watching ms. davis

Angela Davis was implicated in the murder of a judge in 1970, was the third woman to appear on the FBI's most wanted list, evaded police capture for two month, was acquitted of all charges after being in prison for 18 months, ran for vice president twice under the Communist party and is now a professor. She's also a bad-ass.

I got to hear Ms. Davis speak tonight at Reed College for the first time. Honestly, I was expecting a super-charged tirade of the government and the prison system. What I got was a bit more watered down and soft spoken but eloquent nonetheless.

I've always been under the belief that you shouldn't see your heroes in person because there is no way they can live up to your expectations. I still believe that Angela Davis is fantastic but now I know how time has mellowed her a bit. But who am I to judge? She's 65 and lived one hell of a life so far. She's earned whatever she has right now. More power to her.

There were several parts of her speech that I thoroughly enjoyed. In particular, she was very outspoken for queer rights and ended her speech by reading the prayer given by Gene Robinson (the gay bishop who read a invocation before Obama's inauguration) which was censored by the fascists at HBO.