Angela Davis, a radical activist with past associations to the Black Panther Party and the Communist Party USA, will sign books and speak at Seattle University on October 17, according to the University’s website, despite her support for abortion rights and same-sex marriage.
The Center for the Study of Justice in Society at Seattle University will also host the screening of a sympathetic documentary film about Davis at the nearby Northwest African American Museum on October 13. “Help us commemorate the anniversary of the arrest of Angela Davis on Oct. 13, 1970,” states the Jesuit University’s invitation to view the film, "Free Angela and All Political Prisoners."
Davis was on the FBI’s Most Wanted List after she went on the run following the kidnapping and murder of a judge in California. The judge was killed with a gun allegedly purchased by Davis. After her capture, leftists rallied to her cause and labeled her a political prisoner. She was acquitted of murder, kidnapping and conspiracy. After her release from prison, Davis traveled to the Soviet Union and received the Lenin Peace Prize in 1979.
Davis reportedly said, “The only path of liberation for black people is that which leads toward complete and radical overthrow of the capitalist class.”
“Birth control – individual choice, safe contraceptive methods, as well as abortions when necessary – is a fundamental prerequisite for the emancipation of women,” wrote Davis in “Racism, Birth Control and Reproductive Rights,” a chapter in her book Women, Race and Class.
And in a speech at San Jose State University in 2010, Davis said of same-sex marriage, “If some people have the right to get married, then everybody should have the civil right to get married.”
Originally published by The Cardinal Newman Society's Catholic Education Daily on 11 September 2013.
And today we celebrate...