Angela Davis

Angela Davis

Angela Y. Davis serves on the Advisory Board of the Committees of Correspondence for Democracy and Socialism andon the Advisory Board of the Rosenberg Fund for Children.

Long time partner of Gina Dent.

Activism

Through her activism and scholarship over many decades, Angela Davis has been deeply involved in movements for social justice around the world. Her work as an educator-both at the university level and in the larger public sphere-has always emphasized the importance of building communities of struggle for economic, racial, and gender justice.

Professor Davis’ teaching career has taken her to San Francisco State University, Mills College, and UC Berkeley. She also has taught at UCLA, Vassar, the Claremont Colleges, and Stanford University. Most recently she spent fifteen years at the University of California Santa Cruz where she is now Distinguished Professor Emerita of History of Consciousness-an interdisciplinary Ph.D. program-and of Feminist Studies.

Angela Davis is the author of nine books and has lectured throughout the United States as well as in Europe, Africa, Asia, Australia, and South America. In recent years a persistent theme of her work has been the range of social problems associated with incarceration and the generalized criminalization of those communities that are most affected by poverty and racial discrimination. She draws upon her own experiences in the early seventies as a person who spent eighteen months in jail and on trial, after being placed on the FBI’s “Ten Most Wanted List.” She also has conducted extensive research on numerous issues related to race, gender, and imprisonment. Her recent books include Abolition Democracy and Are Prisons Obsolete? and a new edition of Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass. In 2012 she published a new collection of essays entitled The Meaning of Freedom.

Prison activism

Angela Davis is a founding member of Critical Resistance, a national organization dedicated to the dismantling of the prison industrial complex. Internationally, she is affiliated with Sisters Inside, an abolitionist organization based in Queensland, Australia that works in solidarity with women in prison. Like many educators, Professor Davis is especially concerned with the general tendency to devote more resources and attention to the prison system than to educational institutions. Having helped to popularize the notion of a “prison industrial complex,” she now urges her audiences to think seriously about the future possibility of a world without prisons and to help forge a 21st century abolitionist movement.

Early fame

Davis came to national attention in 1969 when she was removed from her teaching position at UCLA as a result of her social activism and her membership in the Communist Party USA. In 1970, she was placed on the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted List on charges of murder, kidnapping and conspiracy. During her 16-month incarceration, a massive international Free Angela Davis campaign was organized, leading to her acquittal in 1972.

WFDY

Political education program

Nikita Mitchell - When the mobilizations really began heating up, The Rising Majority did a political education program. We had a virtual session with Angela Davis, Jamila Woods, N'Tanya Lee from LeftRoots, Kayla Reed from Action St. Louis, Karissa Lewis from Movement for Black Lives, Timmy Rose from Dissenters and Greisa Martinez Rosas from United We Dream. That teach-in had about 360,000 views, so I think folks are hungry to be out on the streets, to make meaning in this moment. Education is some of what this movement will be up to in the next few weeks.

Anti-Police Event Keynoted by Angela Davis

Cori Bush with Angela Davis and Fania Davis

On July 20, 2015, Madeline Beckett from the Communist Party USA publication People's World published an article about an anti-police event keynoted by Angela Davis, who praised Fidel Castro held on June 27, 2015 sponsored by the Truth Telling Project and moderated by Cori Bush:

ST. LOUIS – As the one year anniversary of Michael Browns’ murder nears, St. Louis area residents gathered for the Violence in America: Exposure through Truth Telling presentation keynoted by Angela Davis, a long-time activist and outspoken critic of police violence. The event, held on June 27, was sponsored by the Truth Telling Project at Cardinal Ritter College Preparatory High School.

The sold-out event focused on building political activism and fighting institutionalized racism. Davis briefly reminded the audience that she had once been on the FBI’s ten most wanted list, that people actually feared her. Today, however, things are much different, she added. Perceptions have changed. Referencing Fidel Castro, the former Cuban president, she said, “History will absolve you.”

Davis is considered an icon by many today, a symbol of political resistance promoting radical, unapologetic social change. She, however, said she looks upon the protestors in Ferguson in admiration for their dedication to the struggle against racism.

Prior to the event, Davis, her sister Fania Davis (civil rights trial attorney and restorative justice practitioner) and event moderator Pastor Cori Bush, visited the site where Mike Brown was killed and touched the ground where he lay almost one year ago.

Throughout the event, the names of the black men and women who have suffered tragic deaths due to police brutality were echoed in remembrance. An outpouring of love was extended to the families of those who had been lost to racism and an unjust system.

