Angela Davis equates lynchings with prisons, death penalty

Iconic civil rights leader Angela Davis opened her lecture Wednesday evening at Purdue University by evoking Black History Month — setting the stage for a moving presentation that connected past stories of oppression to today's movements for freedom.

"It is often assumed that Black History Month is primarily for black people, for people of African descent in this country," she said. "But let me say that black history is integral to the history of this hemisphere. One cannot understand the history of North America, or of Central or South America, without understanding black history."

Davis spoke to a crowd of about 2,750 people. The lecture was coordinated by the Division of Diversity and Inclusion. Other Purdue sponsors included the LGBTQ Center, Black Cultural Center, College of Liberal Arts, College of Agriculture's Office of Multicultural Programs, and Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies.

Davis was notoriously placed on the FBI's "10 Most Wanted" list and arrested in 1970 for charges related to a courtroom escape attempt. She was acquitted in 1972 and went on to become a leading writer, activist and educator for feminist issues and prisoners' rights.

She has authored nine books, including, "Women, Race, & Class" "Abolition Democracy: Beyond Empire, Prisons, and Torture" and "Are Prisons Obsolete?"

At age 71, she is still very much an activist. She continues to travel the country, speaking on issues of police brutality, racism and other forms of discrimination. She is professor emerita in the History of Consciousness and Feminist Studies Departments at University of California Santa Cruz and her recent work focuses on prisoners' rights. She is a founding member of Critical Resistance, a national organization aiming to eliminate imprisonment, policing and surveillance.

During her talk at Purdue, Davis tied the historical tradition of the black struggle against oppression to multiple contemporary movements against racist violence, anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, homophobia and able-ism.

"The black radical tradition can be claimed by anyone who believes that freedom is a worthy cause and that the struggle for freedom links our contemporary aspirations with many struggles of the past," she said.

She connected the history of black lynchings to today's issues of mass incarceration and capital punishment.

"The death penalty's roots are sunk deep into the legacy of lynching," she said. "… If we fail to take into account the central role of lynching, then we will never truly understand the way racism worked its way into the criminal justice system."

Davis' speech resonated with sophomore Denica Newson.

"When she said that capital punishment was like the legacy of lynching in America's history, I had never considered that before," said the 19-year-old. "I just thought that was eye-opening."

Desiree Carter, a junior, said Davis made a solid case for why oppression is not just "a black thing."

"Well, everyone is affected by racism," said the 20-year-old. "It's not just like they are executing black people. It opened my eyes. We are all in this together."