Update (January 8, 2019): Civil rights leader Angela Davis has responded to being stripped of an honor she was set to receive from the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute.

The organization announced Davis as the next recipient of its highest honor, the Fred Shuttlesworth Human Rights Award, last year. One month after that announcement, the institute issued a press release stating it was reversing its decision because "[Davis], unfortunately, does not meet all of the criteria on which the award is based."

NPR reports the activist says she was told her opposition to the Israeli occupation of Palestine was behind the sudden change. Davis supports the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement, which calls for an economic boycott of Israel until the nation ends its occupation of Palestine.

In a statement, Davis made it clear she stands against anti-Semitism, and while she does not oppose the Israeli people, she sees the Israeli government's treatment of Palestinians as a civil rights issue.

“I learned to be as passionate about opposition to anti-Semitism as to racism. It was during this period that I was also introduced to the Palestinian cause,” Davis said, referencing the time she spent in Europe as a graduate student.

She added, “I am proud to have worked closely with Jewish organizations and individuals on issues of concern to all of our communities throughout my life. In many ways, this work has been integral to my growing consciousness regarding the importance of protesting the Israeli occupation of Palestine.”

Davis also said she has always been concerned with social and political justice at home and abroad.

"I have devoted much of my own activism to international solidarity and, specifically, to linking struggles in other parts of the world to U.S. grassroots campaigns against police violence, the prison industrial complex and racism, more broadly," the activist said.

The Guardian reports Davis will still travel to Birmingham, Alabama, as scheduled, and will speak at a separate civil rights event. Nevertheless, she lamented the institute's decision, saying, "The rescinding of this invitation and the cancellation of the event where I was scheduled to speak was thus not primarily an attack against me but rather against the very spirit of the indivisibility of justice.”

Original: Just one month before a gala honoring political activist Angela Davis with its highest accolade was set to occur, the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute (BCRI) has decided not to recognize the educator and author with the Fred Shuttlesworth Human Rights Award.

Per the official statement, the Institute's board of directors selected Davis to receive this revered honor in September.

The associated gala event, scheduled for February 16th at Haven has been cancelled. Ticket purchasers will received a full refund. pic.twitter.com/YKrt6nfnzK — BCRI (@bhamcivilrights) January 5, 2019

Shortly after the announcement, a growing number of supporters and community members pressured the Institute to reevaluate its decision. After a deeper dive into Davis' political history, the BCRI ultimately found that she does not fit the qualifications for the honor.

"Upon closer examination of Ms. Davis' statements and public record, we concluded that she, unfortunately, does not meet all of the criteria on which the award is based," the statement, also posted to the BCRI website, read.

According to The Birmingham Times, previous recipients of the award include Congressman John Lewis (D-GA) and actor Harry Belafonte.

Davis, 74, has impacted many with her revolutionary politics. A self-proclaimed communist, the former University of California, Santa Cruz professor often hosted interracial study groups in her teenage years. Growing up in the segregated South, the Birmingham native witnessed discrimination at an early age. Consequently, this inspired her to join the Black Panther Party in the late1960s.

While the Institute did not reveal a motive behind rescinding the distinction, Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin believes the outcry came from the "local Jewish community and some of its allies," writes The Associated Press.

The decision from the BCRI was met with equal outrage on Twitter.

A Travesty. And they don’t seem to understand, Alabama needs her not the other way around. https://t.co/5pIPvh5b5G — Imani Perry (@imaniperry) January 6, 2019

Another user called the decision "insulting."

This tells us everything we need to know about what @bhamcivilrights stands for.



This isn’t just insulting to Angela Davis, it’s also insulting to everything and everybody this space is supposed to represent. https://t.co/sYDFpc3x6I — William C. (@williamcson) January 6, 2019

A step backward in Black history indeed.





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