Angela Davis To Keynote Day-Long CWU Social Forum

April 29, 2005

Contact: Djordje Popovic (509-963-1687/fax 509-963-3561/e-mail: popovicd@cwu.edu)

ELLENSBURG, Wash. - Internationally recognized human rights activist, author and educator Angela Davis will present the keynote address at Central Washington University's second annual social forum. Titled "Personalizing Change: Making Another World Possible," it will be held Friday, May 6, on the Ellensburg campus.

At 7 p.m. in the music building concert hall, Davis will discuss "Global Resistance to Global Capitalism: Reformulating Race, Class, and Gender in the 21st Century." The free, public presentation will conclude the day-long symposium.

"Angela Davis is a visionary and leader that had all odds stacked against her and has battled many obstacles to make the changes she feels passionate about," said Kevin Lillybridge, a student member of the forum's planning committee.

In 1969, Davis was removed from her teaching post at UCLA as a result of her social activism and communist party membership. In 1970, she was placed on the FBI's 10 Most Wanted list on false charges. She became the subject of an intense police search that drove her underground and resulted in one of the most famous trials in recent U.S. history. During her 16-month incarceration, a massive international "Free Angela Davis" campaign was organized, leading to her acquittal in 1972.

Former California Governor Ronald Reagan once vowed that Angela Davis would never again teach in the University of California system. Today she is a tenured professor in the History of Consciousness Department at the University of California, Santa Cruz. In 1994, she was appointment chair of the University of California Presidential Chair in African American and Feminist Studies.

"Angela Davis is what beautiful and black is," said Steffyni Gaines, of CWU's Black Student Union. "She is the definition of a strong, powerful, achieved African American woman."

Davis has been active as a teacher, writer and activist for more than three decades. Her articles and essays have appeared in numerous journals and anthologies, and she is the author of five books, "Angela Davis: An Autobiography," "Women, Race & Class," "Women, Culture & Politics," "Blues Legacies and Black Feminism: Gertrude 'Ma' Rainey, Bessie Smith and Billie Holiday" and "Are Prisons Obsolete?"

Her books will be available at the University Bookstore and at her presentation, where she will make herself available to sign them immediately after the event.

In addition to Davis, Medea Benjamin, founding director of the San Francisco-based human rights organization Global Exchange and co-founder of "Code Pink: Women for Peace," will speak at 4 p.m. in Black Hall 152.

Between 1 and 4 p.m., university faculty will lead 12 discussion-based breakout sessions allowing for dialogue on topics like ethical business practices, sustainable development, political alternatives, critical education and exploring the effects of globalization in terms of distribution of wealth, environment, race, gender, class and socio-political inequalities.

"Our goal is to create an opportunity for the CWU community to connect, educate and bring ideas together on how to create another world that is sustainable," said Diane Bedwell, a student member of the symposium planning committee.

The conference is free and open to both the on- and off-campus communities. Forum registration is available online at http://www.cwu.edu/~cel.

For more information about the social forum, sponsored by the centers for student empowerment, excellence in leadership and diversity education, or for persons of disability to arrange for reasonable accommodation, call (509) 963-1687, or (for the hearing impaired) TDD (509) 963-2143.