Davis spoke of her global travels and how the people she encountered were inspired by the actions of the Ferguson protesters and the Black Lives Matter movement. Ferguson echoed throughout the world, as a “symbol of resistance” for oppressed people, she said.

“For me, as well as for people throughout the world, the very mention of Ferguson evokes struggle, perseverance, courage and a collective vision of the future.”

Due to the leadership of the Ferguson protesters, she added, many others have developed a much clearer understanding of systems of oppression and how people can assemble collectively to challenge and dismantle institutional racism and oppression.

Davis spoke directly to the female leaders of Black Lives Matter: “I love Martin. I love Malcolm. But this is the 21st century and we have learned that leadership is not a male prerogative. I know many of the brothers in this hall today know that women have always done the work…women should also be in the leadership!”

“When black women stand up as they did during the Montgomery bus boycott, as they did during the Black Liberation era, earthshaking changes can occur,” Davis concluded.

Davis also spoke in terms of strategy. She emphasized that entire systems of oppression must be challenged in order to bring about radical social changes.

She said, “…we also need to learn how to talk about race and racism. We don’t even have a vocabulary that permits us to engage in insightful conversations and it is precisely this lack of a vocabulary and the shallow consciousness of racism that is promoted by society that makes it possible for us to assume that for example changes in the law automatically bring about changes in the real world…”

Davis added, that a short paragraph in the Constitution does not do away with the hegemony of a country so incredibly saturated with racism. “The vestiges of slavery are still with us. Slavery was never fully abolished,” she continued.

On violence, Davis said, “…we could talk about multiple modes of violence, but a major mode of violence is the rearing of generations of black people who have not been allowed to imagine a future, who have not been allowed to have access to education that would encourage them to imagine a future.”

In conclusion, Davis added, “as radical activists we really have to begin to learn how to demand what we really want, not only what we think we can get,” to not lose sight of our goals. We have to learn to refuse to settle.

Comrades

Lisa Brock September 29, 2014 ·

With Nikky Finney, Linda Rae Murray, Iris Prod, Eileen B. Wilson-Oyelaran, S.J. Bragg, Angela Davis and Rian Infinity.

Elections

National Anti-Imperialist Conference in Solidarity With African Liberation

Angela Davis, Co-Chairperson of National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression was named as a sponsor of the Communist Party USA dominated National Anti-Imperialist Conference in Solidarity With African Liberation held at Dunbar Vocational High School, Martin Luther King Drive, Chicago, October 19 to 21 1973.

Palestine Human Rights Campaign

A brochure came out in early 1978 announcing "A National Organizing Conference" sponsored by the Palestine Human Rights Campaign to be held on May 20-21, 1978, at American University, with the theme of "Palestinian Human Rights and Peace".

The list of "Sponsors" was a mix of a several groupings including the Communist Party USA and its sympathizers, the World Peace Council, the Hanoi Lobby, black extremists, mainly marxists, radical Christians, and Arab/Arab-American organizations, plus a few phone-booth sized pro-Palestinian Christian groups.

Individual sponsors of the event included Angela Davis.

We Will Make Peace Prevail!

On March 28, 1982 the New World Review organized a gala luncheon "We Will Make Peace Prevail! Disarmament Over Confrontation, Life Over Death", at the Grand Ballroom, Hotel Roosevelt, New York City. Virtually all participants were identified as Communist Party USA.

Angela Davis was listed on the Committee of Sponsors.

National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression

The 10th Anniversary Conference of the National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression was held in Chicago, May 13-15 1983 at the McCormick Inn - Featured speakers included Angela Davis

Greeting Chris Hani

Eight hundred people filled the ballroom of the Hyatt regency Embarcadero Hotel, Sunday April 28, 1991 to greet South African Communist Party leader Chris Hani. the crowd contributed more than $12,000 towards the People's Weekly World fund drive and the work of the South African Communist Party.

Hani was greeted with resolutions of support from Assembly speaker Willie Brown, San Francisco mayor Art Agnos, Oakland mayor Elihu Harris, Richmond mayor George Livingston, Berkeley mayor Loni Hancock, and Doris Ward, chair of the San Francisco board of Supervisors.

Co-chairs of the banquet were were Angela Davis and Ignacio de la Fuente of the Moulders Union.

Davis, introducing Hani said he "symbolizes a courageous, unrelenting struggle for freedom".

Communist Party reformer

In 1991, Angela Davis was one of several hundred Communist Party USA members to sign the a paper "An initiative to Unite and Renew the Party" - most signatories left the Party after the December 1991 conference to found Committees of Correspondence.

