WORKING AT BEING RADICAL, DR. ANGELA Y. DAVIS STILL CONQUERING THE MIC

BY CYNTHIA TURNQUEST- JONES

26, 1944, in Birmingham, Alabama. “We weren’t allowed to do many things because of racial segregation. Birmingham created an atmosphere where Black children had to stand across the street watching white children attend the amusement park. Black children were not allowed to attend an amusement park.

Angela’s school was a shack. With old books. With outdated furniture. With hand me downs. We were upset. We were unable to go to the library. Unable to visit the museums. But my mother never allowed us to believe that the situation existed because of individual White people. She told them they were right to be upset. The United States was reserved for White People. She shared that her mother was convinced that one day things will be different. Especially if we dedicated ourselves to demand change.”

Overcoming Controversy, Angela Davis Speaks To Hundreds At Nyack Church

“Education is Liberation. There is no Liberation without Education,” Dr. Angela Y. Davis shared hundreds who believe in being radical at the packed Pilgrim Baptist Church located at 80 N Franklin St, Nyack, Thursday, December 1st.

After a scheduled speaking engagement at North Rockland High School was canceled due to community opposition, the desire to meet Angela Davis continued. The University of California, Santa Cruz professor’s visit to Nyack was a hush event due to threats. The North Rockland High School students were backed by Nyack NAACP, Liberation for Education Network, Hayward Publishing, For Our Kinds NY, Inc., Pilgrim Baptist Church’s Pastor Carl Washington, and activist from near and far.

Critical Race Theory. She was great friends with the late Toni Morris who resided in Rockland County. Davis shared that she knew where she was coming to before she got here. She was prompted our memories that the curriculum in Rockland Country needs to be looked over. Books being banned or challenged is plaguing Rockland School System. Books not being included in the curriculum. Profound attacks on books and freedom of expression in the United States escaped during the tenure of the forty fifth president of the United States.

The churched roared as she entered, “I am not the figure they create. They distort the movement. Misconstrued and misrepresent what it means to struggle for Justice.”

How Did We Get Here? A group called the VOICE at North Rockland High School wanted to meet Angela Davis. They searched for a speaker and became interested in the political activist, philosopher, academic, scholar, and author. They read her books and researched her journey.

Angela Yvonne Davis is best known as a radical African American educator and activist for Civil Rights, Food Justice, The Movement for Black Liberation The Fight Against Black Power, Democracy and for freedom. When asked about being called a radical, Angela broke it down with pleasure.

The meaning of radical is ROOT. It means to understand things at their root. Not the surface. It is full understanding what is needs to be changed if we want to imagine living in a place where freedom and democracy prevails. “I WORK AT BEING RADICAL ALL THE TIME!”

Sharing about her years in Alabama. She was born on January

Angela voiced, “The Critical Race Theory is a very important development. It is also about recognition of history. They don’t want their children to know what their ancestors did in the past. At the same time, they are clinging on the past.“

Why Are Black People Able to Vote? Dr. Angela Davis spoke as the room grasped on to words of intelligence.

“Why are Black People able to vote? We are able to vote because of a collective vision of what is possible in the future. You don’t have to be an Activist. You can do it as an educator. We should never assume what exist in the present represents what we will see in the future. It is different today. Change has happened. It has been brought about as a consequence for standing up. Radical Change. Centuries of struggle. We understand that is possible for the world to change. We do not have to live with institutions of racism for the rest of time. The structural engineering of Slavery is still strong and Covid revealed that.”

She continues, “Deep structural racism is shown in Health care. Deep structural racism is shown in Housing. Deep structural racism is shown in Mass Incarceration. Deep structural racism is shown in Police brutality. Become familiar with “Racial Capitalism.”

On Hope, the founding member of the Committees of Correspondence for Democracy and Socialism (CCDS) reminded us that, “Music that has given us hope. Music that has given us joy is the music that is putting an end to the long quest of freedom and equality. Musicians like Nina Simone who sang, “I wish I knew how it would feel to be free.”

She ended with a word of hope,” We’ve managed to hold on to hope. We have been able to transmit hope from one generation to the next. To the children in this room, you are the benefactors of hope.” Black Power.