Ex-Black Panther urges student activism
A black militant urged Ryerson students to start a revolution against tuition fees and to fight oppression on campus.
"Education shouldn't be a commodity. It should be a right that everyone enjoys," said Angela Davis, a former Black Panther and history professor at the University of California Santa Cruz. "So abolish tuition."
Davis was at Ryerson last weekend as part of RESIST!, the Ryerson Students' Union's equity conference.
Heather Kere, RSU's VP Education, said the goal of the conference is to provide students with knowledge and confidence to implement change in their community.
"I'm hoping [Davis'] words will be an instrument to inspire… To basically have comfort in knowing this person who is speaking in front of them has been through many hardships as a student."
Davis grew up in Birmingham, Alabama during segregation. She became a civil rights activist, a member of the Black Panther Party and the Communist Party. She faced the death penalty in the early '70s when she was accused of being an accomplice to the dramatic kidnapping and murder of a judge. She was acquitted.
At Ryerson, Davis spoke about students' amnesia toward civil rights movement of the '50s and '60s where black citizens fought tirelessly for equity within the US.
"You have to ask yourself: what would have happened if we didn't struggle with the urgency of producing a revolution?" she said.
Davis said it was a very different world when she was growing up.
"As a child I couldn't understand why I couldn't go to amusement parks, museums, or even libraries." She said she couldn't even cross her street because the other side was a white neighbourhood.
She said she always thought about what it would be like to live without segregation. This dream led her to become an activist for the Black Panther civil rights movement. And now, she said, people don't take the initiative to act.
"That sense of ordinary people making those kinds of decisions -- earth-shattering decisions -- is gone," she said.
Davis touched on the Eurocentric nature of curriculums on campuses and schools as being an obstacle in moving toward equity.
"[We] should appreciate the contribution of Africans in every school."
Davis said a movement towards equity within our city and campuses needs to be a collaborative effort between students and faculty members.
"We can leave imprints of our collective power: [an] imprint on this campus and the global world."
After the speech Ryerson fourth-year arts and contemporary students, Caryn Wilson and Kimberly Burke-Levy, said they've noticed a Eurocentric approach within their courses.
Burke-Levy said it would "take time, patience, and commitment" to move forward.
Wilson said students and faculty need to work together for the movement to be successful. "We should not only challenge ourselves, but [they] should too."
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