CoC National Conference endorser

In 1992 Angela Davis, endorsed the Committees of Correspondence national conference Conference on Perspectives for Democracy and Socialism in the 90s held at Berkeley California July 17-19.

Conference on Perspectives for Democracy and Socialism in the 90s

The Conference on Perspectives for Democracy and Socialism in the 90s was the Committees of Correspondence's first national conference held in Berkeley, California July 17-19, 1992.

Workshops that were held at the conference on Saturday, July 18 included:

Women The women's movement: a critical factor in the economic, political and social life of the U.S. today. What should be the theoretical and practical response of the left?

• Angela Davis, Professor of History of Consciousness, UC Santa Cruz
• Roma Guy, Director, San Francisco Women's Building
• Sandy Patrinos, Women for Racial and Economic Equality, Chicago
• Cathy Tashiro, health care worker and designer of programs on workplace diversity

CoC National Coordinating Committee

The following are listed in order of votes they received as members of the Committees of Correspondence National Coordinating Committee, elected at the Conference on Perspectives for Democracy and Socialism in the 90s held at Berkeley California July 17-19, 1992:

• Angela Davis, SF
• Gus Newport, Berkeley
• Elizabeth Martinez, SF
• Alva Buxenbaum, NY
• Leslie Cagan, NY
• Peter Camejo, Alameda, CA
• Giuliana Milanese, SF
• Robert Chacanaca, Freedom, CA
• Mildred Williamson, Chicago
• Barry Cohen, NY
• Mark Solomon, Boston
• Barbara Lee, Sacramento
• Maudelle Shirek, Berkeley
• Raahi Reddy, New Brunswick, NJ
• Margy Wilkinson, Berkeley
• Yvonne Golden, Florida
• Mary Idosidis, Mill Valley, CA
• Pat Fry, Detroit
• Marty Price, Oakland
• Frances Beal, Oakland
• Marshall Garcia, NY
• Betty Kano, Berkeley
• Michael Myerson, NY
• Sharon Stewart, LA
• Carmen Rumbaut, San Antonio
• Maurice Jackson, Washington, D.C.
• Geoffrey Jacques, NY
• Arthur Kinoy, Montclair, NJ
• Melinda Brown, LA
• Leslie Shaheen, NY

In 1994 Angela Davis was a member of the National Coordinating Committee of the Committees of Correspondence.

"Making Trouble"

'Making Trouble- Building a Radical Youth Movement' was held April 17-19, 1998 Berkeley, California.

"Making Trouble" is a conference for young radicals from all over California to meet, form coalitions, and get informed. We will focus on the Prison Industrial Complex and the contemporary Labor Movement, but there will also be workshops on Environmental Justice, the Unz initiative, Art and Revolution, Immigration, Third World Organizing, Economic Globalization, Affirmative Action, Reproductive Rights, and much more.

Keynote Speaker: Barbara Ehrenreich

Invited speakers included;

• Dolores Huerta
• Donna Haraway
• Tom Hayden
• Angela Davis
• Cornel West
• Barbara Lee
• Jello Biafra
• Ron Dellums

Black Radical Congress

In March 1998 “Endorsers of the Call” to found a Black Radical Congress included Angela Davis, Professor, University of California at Santa Cruz, Committees of Correspondence.

At the June 1998 Black Radical Congress in Chicago, militants of an older generation were assigned to work with younger comrades.

On Friday evening there was an inter-generational dialogue which was an attempt to blend an historical and contemporary review of the Black liberation struggle by means of older and younger activists interviewing one another.

Veteran activists Kathleen Cleaver, General Baker, Barbara Smith, Ahmed Rahman, Angela Davis and Nelson Peery were "paired up with younger activists" Van Jones, Kim Diehl, Kim Springer, Fanon Che Wilkins, Kashim Funny, and Quraysh Ali Lansana, respectively.

Communist "Manifestivity"

On October 30 and 31, 1998 the Brecht Forum presented the "Communist Manifestivity to celebrate the 150th Anniversary of the Communist Manifesto" at Cooper Union's Great Hall, New York.

Individual endorsers of the event included Angela Davis.

Critical Resistance

Critical Resistance was founded by Angela Davis, Rose Braz, Ruth Wilson Gilmore, and others. The organization is primarily volunteer member-based, with eleven members staffing across the Chicago, Los Angeles, Oakland, New Orleans, and New York chapters.

There are chapters throughout the country, including Gainesville, Chicago, Baltimore, Los Angeles, Oakland, New York, Tampa, Washington DC, and New Orleans.

