finney's, was a perfect speaker

for the discussion.

"I think she represents somebody who has been

working all of her life to reveal the many different

types of camouflage that exist in our society, politically

and socially, and so I thought if this is the theme,

then Angela Davis and what she has been working

to reveal about society in America and the world

would be perfect," Finney said.

Davis was born in Birmingham, Ala., in 1944, and

although she was studying abroad in Europe during

her 20s, she returned to America to participate in the

Civil Rights Movement in 1967, according to Columbia

University's Social Justice Wiki Web site. She began

advocating more rights for blacks and females and

assisted other underprivileged members of society,

such as individuals in prison without legal assistance.

"She's a deep philosopher, cares about world cultures,

and as a young woman became involved in making

the world a better place," Finney said.

What gave Davis acclaim, however, were the negative

effects of her activism. She once lost her position at

UCLA due to social activism and her involvement in

the Communist Party. Soon afterward, in 1970, she

was associated with the murder of a judge in the trial

of George Jackson, a fellow Black Panther member,

and was put on the FBI's Most Wanted list. She spent

about two years in prison, before she was acquitted.

During this time, while she realized how bad the prison

conditions were, the world had started a "Free Angela"

campaign, creating in her a social icon with the famous

"Afro" hairstyle, which she is still known for today.

"Students of this generation really, they might know

her as a sound bite or visual image, but they really

don't understand how much power is in what she

says," Finney said. "People of her status often get

reduced in our society - put into one line - and this

is one of the brilliant minds and hearts of the 21-st

century, who has committed herself to injustice."

Davis returned to academia after prison, teaching at

San Francisco State University. She now teaches at

the University of California at Santa Cruz and continues

to fight for justice for individuals that don't have many

others on their side.

The most noticeable thing about Davis is her humility,

Finney said.

"One thing I would never forget is how much time she

takes with all kinds of people for someone of her status

and stature," Finney said. "She's really the southern

girl from Birmingham, Alabama; she really loves people

and really will stop and engage in conversation with

anybody. That's one of the lovely things about her."

Davis has recently published books about the prison

industry, its lack of contribution to society and the

need to abolish it.

Davis relates incarceration to a new-age slavery in her

book, "Are Prisons Obsolete?" and her most recent

book, "Abolition Democracy: Prisons, Democracy, and

Empire," addresses how U.S. democracy has been

clouded by racist origins. "Like many other educators,

Professor Davis is concerned with tendency to devote

more to prisons than to education," Finney said. "She

urges for people to think seriously about a future world

without prisons. She uses a lot of info about privatization

of prisons to get to this notion."

Finney encouraged students to attend both events.

"If students have this opportunity to hear her, I think

they should come with the same type of fervor that

they might attend a rock concert," Finney said.

"There's nothing narrow about it; she's really talking

to all of us. This is for anybody who cares about the

world being not just tolerant, but progressive-thinking

world."

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I intend to last long enough to put out of business all COck-suckers

and other beneficiaries of the institutionalized slavery and genocide.

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"The army that will defeat terrorism doesn't wear uniforms, or drive

Humvees, or calls in air-strikes. It doesn't have a high command, or

high security, or a high budget. The army that can defeat terrorism

does battle quietly, clearing minefields and vaccinating children. It

undermines military dictatorships and military lobbyists. It subverts

sweatshops and special interests.Where people feel powerless, it

helps them organize for change, and where people are powerful, it

reminds them of their responsibility." ~~~~ Author Unknown ~~~~

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