Media Credit: Joe Bonnot
Posted on 11/10/2002 1:18:04 PM PST by Lassiter
Media Credit: Joe Bonnot
In a collaborative effort by the Students for Wymyn and Gender Studies (SWAGS), the American Humanics Student Organization and Students for a Sensible Drug Policy, Dr. Angela Y. Davis spoke on campus last week
Davis' career as an activist began in 1968 at the University of California-San Diego, where she became a member of both the Communist Party and the Black Panthers. For this, she was fired as an assistant professor of philosophy at the University of California-Los Angeles.
Things didn't get much better for Davis either. In 1970, she appeared on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted List based on charges that she provided weapons that were used in an attempt to free George Jackson from jail. Eventually Davis was captured and imprisoned for 16 months. She was later acquitted on all charges.
Her experiences encouraged her to fight oppression all over the world. In 1980 and 1984, she ran for vice- president on the Communist Party ticket. She now works as a writer and tours the country as a lecturer.
At the teach-in, Davis discussed the influence of the Prison Industrial Complex, a system that allows major companies to finance and build prisons, then utilize prison labor for their own profit. In fact, Sodexho, owner of Sodexho-Marriott, which caters the University's cafeteria, is a 10 percent share holder of a similar program.
She also discussed the inequality of the justice system, the effects race has on schooling and racism on campus.
Friday night's lecture dealt primarily with the treatment of women in maximum security prisons. Davis addressed the insidious strip searches and sexual assaults that occur in women's prisons. She opened with a quote from Marsha Buni, a resident of the Valley State correctional facility, the largest women's prison in the United States.
"I have been told I will never leave prison if I keep fighting the system. I do not feel safe here because 'the fighting has stopped.' It has not stopped. It is as invasive as it was outside these walls."
From there, Davis described the cavity search female prisoners must endure, questioning the difference between the searches and sexual assaults.
She shocked the audience when she asked who bought Victoria's Secret, Starbucks or Microsoft products, all of which use prison labor.
"[These practices] devour funds that are urgently needed for things such as school, universities and healthcare."
In response to the failed rehabilitation process of the U.S. prison system, Davis called for an "abolition" of the system.
"Imagine how in 1842 the notion of abolishing slavery would resonate. [People] could not or would not be able to imagine the world without slavery. Similarities [exist] with the way we think about prisons."
Davis brought up the influence that America has over other prison systems, highlighting the struggle of South Africa's apartheid.
"Look at the ease of which an American system entered South Africa, who has adopted the SuperMax (Super Maximum Security Prison), a nation who constitutionally gives rights to all colors and even gays."
Davis called for more action from the community to protest the injustices levied by the prison system and to participate with organizations which fight for prisoners' civil liberties.
"Treat the prison system as if it is not totally isolated from the free world. We assume that we are not affected by the system but we are."
wevans@unews.com
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Great idea. Then we can have criminals and felons like Angela Davis teaching in the universities and public schools. |
Hey, wait a minute...
With people like this as role models, no wonder the liberals love islamic terrorists so much.
This makes a hell of a lot of sense. The communists are all against oppression, right? The two big communist strongholds of the world, China and the USSR, have murdered easily over 120 million of their own citizens. But America's prison system is oppressive? What planet is this bimbo from?
[The numbers could be much higher but will never be known with any great accuracy due the wholesale destruction of documents by the communists. During the Cold War, convention opinion held the number of deaths under Stalin at 30-40 million. After the Cold War, new evidence has shown that the number of deaths under Stalin was at least 70 million and could be much higher.]
Answer "An ugly "Woman"."
Sans bra.
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