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| Angela Davis lectures at Mid-South Peace and Justice Center's 35th anniversary banquet at First Congregational Church in Midtown on Jan. 14. (Photos by Wiley Henry) |
Intermittent
applauses are par for the course whenever Angela Davis orates on hot button
issues. No matter the venue, one can expect straight talk from her and a
rousing response.
That
was precisely the case on Jan. 14 when the noted activist talked about Donald
Trump, capitalism, feminism, communism, and mass incarceration at First
Congregational Church in Midtown.
Davis’s
40-minute address was ripe for the mixed audience of hundreds that swelled the
church’s sanctuary, including the balcony, to celebrate the Mid-South Peace and
Justice Center’s 35th anniversary and annual fundraising banquet.
“We
thought who better in these kinds of troubled times to get everybody focused on
the work there is to come than Angela Davis,” said Brad Watkins, the center’s
executive director. “We want to make sure we’re always connecting the future of
this movement to the past.”
The
theme – “Living the Legacy of Nonviolence” – evoked the image of Dr. Martin
Luther King Jr., said Davis, adding, “I come to realize that his legacy is not
the legacy of an individual; it’s a collective legacy.”
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| Davis chats with 100-year-old supporter Mary Robinson. |
Dr.
King would never have become an internationally recognized figure if it had not
been for poor black women and domestic workers, the professor emerita at
University of California, Santa Cruz said.
The
audience erupted in applause.
“We
celebrate the legacy of Dr. King, but in doing so we celebrate our own
potential as agents of history in a collective quest for freedom at a time when
the forces of capitalism – fueled as they are by racism and hetero-patriarchy –
threatens to push us back unless we say there is no other way to make America
great again,” said Davis, referencing Trump’s campaign slogan.
“You
know what we have to do. Considering the person who will be occupying The White
House over the next four years represents precisely those forces of capitalism
that have impoverished so many people who decided to vote for him.”
Not
known to mince words, Davis said she really didn’t come to Memphis to talk
about Trump, but couldn’t resist weaving him into the conversation. The Trump swipe
was met with an ovation.
“His
victory was predicated on an institution called the Electoral College, which is
an institution of slavery,” she said. “In many ways, the inheritance of slavery
is still with us.”
Davis
also ventured into the area of race. “What was once claimed as the advent of a
post racial era… that turned out to mark the new beginning of a new militancy…the
recognition of structural racism, and a new approach to structural justice that
recognizes the intersectionality of all of our struggles.”
Davis’s
nonconforming views drew the attention of a 100-year-old wheelchair-bound
supporter who was transported to the church from the King’s Daughters &
Sons nursing home in Bartlett.
“I
wanted to hear Angela Davis,” said Mary Robinson, a retired Internal Revenue
Service employee and former board member of the Mid-South Peace and Justice
Center.
“I
always admired her. She sticks to what she believes. She works for it, which is
really important,” said Robinson, who has followed Davis since the ’60s.
“I
don’t get around much, but I’m trying to keep up,” she said, adding: “I never
thought about being 100, but I’m glad I’m here.”
An
educator, author, social and political activist, Davis was a lightening rod of
controversy in the ’60s when she led the Communist Party USA. She also
associated with the Black Panther Party.
Davis
rose to worldwide fame – albeit infamously – after a Superior Court judge
charged her in 1970 with “aggravated kidnapping and first degree murder” in the
death of a judge. She avoided arrest and landed on the FBI’s 10 Most Wanted fugitives
list.
Davis
proclaimed her innocence. Supporters took to the streets, prompting a
nationwide movement urging the powers-that-be to free Davis from jail.
Songs
written in support of Davis played in rotation across the airwaves. A
high-profile trial ensued in 1972 and an all-white jury acquitted Davis on all
counts.
“We
need to build communities, rebuild communities. We need new organizations, new
struggles,” she said. “We need to consolidate our communities. We need to
recognize that we will have to struggle over the coming period like we’ve never
struggled before.”
Davis
concluded her speech with an old protest song and title of her latest book:
“Freedom, after all, is a constant struggle.”
A
panel discussion followed. Afterward, Davis signed posters and copies of her
book.
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