http://www.contracostatimes.com/ci_14916498?source=most_emailed&nclick_check=1
By Eric Louie
04/19/2010
DANVILLE Angela Davis says she gets asked about what keeps her
going, with some visions that she stood for as an activist over the
decades not yet realized.
Although some goals have not been achieved, there has been progress
which also has led to new struggles some never thought possible.
"As a young person, I thought the revolution was coming tomorrow,"
said Davis, 66, an Oakland resident who grew up in segregated
Birmingham, Ala. "Of course, the changes didn't happen the way we
thought they would happen."
Davis made the comments during a keynote speech Monday for this
year's Round Square American Regional Conference at The Athenian, a
private sixth- through 12th-grade school in Danville. The school is a
member of the Round Square association, which focuses on students'
personal development and responsibility through participation in
community service, work projects, exchange programs and adventuring.
The conference is held at a different school each year, and this year
includes more than 120 students from 21 schools in six countries
including Canada, Colombia, Bermuda and Australia discussing ways
to make change both locally and internationally.
Davis, a retired UC Santa Cruz professor of feminist studies and
"history of consciousness," has been associated with the Black
Panther Party and many other causes, including criticism of the
prison system. She was once on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted list in
connection with a Marin courthouse shootout in which a judge was
killed. Davis, the registered owner of the guns involved, was found not guilty.
Davis said during her initial activism for African-Americans, the
movement's call was "freedom for the black man." The exclusionary
effect of the statement for women was not thought of at the time, she
said, adding that now there is a consciousness for those who do not
fit into either of those categories. She said in the future, rights
for transgenders may be as common as those for all races.
Davis also said the most interesting aspect of President Barack
Obama's election wasn't that it put the first black president into
office, but that it mobilized young people who made possible what
many didn't think would ever happen. She said that while age and
experience are good, they can also be limiting, and that it takes
young people who think anything is possible to effect change. She
noted that since the election, the excitement has died down, and she
would have wanted to see more anti-war protests, as well as a focus
on anti-Muslim sentiments and health care.
Davis concluded her speech by saying that some people are noted for
historical events, such as the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. for the
civil rights movement, but that it takes many to make that happen.
She said the participants in the Montgomery bus boycott, which
started when Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on a segregated
bus, were mainly poor black women who worked as domestic servants.
"These are the women who got on the bus," she said. "We don't even
know their names."
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Contact Eric Louie at 925-847-2123.
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