Today in people are idiots, Texas Tech's Republicans are petitioning to ban activist and scholar Dr. Angela Davis from speaking at their school about mass incarceration because she used to be a communist and they are stuck in the 1960s. Don't we have enough problems to worry about in 2015?

"I would rather hear from someone who has respect among the community," Carl Tepper, Chairman of the Lubbock County Republican Party told Fox 34 News.


Amazingly, with all of their Throwback Thursday nostalgia, the young Republicans forgot to read up on the part where Davis was imprisoned on false charges and nearly framed by Cointelpro for a litany of crimes because the American government wasn't—and isn't— much into change, especially when J. Edgar Hoover was leading the FBI.

"She wasn't a crook or criminal," said Billie Caviel, who plans to attend the lecture. "She didn't do anything for her to go to prison. They sent her there, alright, but she wasn't guilty under the charges they were trying to put on her."


Fortunately Davis was eventually found innocent and went on to become a professor at the University of California, Santa Cruz. Maybe these Texas Tech folks should watch Free Angela Davis and All Political Prisoners for some background—Will Smith, Jada Pinkett Smith and Jay Z produced it, and it's easily found on Netflix.

Still, the young Republicans think Davis is too radical for their campus' Black History Month speaker series. I guess they'd rather hear someone lampoon women's health and talk about circumventing gay marriage licenses, right?

Texas Tech normals, get your people.

Image via Getty.