Committees of Correspondence Conference 2002

At the Committees of Correspondence National Conference and Convention, July 25-28, 2002 San Francisco State University, the Plenary Panel and Discussion on War, Peace and Democracy consisted of;

Elaine Hagopian, Leslie Cagan, Rhonda Ramiro, Angela Davis September 11 and Bush’s “war on terrorism.” Response to increased militarism, Ashcroft’s attack on civil liberties, the role of the United Nations and other international bodies.

Sacramento Marxist School

On March 14 2003 Angela Davis lectured at the Sacramento Marxist School on The Politics of Women, Race, and Class in the 21st Century.

Women of Color Resource Center

In 2006 the Women of Color Resource Center Board of Directors includedCaroline Acuna-Guilartes, Linda Burnham, Jung Hee Choi, Angela Davis, Derethia DuVal, Chris Lymbertos, Genevieve Negron-Gonzales, Margo Okazawa-Rey and Cindy Wiesner.

In 2009 the Oakland California based Women of Color Resource Center Board of Directors included Caroline Acuna, Jung Hee Choi, Angela Davis, Elmira Nazombe, Genevieve Negron-Gonzales, Malaika Parker, Alex Vazquez, Mei-ying Williams

2006 CCDS Convention

Angela Davis addressed the Committees of Correspondence for Democracy and Socialism 5th National Convention, July 21-23, 2006.

Organizing youth in communities and schools.

• Jonathan Peck, SW Youth Collaborative
• Angela Davis, Author and Professor

Symposium on James and Esther Jackson

On October 28, 2006, an event entitled "James and Esther Jackson, the American Left and the Origins of the Modern Civil Rights Movement" was held at the Tamiment Library of New York University. Three panels of academics and activists delivered papers illuminating the lives of the James Jackson and his wife Esther Jackson, their co-workers and the struggles in which they participated that helped shape developments in the United States from the late 1930s to the present. Angela Davis, David Levering Lewis, Percy Sutton, Pete Seeger, Michael Nash, Jean Carey Bond, Michael Anderson, Maurice Jackson and Charlene Mitchell delivered papers and spoke at the event. Sam Webb, Debbie Amis Bell and Daniel Rubin were among the estimated 250 individuals who attended the event.

MDS Board member

On February 17, 2007, the Movement for a Democratic Society held a well attended conferenceat New York City’s New School University.

The business portion of the meeting followed with each board nominee introducing themselves to the conference. The board, a very diverse group, was voted in by acclamation... Board nominees where were not able to attend the conference were included in the appointment by acclamation. The list included Elliott Adams, Panama Vicente Alba, Tariq Ali, Stanley Aronowitz, David Barsamian, Rosalyn Baxandall, John Bracey, Jr., John Brittain, Robb Burlage, Noam Chomsky, Jayne Cortez, Carl Davidson, Angela Davis, Bernardine Dohrn, Barbara Epstein, Gustavo Esteva, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Stephen Fleischman, Bill Fletcher, Jr., Tom Hayden, Gerald Horne, Florence Howe, Mike James, Robin D G Kelley, Alice Kessler Harris, Rashid Khalidi, Mike Klonsky, Betita Martinez, Ethelbert Miller, Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz, Barbara Ransby, Patricia Rose, Michael Rossman, Studs Terkel, Charlene Teters, Jerry Tucker, Immanuel Wallerstein, Cornel West, Leonard Weinglass and Howard Zinn.

WIDF affiliated United States "Regional Workshops"

Circa 2007 these people were members of the US "Regional Workshop" of the former Soviet front Women's International Democratic Federation;

• Women for Racial and Economic Equality, President: Vinie Burrows

• Mujeres Radicales, Vinie Burrows, Margo Nikitas, Presidenta – Emily Woo Yamasaki

• National Committee of Women for Democratic Iran

• Internacional Action Center, Berta Joubert Ceci – Philadelphia

• Goldstar Mother, Nydia Velasquez - "Congressista"

• Grandmothers Against the War. Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick - Presidente

• Granny Peace Brigade, Howard Dean - Presidente, Lillian Ruth Rydell, Elaine Johnson

