07 6 / 2012

Angela Davis (1944-) is a black feminist philosopher and political activist. During the 1980s, she was a prominent member of the Communist Party and the Black Panther Party. Davis is an outspoken abolitionist about the prison system. She should know a thing or two about prison, since in 1970, J. Edgar Hoover placed her on the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted Fugitives List. This was the result of Jonathan Jackson’s attack of a courtroom with weapons that were originally purchased by Davis. Davis fled. When she was eventually captured, Nixon congratulated the FBI on their “capture of the dangerous terrorist, Angela Davis.” After spending 18 months in prison, she was acquitted of all charges. When once asked if she approved of violence, Davis responded by describing the bombings of black houses and churches that occurred as she was growing up in Birmingham, Alabama, saying: That’s why when someone asks me about violence, I just find it incredible. Because what it means is that the person who’s asking that question has absolutely no idea what black people have gone through. What black people have experienced in this country since the time that the first black person was kidnapped from the shores of Africa. Sources: Wikipedia, The Black Power Mixtape (video)

Angela Davis (1944-) is a black feminist philosopher and political activist. During the 1980s, she was a prominent member of the Communist Party and the Black Panther Party. Davis is an outspoken abolitionist about the prison system. She should know a thing or two about prison, since in 1970, J. Edgar Hoover placed her on the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted Fugitives List. This was the result of Jonathan Jackson’s attack of a courtroom with weapons that were originally purchased by Davis. Davis fled. When she was eventually captured, Nixon congratulated the FBI on their “capture of the dangerous terrorist, Angela Davis.” After spending 18 months in prison, she was acquitted of all charges. When once asked if she approved of violence, Davis responded by describing the bombings of black houses and churches that occurred as she was growing up in Birmingham, Alabama, saying:

That’s why when someone asks me about violence, I just find it incredible. Because what it means is that the person who’s asking that question has absolutely no idea what black people have gone through. What black people have experienced in this country since the time that the first black person was kidnapped from the shores of Africa.

Sources: Wikipedia, The Black Power Mixtape (video)

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