On 1/9/19, Carl Jarvis <carjar82@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Angela Davis, one of our finest minds. I place her with Noam Chomsky
on my list of "Most perceptive" Americans.
As for Birmingham's prominent civil rights museum? If they had any
integrity they would blush with shame and close their doors forever.
Angela Davis's response was Classic Angela Davis.
Carl Jarvis
On 1/8/19, Miriam Vieni <miriamvieni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Civil Rights Institute Cancels Gala Honoring Angela Davis After Outcry
From
Jewish Community
By Michael Harriot, The Root
08 January 19
One of the nation’s most prominent civil rights museums has reneged on
its
plans to celebrate one of America’s most outspoken freedom fighters,
igniting a national controversy after seemingly genuflecting to grumbles
from the area’s Jewish community.
On Jan. 4, the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute released a weirdly
nonspecific statement canceling its plans to bestow the institute’s
highest
honor upon Angela Davis, a Birmingham, Alabama, native. The ceremony was
supposed to serve as the centerpiece of the museum’s annual gala, planned
for Feb. 19.
In October, AL.com reported that Andrea Taylor, the Institute’s CEO,
called
Davis “one of the most globally recognized champions of human rights,
giving
voice to those who are powerless to speak,” announcing that they were
“thrilled” to honor the educator, author, activist, and Birmingham
native.
Then suddenly, they weren’t so thrilled.
“In September of 2018, the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute’s Board of
Directors selected Angela Davis to receive the prestigious Fred
Shuttlesworth Human Rights Award at its annual gala in February 2019,”
the
statement posted on the BCRI’s website began, continuing:
In late December, supporters and other concerned individuals and
organizations, both inside and outside of our local community, began to
make
requests that we reconsider our decision.
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. Therefore, on January 4, BCRI’s Board voted to
rescind
its invitation to Ms. Davis to honor her with the Shuttlesworth Award.
While
we recognize Ms. Davis’ stature as a scholar and prominent figure in
civil
rights history, we believe this decision is consistent with the ideals of
the award’s namesake, Rev. Shuttlesworth.
We regret that this change is necessary, and apologize to our supporters,
the community and Ms. Davis for the confusion we have caused. We will
move
forward with a keen focus on our mission: to enlighten each generation
about
civil and human rights by exploring our common past and working together
in
the present to build a better future.
The associated gala event, scheduled for February 16th at Haven has
been
cancelled. Ticket purchasers will received a full refund.
Because the BCRI was less than transparent in its statement, many people
wondered why the institute would moonwalk back its support for the
hometown
heroine. Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin cleared up some of the
confusion
in expressing his discontent with the Institute’s decision. In a
statement
Sunday, Woodfin said:
As I consider the controversy over the Birmingham Civil Rights
Institute’s
decision to honor Dr. Angela Davis with the Fred L. Shuttlesworth Human
Rights Award and its subsequent decision to rescind that honor after
protests from our local Jewish community and some of its allies, my
overriding feeling is one of dismay.
“I am dismayed because this controversy is playing out in a way that
harks
backward, rather than forward,” Woodfin continued, adding that the
decision
“portrays us as the same Birmingham we always have been, rather than the
one
we want to be.”
According to people familiar with BCRI’s decision, the institute’s
reversal
is centered around the local Jewish community’s opposition with what the
Associated Press describes as Davis’ support for the Boycott, Divestment,
and Sanctions movement, which seeks to rectify Israel’s treatment of
Palestinians. Soon after the institute announced their plans to honor
Davis,
Southern Jewish Life magazine published what could only be described as a
“hit piece” detailing Davis’s support of policies that are often seen as
anti-Israel.
“Something not included in the Institute’s publicity for the event,” the
article reads, “is that Davis has also been an outspoken voice in the
boycott-Israel movement, and advocates extensively on college campuses
for
the isolation of the Jewish state, saying Israel engages in ethnic
cleansing
and is connected to police violence against African-Americans in the
United
States.”
According to AL.com, local organizers have vowed to protest the
institution
if the author and internationally known academic does not receive the
award.
Activists and academics around the country were outraged by the
organization’s decision to bow to outside pressure, noting, among other
things, Davis’ long history in the struggle for equality for people of
all
colors, races, religions, and gender.
Davis was born and raised in Birmingham’s “Dynamite Hill,” whose nickname
comes from the more than 50 bombings by white supremacists trying to
thwart
integration during the civil rights era. She became a professor at the
University of California’s Los Angeles campus and was known for her
radical
feminism and her involvement with both the Communist Party USA and the
Black
Panthers.
After authorities accused Davis of purchasing weapons used in a 1970
courtroom takeover and police shooting, FBI director J. Edgar Hoover made
Davis the third woman to ever be listed on the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted
Fugitives list. She briefly went on the run, was arrested, and placed in
solitary confinement.
Davis was acquitted of all charges.
She has authored a dozen books on race, class, feminism, sexual abuse,
and
mass incarceration. Her life’s work has been fighting for justice and
equality around the world.
Using the hashtag #IStandWithAngela, social media users have pointed out
that Davis’ position on Israel is not only consistent with her work and
teachings, but it is also right.
Such is the problem with so-called allies.
Their support is always contingent upon their control. They believe that
they should have a say over what and whom Black America deems
“acceptable.”
Black protest is respectable until it appears on their street, dishonors
their agenda, or pops up during their football games. Everyone is cool
with
the march as long as their toes aren’t stepped on.
Even worse, we are often all too willing to comply.
But I shouldn’t say “we.”
More than half of the BCRI’s Board of Directors, including its chairman,
are
not black.
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