Ex-Panther Davis says war on terrorism, death penalty racist

Angela Davis, a radical civil rights activist who briefly appeared on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted list, denounced the war on terrorism and the death penalty as outgrowths of racism in a Monday lecture that capped Black History Month.

Calling the death penalty "proof that slavery wasn't really abolished," Davis said, "All of us, regardless of race or ethnic background, live with this slavery, and are affected by it."

She also said that Black History Month and the practice of celebrating "firsts" can be misleading.

"I would gladly relinquish the celebration of the first black woman Secretary of State in exchange for a white male Secretary of State who might give us some guidance on how to get the United States out of the racist war on terror," she said, eliciting applause from the audience.

Despite the heavy, wet snow that fell most of Monday, McCosh 50 was nearly filled for Davis's talk, titled "The Role of the Arts in Achieving Social Justice."

Davis, a former member of the Black Panthers, spent 16 months in prison before being acquitted of charges of conspiracy and murder. She ran for vice president on the Communist party ticket in 1980.

She now teaches at the University of California, Santa Cruz — despite former California Gov. Ronald Reagan's pledge that she would never work in the UC system.

"Angela Davis is one of the most recognizable faces in terms of powerful women in the history of our country, so it's pretty amazing to get to hear her speak," said Marisol Rosa-Shapiro '07, who attended the talk.

Davis made an impression of quiet dignity as she stood behind the lectern in a flowing black pantsuit. But her speech was punctuated by impassioned wakeup calls about the nature of contemporary racism and parallels between the current political climate and the African-American struggle against racism throughout history.

"The law has been pretty much purged of its overt racism," she said, "[but] racism still resides in the structures of society. The economy is still structured by racist hierarchies; punishment is very much structured by racism. Race matters when it is a question of who goes to prison and who does not."

Davis also talked about what she sees as an oppression of civil rights in the name of protecting the nation against terrorist threats.

"It's not so much a war on terrorism as it is a quest for empire," she said.

Get the best of the ‘Prince’ delivered straight to your inbox. Subscribe now »

Toward the end of her talk, Davis emphasized the need to connect across oppressed groups. Invoking her own experience in prison and the international network that fought for her acquittal, she spoke about the need for solidarity.

"What I want to talk about are those connecting circuits that invite us, black Americans and all others who join in the historical legacy of struggle, to join in the continuing fight," she said.

Afterwards, Ernie Mitchell '06, who attended the lecture, said, "I think she helped us to see connections between structures that we might not ordinarily think of as related."

"She definitely opened my eyes to connections among social, political and psychological phenomena that I had just never thought about before," Mitchell added.