September 14

September 14

http://qz.com/778719/civil-rights-icon-angela-davis-wants-young-activists-to-challenge-their-heroes/   

Civil Rights Icon Angela Davis visited the University of South Africa this week in the nation’s capital city of Pretoria. As the article explains, Davis’s visit was in honor of the 17^th annual Steve Biko memorial lecture series. Davis is hailed as a celebrity and was given several standing ovations while her speech was broadcast over news and radio stations nationwide. Biko was a civil rights activist and intellectual like Davis and he is most well known for bringing the black consciousness movement to South African before he was assassinated in in 1997 by apartheid government authorities. Davis and Biko both fought their respective fights in the same era; Davis’s activism started with the Black Panther movement and she, like Biko, was imprisoned. Her visit to South Africa comes at a time when the legacies of apartheid and segregation are still lingering. The ongoing issue of free education in South Africa has spawned possibly the biggest protests and signs of activism since the end of apartheid. Davis spoke to disgruntled students who have experienced a militaristic response to their activism, which started peacefully but has turned to more aggressive tactics. Davis expressed her disappointment with the current state of South Africa considering it comes two decades after the end of apartheid and draws a similarity to the United States. Despite having elected this first black President of the United States, the election we find ourselves in now tells a much different story about history and progress in the US, which is more divided than ever. She also commented on the relationship between past and present generations of activists, admitting that her generation could have done some things differently to get at the structural roots of racism. She applauds the movements in South Africa and the BLM movement for being more inclusive of women and LGBTQ people and for using social media as a platform to rally support. Davis recognizes the ability of the contemporary generation to have a voice that her generation could not, and the importance of asking questions that could not be asked before. I find it interesting, although not surprising, how critical Davis is of her generation’s efforts. It is natural to look back in hindsight at what you could have done differently or better, but to look back and be able to see what is was that you simply could not have seen at the time, that must weigh on your mind. There are new spaces for the current generation to move into that weren’t there before, which is a bigger responsibility but also a great privilege.