• IAC-NWFN, Joan Wile - Fundadora e Diretora

• Madre, Susan Abulhwa, Anna Wilson

• Radical Women / líder comunitaria Comunidad de Harlem, Nellie Gray Hester

• University of California, Digna Sanchez- Membra

• WEDO, Kathy Engel Fundadora

• Women of Color Resource Center in CA, Betty Maloney - Membra

• EEUU, Angela Davis - History of Consciousness Dep Humanities Division

• African American Poets, Judith LeBlanc

• Granny Peace Brigade, Monica Sofia Somocurcio

• Radical Women, Betty Maloney

• Women's International League for Peace and Freedom - WILPF, Carol Price

• Women's Studies Prgrm, Jenny Heinz

• Coalición anti-guerra A.N.S.W.E.R., Gloria La Riva

• Women for Racial and Economic Equality, Tresa Martinez

• Community activist; active in the struggle for Puerto Rican independence, Wilma Esther Reveron Collazo

• Community activist lawyer in El Barrio;; active in immigration issues, Gloria Eneida Quinones - member Women for Racial and Economic Equality

• International President of the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom , Regina Birchem

• LUZ DE LAS NIEVES AYRESS MORENO, Nieves Ayress - nacionalidad chilena

The Black Scholar

Davis was a contributor to The Black Scholar.

Relationship to Joe Walker

During his life, long time Communist Party USA associate Joe Walker enjoyed professional and personal relationships with a number of dignitaries, civil rights activists, and freedom fighters to include Martin Luther King, Jr., Muhammad Ali, Malcolm X, Angela Davis, Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. James Baldwin, Hulan Jack and David Dinkins, the former Mayor of New York City.

Chicano movement

The 40th Anniversary Commemoration Committee of the Chicano Moratoriums was formed in the summer 2009 by the Chair of the National Chicano Moratorium Committee of August 29, 1970 along with two independent Chicano Movement historians whom although not of the baby boomer generation, have become inspired by the Movimiento.

The organization posted a list of significant “Chicano movement” activists on its website which included Angela Davis, of the University of California, Los Angeles.

Left Forum 2009

Returning to the Source: Ethnic Studies in the Obama Age:

• Hank Williams, (Chair), Africana Studies Group, CUNY Graduate Center
• Sam Anderson, Black New Yorkers for Educational Excellence
• Clarissa Horton,
• Angela Davis, Anti-Racist Alliance, Pratt Institute

National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression event

On April 18 2009 the Chicago branch of National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression, a front first for the Communist Party USA, latterly for the Committees of Correspondence for Democracy and Socialism, awarded former Reverend Jeremiah Wright its highest honour.

According to a report from the Communist Party USA's People's Weekly World.

Human Rights awards were granted to honorees at the event whose work includes ending the death penalty, overturning wrongful convictions, the fight against racism and efforts to help victims of the prison industrial complex.

Angela Davis was keynote speaker-she spoke largely about Barack Obama;

“The election of Obama was a millennium transformation, and we’re in a new historical conjunction in 2009,” noted Davis. “In a short period of time so much has changed,” she said.

Given the current economy there is a very serious crisis erupting in the capitalist system, said Davis. “Many assume Obama is going to save capitalism, but a lot of us here have other ideas about changing the system,” said Davis.

Witness Against Torture

Davis was listed as affiliated with Witness Against Torture and fasting to protest torture, as of March 25, 2010.

Critical Resistance event

Critical Resistance and Brecht Forum presented Angela Y. Davis/Ruthie Gilmore/Vijay Prashad/ Laura Flanders...

Friday, May, 20, 2011 Riverside Church, South Hall Admission: $50-$250. (includes admission to main event -"The World We Want is the World We Need". Riverside Church, Nave 490 Riverside Drive. Admission: $20-$30

Host Committee: Rashidah Ismaili AbuBakr, Malaika Adero, Seth Adler, Shana Agid, Sam Anderson, Kai Barrow, Andrea Bible, Jean Carey Bond, Dorothy Burnham, Melanie Bush, Rod Bush, Angela Cali, Susie Day, Jesse Ehrensaft-Hawley, Joan Gibbs, Elspeth Gilmore, Farah Jasmine Griffin, Lennox Hinds, Esther Cooper Jackson, Peter Marcuse, Jerry Meyer, Charlene Mitchell, Mary Morgan, Mary Lou Patterson, Beth E. Richie, Shreya Shah, Alvin Starks, Farrah Tanis, Laura Whitehorn.

Carlos, Thomas and Davis support the Occupy movement

Former Olympic bronze-medal winner Dr. John Carlos spoke alongside civil rights activists Clarence Thomas and Dr. Angela Davis before an electrified crowd at Laney College, Oakland, Wednesday November, 30, 2011. His appearance at the college was part of a national tour to promote his new memoir.

