Last week, the University of San Francisco’s Black Student Union had the honor of presenting author, educator, and activist Dr. Angela Davis.
Dr. Angela Davis has spent over forty years dedicating her life to activism and scholarship in an attempt to combat inequality and systems of oppression to achieve social justice. Drawing on her experience as a member of the Communist Party USA, the Black Panther Party, and an eighteen-month prison sentence after being placed on the FBI’s “Ten Most Wanted List;” Dr. Davis has been a prominent figure in the struggle for Human Rights.
“It’s a great time to be alive, especially for those who are young because it is a time of resistance,” Dr. Davis opened her talk. Her work has continuously emphasized the importance of community building, acknowledging intersectionality and advocating for racial, gender and economic justice on global and local scales. “It is assumed that we have more to teach than we have to learn in America. What is it that we in the US could learn from the Palestinian struggle,” Dr. Davis queried. In recent years, the United States has seen a rise in activism in response to police brutality and mass incarceration often attributed to the prison industrial complex. With the #BlackLivesMatter movement and various movements of solidarity across college campuses including the University of San Francisco’s BSU, the social and political landscape is changing. The BSU at USF led a “Die In” in solidarity with Michael Brown and “Black Out” in solidarity with the students of the University of Missouri; students and young people are once again at the forefront of activism standing on the shoulders of the radical movements of the 1960s. Dr. Davis spoke to this as well, “”Activism against police violence has produced a new set of circumstances. Students, regardless of racial background, have always been at the forefront of radical activism.” Speaking about Beyoncé’s Super Bowl tribute to the Black Panther Party, Dr. Davis states “I can say that I am happy that Beyoncé decided to do this evocative performance. I embrace the fact that there is a broad conversation that was staged by that performance.” Speaking about presidential politics, Dr. Davis emphasized, “It is important that someone like Bernie Sanders is calling for free healthcare and free education.” Dr. Davis closed her talk with comments about feminism, “There isn’t one version of feminism…” Dr. Davis expanded on the concept of feminism by challenging the audience to think about what kind of feminism would liberate the world mentioning that there was such a thing as anti-black feminism. Dr. Davis qualified her brand of feminism as “anti-capitalist feminism.”
Currently, Dr. Davis is a Distinguished Professor Emerita in the departments of History and Consciousness and Feminist Studies at the University of California, Santa Cruz. In the past she has taught at San Francisco State University, Mills College, UCLA, Stanford University, Vassar College, and UC Berkeley. She is also the author of numerous essays and nine books including Angela Davis: An Autobiography; Women, Race and Class; and Blue Legacies and Black Feminism to name a few.
This event was sponsored by the University of San Francisco’s Politics Department, African Studies, McCarthy Center for Public Service and the Common Good, College of Arts and Sciences, African American Studies, Philosophy Department, Graduate Programs in Urban and Public Affairs, School of Management, Critical Diversity Studies, ASUSF Senate, Peace and Justice Studies, Gleeson Library, The Office of the President, and Upward Bound.
This article was written by Jonna German, a Senior Sociology student at the University of San Francisco and Saleem Gilmore, Director of Upward Bound at USF.
It all began with a heart-felt farewell to long time program director, Janice Dirden-Cook. After 39 years of dedicated service to thousands of students and families across San Francisco, Ms. Dirden-Cook was honored during the Class of 2015 Graduation Ceremony held at Xavier Hall. Upward Bound students, alumni, family, friends former and current staff all gathered to celebrate a lifetime of achievement and commitment, the likes of which are increasingly rare in today’s atmosphere of routine change. Notable guests that joined the celebration included Dean Kevin Kumashiro and Associate Dean Elena Flores. The proud UBMS Class of 2015 took the stage to accept their program certificates as Janice oversaw her last group of graduates. Graduates Jabari Spikes and Hanan Sinadah delivered the keynote address for the Class of 2015.