Activist Angela Davis spoke at College of the Canyons on Saturday to talk about her beliefs and change that she feels needs to happen. 

During the hour and a half session on Saturday April 15, Davis spoke on how being an educator empowered her activism. 

Davis explained that education is at the top of the list when it comes to what has to be accomplished in order to move onto a liberatory trajectory. 

“I eventually realised the production of knowledge is central to any process,” said Davis. “If it’s not critical thinking it’s not education.”

After speaking about education, Davis was asked questions that were formed before the event, one being on how she felt about the intersection of social justice. 

“There’s no such thing as justice for a single group, we have a document that surrounds the ethnic population and those who have spent their entire lives struggling for freedom,” said Davis. 

Equity social justice, gender equality, anti-racism, what does that look like for you in this world?

“We are at a critical turning point but there are those who want to go into a conservative direction and what I mean by conservative is they want to go back to the past,” said Davis. 

The audience was polite and favorable towards Davis during the event despite blow back from residents and staff of COC prior to the event.

During the COC Board of Trustees meeting on Wednesday evening, several community members took to the public comment portion to share their opinions on Davis’s appearance.

Matt Funicello, a Campus Safety Officer at COC, spoke against Davis being invited to speak at the college, especially considering information that Davis had been paid a $25,000 speaking fee through a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) grant.

“To be clear, I fully support the first amendment and her right to speak anywhere, anytime,on her own dime. If she wanted to come here and pay to have an event, by all means. But to have COC invite her is a slap in the face to people like me. This institution would never invite a conservative figure like Larry Elder, Thomas Sowell or Senator Tim Scott to name a few,” Funicello said during the COC board meeting last week.

A former police officer and combat veteran, Funicello cited Davis’ history of anti-law enforcement opinions as a major motivation behind his disapproval. In 1970, guns bought by Davis were used in the armed takeover of a Marin County courthouse, leading to the murder of a judge and the deaths of three of the men involved in the attack.

Funicello noted that all COC security personnel had been required to work on the day of Davis’ appearance, regardless of their usual schedule. “She hates that people like me exist, yet you demand that we protect her while she speaks,” Funicello said. 

Davis is an author and professor at the University of California, Santa Cruz who gained her reputation internationally during her imprisonment and trial and conspiracy charges in the early 70s.  

Davis grew up in Birmingham, Alabama with both of her parents who were also educators. 

When Davis was old enough to attend college she decided to study philosophy at Brandeis University where she was one of three black students. 

Davis is also the author of several books including Women, Race, and Class (1980), Blues Legacies and Black Feminism: Gertrude Ma Rainey, Bessie Smith, and Billie Holiday (1999), Are Prisons Obsolete? (2003) and more. 

During the event, there was only one person protesting.

A majority of guests at the event did not reside in the SCV, according to officials. 

Currently COC is looking to have more speakers but do not have any details of who or when that may happen according to COC officials. 

Click here and here to read previous KHTS editorials about Angela Davis’s appearance.

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