Controversial activist Angela Davis spoke at College of the Canyons on Saturday, April 15, 2023. Fortunately, her speech sounded very academic to me, lacking much inspiration. Many in the audience disagreed with my takeaway, with heavy applause and cheering throughout her speech.

Only one person stood outside before the event to protest. As we stated in previous editorials, inviting speakers at the college with different political viewpoints is positive. We are disappointed COC spent $25,000.00 plus traveling expenses to secure the former Black Panther, Marxist and former Vice-Presidential candidate of the American Communist Party as the second speaker in their Anti-Racist Speaker Series.

The college told us they secured Angela Davis so students would be exposed to a different point of view. They said their mission is to expose their students to a broad range of ideas. We agree.

Yet according to Deputy Chancellor and Chief Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, Deputy Officer, Diane Fiero, only 19% of the audience consisted of students. Most people we spoke with in the audience came from outside the Santa Clarita Valley. Ms. Fiero disagrees, telling us we were wrong. She is correct. According to box office records, 56% of the tickets sold were sold to Santa Clarita residents. Still, close to half the attendees came from outside the valley.

During her speech, Angela Davis referred to former President Donald Trump and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis but refused to refer to them by name. Her audience laughed and cheered.

There was no mention in the introduction to her mentioning her joining the Black Panthers or that guns belonging to her were used in a botched courtroom kidnapping that led to a shootout where a judge and three perpetrators died in 1970. Davis spent over a year in jail before an all-white jury acquitted her of all charges.

As we stated in our earlier editorials, we believe Angela Davis had the right to speak. We’re glad everyone in the audience was courteous and no one shouted or tried to drown her out. As stated earlier, we questioned the COC Anti-Racism Speaker Series Group’s recommendation in choosing her to speak, feeling there were many other choices with similar political viewpoints without her checkered history.

So now the burden is on COC to select a speaker with different values and political views. We’re told the school is working on securing someone and they hope to make an announcement by the end of the semester once they’ve secured a contract. We applaud their efforts and look forward to COC providing a balance.

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