Florida State University hosted communist leader Angela Davis last night to celebrate Martin Luther King Jr. Week.
Davis, who was once on the FBI’s “Most Wanted List” and holds a strong allegiance to the Communist Party USA, was invited by the FSU Student Government Association as a part of their Golden Tribe Lecture Series.
“The Golden Tribe Lecture Series is an academically focused speaker series, which attempts to connect students to outstanding individuals who are either experts in their field or working at the forefront of a relevant political or social issue,” according to its website. The mission of the series is to “engage students in issues and dialogue that will positively benefit their overall academic, scholastic, or humanitarian experience.”
The event was funded by Activity & Service fees — a $12.86 fee collected from each undergraduate student — which is built into the final cost of student tuition. Davis’ average speaking fee is between $20,000 and $30,000 and the university is publicly funded.
“This event in particular, as part of the 30th Annual MLK Commemorative Celebration, features awards, the Gospel Choir, and the lecture, the signature event of MLK Week. It is funded by Golden Tribe/SGA, and the MLK Week Committee and Golden Tribe work together to select speakers, such as poets (Nikki Giovanni), actors (Danny Glover, Felix Justice), and thought leaders (Jelani Cobb) who can speak to the legacy of Dr. King,” Browning Brooks of FSU’s communications department told Red Alert Politics in an email.
The College Republicans of Florida State University issued a statement regarding Davis’ visit.
“The College Republicans of Florida State University are appalled by the University’s decision to sponsor Angela Davis to speak on our campus. While we support Ms. Davis’s right to speak freely, we are vehemently against the University using student tuition to sponsor an individual who supports Communist regimes that have been directly responsible for the deaths of millions of innocent people,” it read in part.
“With the University’s history of consistently hosting liberal ‘Golden Tribe’ lecturers such as Dr. Marc Lamont Hill, Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson, Melissa Harris-Perry, and self-proclaimed ‘scientist’ Bill Nye, it is not surprising that they would continue to further the ideological imbalance on college campuses instead of presenting a balance of liberal and conservative viewpoints,” it continued.
Dozens of students protested outside.
An event description called Davis “instrumental in movements for social justice around the world.”
It continued, “Her work as an educator – both at the university level and in the larger public sphere – has always emphasized the importance of building communities of struggle for economic, racial, and gender justice.”
Davis was a well-known member of the Communist Party USA and an associate of the Black Panthers during the ’60s and ’70s. She was an assistant professor at UCLA until she was dismissed due to her ties with the Communist Party.
Davis purchased firearms which were used in the 1970 armed take-over of a Marin County, California courtroom, which resulted in the death of four people. Davis fled to avoid arrest and spent eighteen months in jail and on trial, after being placed on the FBI’s “Most Wanted List.” She was prosecuted for conspiracy and later acquitted of charges of conspiracy, murder, and kidnapping.
Davis went on to teach at colleges in California and ran unsuccessfully in 1980 and 1984 on the Communist Party ticket for vice president of the United States.
According to a separate event description, Davis “helped to popularize the notion of a ‘prison industrial complex,’ [and] she now urges her audiences to think seriously about the future possibility of a world without prisons and to help forge a 21st century abolitionist movement.”
Davis has not backed away from her commitment to communism. As recently as 2016, she declared her allegiance to the Communist Party.
Past speakers of the Golden Tribe Lecture Series include Bill Nye (the Science Guy), Arianna Huffington, James Franco, Ron Paul, and musical artists Common and John Legend.
