Massachusetts Daily Collegian

A free and responsible press serving the UMass community since 1890

A free and responsible press serving the UMass community since 1890

Massachusetts Daily Collegian

A free and responsible press serving the UMass community since 1890

Massachusetts Daily Collegian

Angela Davis condemns the prison industrial complex in campus talk

(Grace Gulick/Daily Collegian)
(Grace Gulick/Daily Collegian)

Civil and women’s rights activist Angela Davis spoke about the prison industrial complex in the Fine Arts Center Monday night at the University of Massachusetts. Davis called for a thorough re-evaluation of many elements of the American prison system and examined the relationship of the PIC to prominent political issues in other nations.

“Prison abolitionists not only want to end mass incarceration – we have to end incarceration,” Davis said. “Imprisonment only produces the problem it is designed to solve.”

Davis also addressed issues such as the protest movements that have emerged over the past year as a result of controversial legal decisions and the role played by black women in the organization of these demonstrations. Davis applauded these activists for focusing on ending violence against women, especially in situations often ignored by mass media.

Much of Davis’ talk focused on the PIC as it relates to foreign countries like Israel, which Davis claimed were responsible for training American police. Davis also mentioned the introduction of weaponry developed for use in the war on terror to local and college police departments.

“If one is truly opposed to racism and anti-Semitism, one has to challenge the state that promotes these ideologies,” she said of Israel. “We should be able to join progressive, radical Jews in Israel who are also standing up.”

Davis also used the Afro-Colombian community of La Toma, where the historical residents of the area are being challenged by mining companies, as an example. La Toma has a significant amount of underground gold reserves that attract large strip mining companies hoping to access the valuable minerals.

The inhabitants of La Toma have responded by attempting to mine the area themselves in ways that are less destructive to the land. As a result, Davis feels as though the inhabitants are being targeted by a PIC to further the economic interests of these large companies.

“If one looks at what has happened with prison populations in Colombia, a prison in (California) has become Colombia’s most overcrowded prison,” Davis said, referring to a city La Toma is close to.

Davis was also critical of the way the media treated recent American protest demonstrations, which emerged in response to events such as the death of Michael Brown, claiming that the lack of a central male leader in the movements caused them to be taken less seriously.

“Sustained Ferguson demonstrations happened largely because of black women,” Davis said.

Davis also discussed problems with the way the American police system handles trans women and the mentally disabled. She stated that the division of American prisons into merely male and female institutions and the concentration of mentally ill inmates in county jails aggravates these conditions.

In an event bookmarked by standing ovations from the sold out Fine Arts Center crowd, Davis was greeted with tremendous applause when she demanded an end to modern police systems.

“They have insisted on focusing not on individual prosecutions so much as institutional change – the abolition of police structures as we know them,” Davis said.

Davis mentioned that providing free, universal health care and education would effectively limit violent crime and create the foundation for a society not reliant on prison structures.

Davis pointed at the Black Panther Party’s Ten-Point Program as a good model to base social change on, saying that the program’s emphasis on full employment, demilitarization and prison abolition is still relevant today.

“We have to add the issue of the environment,” Davis added.

Davis concluded the event by asking the audience to “join the rising communities of struggle” and she promised, “Together we will make a difference in the world.”

Stuart Foster can be reached at [email protected].

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