In the summer of 1968 Carlos helped define a generation when he and fellow medalist Tommie Smith both gave a black power salute while on the Olympic podium in Mexico City.

The fist-raising track star’s memoir, “The John Carlos Story: The Sports Moment that Changed the World,” has a powerful and simple message: don’t be afraid “of offending your oppressor.”

Civil rights heroes Clarence Thomas and Dr. Angela Davis of the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense also spoke.

These three veteran activists had plenty to say about the lessons they learned during the ‘60s, but they were equally interested in discussing the promise of today’s Occupy movement.

Carlos has been making it a point to visit every Occupy encampment he can during his book tour around the country.

“I am here for you,” Carlos said to a crowd of thousands at Occupy Wall Street in early November. “Why? Because I am you. We’re here 43 years later because there’s a fight still to be won. This day is not for us but for our children-to-come.”

Thomas was a leader in the SF State Black Student Union and the Third World Liberation Front in 1968, helping to organize the longest student strike in American history.

“This was a strike to challenge the idea that Black people and people of color cannot learn, and that we are not capable of engaging in a prolonged struggle,” Thomas said. “I learned we could challenge the system and win. Those on the left need to learn to produce winners, and that is what is happening in the Occupy struggle.”

A third-generation longshoreman, Thomas, along with the International Longshoreman Workers Union recently played a critical role in supporting Occupy Oakland.

On Nov. 2, as tens of thousands of people marched in solidarity with the Occupy movement down to the Port of Oakland, rank-and-file ILWU members refused to cross the community picket line, effectively shutting down the port.

“The thing that makes Occupy Oakland different than other parts of the country is that we had an action with labor at the point of production,” Thomas said. “That port is one of the best examples of the power of Wall Street and American Capitalism, but when action was taken you can bet Wal-Mart was surprised; the whole Pacific Rim was affected.”

The ILWU is continuing to support the Occupy Oakland movement, which has faced escalating police repression in recent weeks. They have invited supporters from Vancouver to San Diego to march on their respective ports on Dec. 12 in an effort to shut down the entire West Coast shipping system.

“If we really want to challenge the one percent, the only thing they really understand is when you hit them in the pocket book,” said Thomas. “Working people have been told we have no power, but can you imagine if longshoremen, supported by their communities on the West and East Coasts and the Gulf, and Teamsters and airport workers all shut it down?”

“I am so proud of Oakland!” said Angela Davis, a well-known political activist, author, scholar and prison-system critic. “I spoke at Occupy Philly, Occupy Wall Street and Occupy Berlin, and everyone is talking about Oakland!”

In the ‘60s Davis was an active member of the Black Panthers and the Communist Party USA.

“I look at the young people who are involved in the Occupy movement, and it allows me to understand that the work we did was so important,” said Davis. “Imagine what the world would be like without these obscene capitalists, the one percent. Revolution is still on the agenda.”

Henry Winston's centenary celebration

A standing room only crowd gathered in Winston Unity Center, New York, on the occasion of Henry Winston's centenary celebration. Winston, who was born in 1912, was the national chairman of the Communist Party for two decades until his death in 1986.

The multi-media celebration of this great African American leader included speeches, music, slideshow and greetings from former coworkers and friends - including one from New York Congressman Charles Rangel. It was streamed live to a national audience and hosted by Judith LeBlanc, the national field director of Peace Action.

Noted scholar and political activist Angela Davis brought the multi-racial audience to its feet in her moving tribute to Winston

Davis said, " [Winston] was a constant inspiration to me, especially when it came to garnering the courage to stand up to attacks I had never imagined would be directed individually at me."

Winston was also a political prisoner, unjustly imprisoned in the McCarthy era where he lost his fight due to poor medical care while there.

Davis went on to speak of Winston's "enduring opposition to corporate capitalism, militarism and racism."

While the Obama administration, she noted, wasn't immune from criticism, the election of the president had created a political climate for labor and social justice activism since 2008.

"END MASS INCARCERATION"

Friday, SEPT 14. 7PM. RIVERSIDE CHURCH NYC.

On the day following the 41st anniversary of the Attica ¬massacre of courageous prisoners rising up against intolerable oppression, we come together to fight mass ¬incarceration and to demand the closing of Attica as a symbolic commitment to this larger goal. We build on the powerful commemoration that took place last September 9, 2011 at Riverside Church.

Join with us to hear a special panel on building a movement to end mass incarceration with: Michelle Alexander, Angela Davis, Jazz Hayden, Marc Lamont Hill, and Cornel West.

