Angela Davis, activist, educator, and author was invited to the University of New England in celebration of the late Doctor Martin Luther King Jr. She was invited to speak upon her continuous fight for equality not only in race, but also gender. 

Angela Davis started off her speech talking about certain events that happened in her life that lead to her becoming such an activist for equality. She discussed growing up in a home where bombings occurred just to scare away the black families that lived in the area. When she mentioned this personal story it reminded me of Anne Halward’s Ted Talk about sharing shameful stories.  Angela Davis also discussed the struggles that occurred just to get Martin Luther King Jr’s day of recognition to become a holiday. One year Arizona boycotted the holiday, so the Super Bowl was moved to a different state. Davis also discussed many people who stood for equal rights. Some of the people included Colin Kaepernick, Rosa Parks, and even her mentor Anne Braden. Braden was a white woman who was a social activist. She stated that white woman must realize that they do have privilege, and then once they realize it then they can join forces and fight for social justice. I thought it was very interesting that she not only tied in historical figures, but also people that are relevant to this time such as Kaepernick. By adding sports players instead of just historical figures she connects to a wider audience. 

Angela Davis continued her speech discussing the different levels of privilege. She believes in the All Lives Matter Movement, but states that the movement cannot fully work until black lives truly do matter. I really enjoyed the way she discussed this topic. Typically people are either “All lives matter” or “Black lives matter”, but it was interesting how she connected both with inclusivity instead of the quotes being turned against each other. Davis discusses how the country’s foundation and the constitution was only written for a very small amount of people, and that was affluent white males. Davis states “All people were created equal, no all men were created equal, no all white men were created equal, no affluent white men were created equal.” This quote is great, because it ties in the inequality of race, gender, and poverty. I really enjoyed how she did not just discuss race inequality or gender inequality, but instead she connected both the problems into one overarching idea. Davis then talks upon the problem of sexual assault in woman. Disabled woman have a 40% more chance of intimate violence. Transgender people also have a much higher chance of violence. In particular woman of color have a very high rate of violence. 

The discussion of transgender rights lead into the topic of the fundamental problems with prisons. Davis addresses the problem of placing people who are transgender or non binary into prisons for men and women that they may not identify with. She also discusses the idea of privacy. She claimed that privacy is assumed in a society, and is used as a repressive apparatus that is secured by police and prison. Angela Davis believes that prisons take away human rights, and are becoming obsolete. Although prisons do have some fundamentally wrong issues, I disagree with Davis’ overall idea that prisons are not stopping violence in the world. 

Angela Davis ties her whole speech into current events such as the building of the wall, the R. Kelly scandal, the assassination of Marielle Franco, and gender violence being the most pandemic in the world. These current events are examples of what still needs to be fixed in order for there to be true justice in the world. Angela Davis concludes that when these problems are fixed there will be full equality, going back to the “All lives matter” statement. She finally finishes by addressing that justice is indivisible.