On justice

Angela Davis, one of the seminal figures in the social and political revolutions that took place in America in the 1960s and 1970s, will spend the afternoon at the Watts Labor Community Action Center (WLCAC) in Phoenix Hall, Feb. 21 from 2 to 5 p.m.
The event, “Dream of Justice, Still in the Struggle . . . An Afternoon with Angela Y. Davis,” is a fundraiser for A New Way of Life Reentry Program targeting women returning from prison.
Tickets are $50 to attend a VIP reception with Davis from 2 to 3 p.m. and/or $10 to attend the presentation and discussion from 3-5 p.m.
Davis–who was born in 1944 in segregated Birmingham, Ala, and by age 16 was organizing interracial study groups that were broken up by the police–will discuss the prison industrial complex and the challenges and barriers individuals coming home from incarceration face.
She will also discuss the importance of leadership from formerly incarcerated people in the social justice movement.
At the reception preceding the presentation, people will get an opportunity to talk face-to-face with the long-time activist and philosopher as well as get her to autograph books, including the newest one which is about the life of abolitionist Fredrick Douglass. It will be on sale at the event.
Davis, herself has experience with what it is like to come home after spending time locked down. In 1970 during the trial of George Lester Jackson, one of the Soledad brothers, an attempt was made to free Jackson and several people in the courtroom were killed.
Davis was accused of involvement for several reasons–the guns used were registered in her name, and she was reportedly in love with Jackson. After 18 months in jail, she was acquitted.
Her experiences as a social justice activist are a big part of what Davis draws on today in her work as a professor at the University of Santa Cruz. She teaches courses on the history of consciousness.
She also lectures around the nation, and has written several books including “Women, Race and Class” (1980) and “Are Prisons Obsolete?” (2003).
Tickets for the reception must be purchased in advance and can be done so through the web site www.anewwayoflife.org or by calling the organization at (323) 357-8431.