Speakers: Soffiya Elijah, Pam Africa, video message from Special UN Rapporteur on Torture, Juan Mendez, and audio message from Mumia Abu-Jamal.

MC: Asha Bandele.

Panel moderator: Suzanne Ross. ·

Expel South Africa From the UN

The Campaign for One Million Voices to Expel South Africa From the UN was a Communist Party USA front created in about 1974. The front was launched to speak on South Africa and its membership in the United Nations. They issued an undated brochure entitled "We Who Support Human Rights... DEMAND the expulsion of South Africa from the UN!" The brochure was printed by the CPUSA print shop "Prompt Press", printing bug number 209.

Sponsors included Angela Davis.

Detroit gathering

A standing room only crowd of nearly 2,000 people welcomed Angela Davis, October 24, 2012, to Detroit to celebrate the 40th anniversary of her acquittal on charges of murder, kidnapping and conspiracy. The event, held at Fellowship Chapel on the city's northwest side, was a "powerful demonstration of the respect and affection Detroiters have for Professor Davis and her history of struggle for economic, racial and gender justice."

The program included Fellowship Pastor Wendell Anthony, Congressman John Conyers, Detroit City Councilperson JoAnn Watson, Metro Detroit AFL-CIO President Chris Michalakis, Retired Wayne County Circuit Court Judge and civil rights activist Claudia Morcom, Metro AFL-CIO Civil Rights Committee Chair Michele Artt and UAW Vice-President Cindy Estrada.

Prof. Davis rose to speak to a standing ovation from the audience. She recalled the rally at the fairgrounds and coming to Detroit many times in her role as a co-chairperson of the National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression and for events such as the rally to save the Dodge Main plant in 1979. Her address was wide-ranging but emphasized the importance of the upcoming election. "As we go to the polls, she said, "let us recall that no one thought it was possible to elect a black president," and while some are disappointed in the pace of change she cautioned that we should put that disappointment "into context."

She challenged the audience to imagine what it would be like following President Obama's election if we had taken to the streets the day after inauguration both to celebrate and to pressure him on the issues that we all care about." She cautioned that "we should never expect to elect a president to lead us to the Promised Land...we have to do it for ourselves."

Emphasizing the relationship between electoral politics and mass movement politics, Prof. Davis outlined a number of "issues that progressives have to force onto the national political agenda" including an end to all of the union busting strategies, the rights of undocumented workers and students, women's reproductive rights, prisoners' rights, the rights of the LGBT communities, and combating anti-communism and the growing "Islamophobia" brought on by the so-called "war on terror."

As regards, the issue of "Islamophobia," Prof. Davis spoke at length about centrality of the Israeli oppression of the Palestinian people to the discontent in the Muslim world. She challenged the audience to see themselves as "world citizens" and recognize "that Israeli apartheid...is just as bad" as that of South African apartheid. "It's about time we stood up and recognized that an injustice anywhere...is an injustice everywhere." She then concluded her address by saying that "we need peace, justice, equality, and socialism for us all."

Confronting Racial Capitalism conference

Paul Ortiz November 21, 2014:

With Cedric Robinson and Elizabeth Robinson in 2014 at the Confronting Racial Capitalism conference and thinking through the challenges we face today. The book that has grown from this collaboration, "Futures of Black Radicalism" is out NOW by Verso edited by Gaye Theresa Johnson and Alex Lubin and available for a 50% discount! . https://www.versobooks.com/books/2438-futures-of-black-radicalism — with Robin D. G. Kelley, Thulani Davis, Christina Heatherton, Danny Widener, Jordan T. Camp, Angela Davis, Ruth Wilson Gilmore and Elizabeth Robinson at The Graduate Center, CUNY.

Dream Defenders Advisory Board

As of 2016;

• Michelle Alexander - Associate Professor of Law, the Ohio State University
• Keron Blair - National Director, Alliance to Reclaim Our Schools
• DR. Angela Davis - Distinguished Professor Emerita, University of California
• Alana Greer - Attorney, Community Justice Project
• PASTOR Michael McBride - Director of Urban Strategies and Lifelines to Healing Campaign, Pico
• Rafael Navar - National Political Director, Communication Workers of America
• Linda Sarsour - Executive Director, Arab American Association of New York
• Ed Whitfield - Co-Managing Director, Fund for Democratic Communities

Mid-South Peace & Justice Center’s 35th anniversary

Angela Davis stood before a crowd of hundreds at First Congregational Church in Midtown on Saturday night. She attacked capitalism, praised communism and criticized Donald Trump.

