Our second feminist of the week is Angela Davis, a black activist and writer born in Alabama.
She recently made headlines as one of the faces of the Women’s March, speaking in particular on behalf of Women of Colour:
“We recognize that we are collective agents of history and that history cannot be deleted like web pages. We know that we gather this afternoon on indigenous land and we follow the lead of the first peoples who despite massive genocidal violence have never relinquished the struggle for land, water, culture, their people. We especially salute today the Standing Rock Sioux. The freedom struggles of black people that have shaped the very nature of this country’s history cannot be deleted with the sweep of a hand. We cannot be made to forget that black lives do matter. This is a country anchored in slavery and colonialism, which means for better or for worse the very history of the United States is a history of immigration and enslavement. Spreading xenophobia, hurling accusations of murder and rape and building walls will not erase history. No human being is illegal.”
Angela was a prominent political activist throughout the American Civil Right’s Movement, as well as leading the Communist Party USA, campaigning for prison reform and publishing numerous academic works such as Women, Race and Class. Now 75, Angela is retired but still remains a figurehead for African American rights and feminism.
(Photo credit: www.speakoutnow.org)