Davis spoke on the importance of Feminism, political activism and social justice to a rapt audience
By Gwen Frost
Known not only for her work as a civil rights activist, but also a role model for anyone who wants to stand up for something, Western was blessed with the presence of the University of California, Santa Cruz’s Distinguished Professor Emerita, Angela Yvone Davis. Prof. Angela Davis is one of the most influential political activists of the 20th century, and she is still proving to have a massive impact on the contemporary culture surrounding political activism and social justice. On May 5, Prof. Davis spoke at Western in the PAC Concert Hall. The talk was part of the “Justice Speaks” series, and sponsored by Justice Speaks, a student organization here at Western.
The PAC has nearly 1,050 seats, and the house was filled to the brim, with people watching in overflow rooms and spilling in until the very last night. Lines were out the door long before the event even started.
One anecdote that was particularly amusing was when Davis talked about George W. Bush’s defeat of Al Gore in the 2000 election. She said she went to bed “thinking Gore had won”, but awoke to find out what had happened. Then in 2016, she said she then went to bed thinking Trump was president, but unfortunately awoke to discover that he was still the president.
At one point, Davis asked all the men in the audience to stand up from their seats, and then applaud the women sitting in the audience around them. She proclaimed repeatedly that Feminism is a fight for everyone, and that everyone benefits from it. She urged the men in the audience to think about how they could further the cause by incorporating feminist tactics.
At the conclusion of her speech, ushers collected questions written on slips of paper from the audience and chose three questions to ask Davis. One question asked for a clarification of what Davis meant when she had said previously in her talk “Africa is the future”. Davis rebuked the outdated notion of Africa as a “third-world” or “underdeveloped” country, saying that in the coming years, the way Africa that lives now will have to be the way the rest of the world moves forward.
You can stream the event here: http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/102979743.