"Our goal is to guarantee that Donald Trump will not be able to govern comfortably. ... If you think you've been to a lot of demonstrations in the past, well, multiply that by a hundred. Or a thousand over the next period," she said, and the audience cheered.

Earlier, she said Trump embodied the worst elements of oppression and capitalism. "He represents precisely those forces of capitalism that have impoverished so many of the people who decided to vote for him, because they feared for their future."

"Sometimes I feel really nostalgic about that era because it meant we were connected with people all over the world, because there were communist parties all over the world," she said. "And so we felt as if we were a part of a global struggle. The Cuban revolution was our victory. And we don't have that now."

The organizer of the event, the Mid-South Peace and Justice Center, billed the annual fundraising banquet as a kickoff to long years of struggle against Trump's policies. In an email before the event, the staff wrote, "We will, with every resource at our disposal, stand against an agenda that denies the dignity and humanity of people of color, undocumented families, women, people with disabilities, and those of the Muslim faith. These values are non-negotiable."

Banquet attendees filled not just the seats at the round dinner tables but the church balcony, and some stood in the back. The event was attended by some Memphis elected officials including Shelby County Commissioner Eddie Jones as well as state Sen. Lee Harris and U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen.

Women's March

In The Guardian Monday 6 February 2017, Linda Martín Alcoff, Cinzia Arruzza, Tithi Bhattacharya, Nancy Fraser, Barbara Ransby, Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, Rasmea Yousef Odeh, Angela Davis wrote;

Women of America: we're going on strike. Join us so Trump will see our power... The ‘lean-in’ variety of feminism won’t defeat this administration, but a mobilization of the 99% will. On 8 March we will take to the streets.

The massive women’s marches of 21 January may mark the beginning of a new wave of militant feminist struggle. But what exactly will be its focus? In our view, it is not enough to oppose Trump and his aggressively misogynistic, homophobic, transphobic and racist policies. We also need to target the ongoing neoliberal attack on social provision and labor rights....

Let us join together on 8 March to strike, walk out, march and demonstrate. Let us use the occasion of this international day of action to be done with lean-in feminism and to build in its place a feminism for the 99%, a grassroots, anti-capitalist feminism – a feminism in solidarity with working women, their families and their allies throughout the world.

"Futures of Black Radicalism"

Paul Ortiz September 3, 2017:

"Futures of Black Radicalism". Edited by Gaye Theresa Johnson and Alex Lubin with contributions by Ruth Wilson Gilmore, Jordan T. Camp, Angela Davis, Nikhil Singh, Paul Ortiz, Erica Edwards, Robin D. G. Kelley and others! — at Verso Books.

"Black Women in Defense of Ilhan Omar"

Activist Angela Davis and Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.) joined numerous other black women activists and members of Congress in a rally Tuesday April 30 2019 rally to support Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.).

Davis and Barbara Ransby, a professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago and adviser to the Movement for Black Lives, told Democracy Now they planned the event, called Black Women in Defense of Ilhan Omar, in response to escalating attacks against the freshman Democrat, who said death threats against her spiked after conservatives accused her of minimizing the 9/11 attacks and President Trump tweeted a video interspersing her words with images from the attacks.

Trump, Davis said, “uses this bizarre logic of fungibility, where one Muslim represents the worst—or all Muslims, rather, represent the worst deeds that any Muslim has ever conducted,” a logical process she said was “at the heart of racism.”

“Trump has been vitriolic toward so many groups, but I think there’s a particular venom when it comes to black women,” Ransby added, citing both his attacks on Omar and his frequent taunts of Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) and his 2017 feud with Rep. Frederica Wilson (D-Fla.), who accused him of making a Gold Star widow cry by telling her that her late husband, Sgt. La David Johnson, “knew what he signed up for.”

“I am changing the things I can no longer accept, and from R. Kelly to Donald Trump, what we can no longer accept is the silencing of black women,” Pressley, who, like Omar, was elected to Congress in 2018, said at the event. “We are reclaiming our rightful place.”

Omar and Pressley’s fellow freshman lawmaker Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) also attended the event. Tlaib and Omar are the first two Muslim women elected to Congress.

US Nairobi Women's Coalition

Lee O'Gorman with Alva Buxenbaum, Vinie Burrows and Angela Davis and Briggette Kubish.

External links

• The Black Scholar website
• Witness Against Torture website
• 1998 PBS interview with Angela Davis Regarding the Million Man March where she laments the lack of education in today's Black Youth

References

Template:Endorsers of the Conference on Perspectives for Democracy and Socialism in the 90s