Never fully knowing the story behind the woman I felt it was my duty to tune in, and learn a more detailed version of this particular time in history.
Ms. Davis' background proved to be challenging because she grew up in the deep South of Birmingham, Alabama. Her early recollection of childhood memories referenced the fact that her father often kept weaponry in the home, as a defense mechanism used to deter outsiders that wished to do his family harm. Just in knowing the latter, makes one understand why in her adulthood she chose to defend herself with a gun.
Death threats by letters and in person became the norm for Ms. Davis, while she taught Marxism philosophy at UCLA (University of California Los Angeles). Moreover, the Alabama native who was lucky enough to attend school in the Northeastern part of America during the Jim Crow era, and who eventually proceeded to study German philosophy abroad -- was a natural target when she came back to the states unapologetic about her communist roots.
President Richard Nixon, Governor of California Ronald Reagan, and FBI leader Herbert Hoover, all completely denounced Ms. Davis' appointment as a professor at UCLA and felt she would use her position to indoctrinate students with her political views.
And when a heinous attack took place leaving some dead and others injured (a sitting judge included) with all weaponry at the crime scene identified under Angela Davis' name, that was fuel which set federal officials on fire in hot pursuit of the liberal activist.
The young intellectual didn't turn herself in but instead flew to Chicago, Miami, and then New York, where she was later arrested and taken to jail. While in prison she was put in solitary confinement for a majority of the time, and she said it was done as a means of "breaking" her; being forced to be anti-social. Then Ms. Davis said something remarkable on her reflection of jail life, "Prison can either break a person or make a person stronger," in which she disciplined herself to do the latter.
She use to fight for the rights of political prisoners and now she had become one herself, and all those who she came to know, teach, and love all around the world -- loved her back by rallying together in protest for her release.
Roger McAfee, a middle class white man with a wife and children, used his entire farm as collateral for the bailing out of Angela Davis. Her bail was over one hundred and two thousand dollars, but because the rural resident believed in Ms. Davis' message of equality with regards to jobs, housing, safety, education, and civil rights, that was enough for him to put his family's entire livelihood on the line in hopes of a more progressive America.
Leo Branton, one of Davis' defense attorneys had this to say during her trial: "I knew I had to prove that Angela's plight was not their nest of guilt. I said to the jury, I want you to play a role with me. For the next several minutes I want you to think black, I want you to be black; don't worry, I'll let you return to being white when this is over."
[...] "If you're black, you know that your fore parents were brought to this country as slaves. And the United States Supreme court ruled there are no rights that a black person has that a white man is bound to respect. An intellectual like Angela Davis knew this, she also knew that during the 60's, every time a black person raised his voice in support of liberty and freedom of the black man, he was assassinated. And so if you know all of those things, if you are Angela Davis or if you're black, you don't wonder "why" she fled. You only wonder why in the world did she allow herself to be caught?"
[...] "Angela Davis is no fool, why would she buy a gun to blow a judge's head off and buy it in her own name?"
And as the all white jury came back with a verdict of not guilty on all charges, people began screaming out "Power to the people" and "Power to the jury!"
When fearless activist Angela Davis (seen below) finally got a chance to speak with the people, she thanked them for their tireless support while grinning from ear to ear about this day being the "happiest day of her life." And then as usual she got serious and back into her teaching mode as she stated,
"Throughout this country people are becoming increasingly aware of the fact that whatever the government does is not a priority -- the truth. And it's not only the struggle around political prisoners that has begun to change the climate in this country so that an acquittal like this could occur, but also the reaction to the war in Vietnam and the reaction to Nixon's economic policies, I think there's a lot more resistance now and that means we have to continue to build that resistance and allow it to mature." Wise words from an extraordinary leader whose inspirational story should empower women and men all over the world.
This documentary was excellent and proves once again that knowledge is a powerful tool that can be used to change the world, and even though there are those who denounce education for this very fact, that alone should set a spark inside of everyone to learn more -- in order to figure out what a certain "few" are trying to hide.
2014 LA
