January 21, 2019

OPEN LETTER TO THE LEADERSHIP OF THE BIRMINGHAM CIVIL RIGHTS INSTITUTE

IN SUPPORT OF DR. ANGELA Y. DAVIS

As scholars and historians of the Black Freedom Movement, and as veteran civil rights and human rights activists, we are appalled and outraged by the decision of the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute (BCRI) to “dishonor” our colleague and sister, Angela Y. Davis, by rescinding its 2019 Fred Shuttlesworth Award, claiming that she does not meet the criteria for the award. As a daughter of Black Birmingham whose sense of justice was shaped by her community’s organizing tradition, who better than Davis to be honored by such an award.

There are few individuals more admired and beloved in the U.S. Black Freedom struggle, and the global struggle for human rights and justice than Angela Y. Davis. Her status as an international human rights advocate is iconic. Davis has been an unwavering stalwart in the fight for freedom and justice for more than fifty years, speaking out against racism, sexism, anti-Semitism, homophobia, Islamophobia, war, settler-colonialism, and imperialism around the world. She has been one of the most ardent advocates for prison abolition and for humane alternatives to the caging of our fellow human beings. She has also been a steadfast supporter of indigenous peoples. And yes, she has spoken out strongly in support of Palestinian rights, as have millions of principled activists around the world, including tens of thousands of Jews, and many Israelis.

In reflecting on the BCRI decision we are reminded of the following quote by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.: “The ultimate measure of a [person] is not where [they] stand in moments of comfort and convenience, but where [they] stand at times of challenge and controversy.” Sadly, the BCRI leadership has failed to live up to King’s challenge, caving in to pressure to reverse their earlier decision to honor Davis.

We may not all agree on the best way forward in the Middle East but we do share Dr. Davis’ view that the Israeli Occupation is wrong, and that the repressive, discriminatory and often violent policies of the Israeli government vis-à-vis the Palestinian population are wrong and indefensible. This is not a stance against the Jewish people, as is sometimes erroneously suggested, and as evidenced by the increasing number of Jewish people who are a part of the movement for Palestinian rights. Rather it is a stance against the policies of the Israeli government, and our own government’s immoral support of those policies. This is one of the fundamental human rights issues of our time, and we will not be bullied into silence on it. Individuals and institutions that choose to punish, censor, blacklist and dishonor anyone who dares to take a critical stand on this issue are acting in the disgraceful tradition of McCarthyism and furthering the intolerance of dissent.

Finally, we are especially disturbed and angered by the recent targeting of Black supporters of Palestinian rights. Journalist and scholar Marc Lamont Hill was abruptly fired as a CNN contributor for expressing his views on Palestine at the United Nations in December of last year. And now, Angela Davis is publicly disrespected in this way, in her hometown, a site of so many heroic struggles for the values that she, and many of us, uphold. This reminds us of the ways in which liberal supporters of civil rights reforms turned their backs on Dr. King when on April 4, 1967 he dared to speak out condemning the war in Vietnam. This sends a clear message today: how dare independent Black activists express views on international politics that differ with mainstream U.S. policy. This message, was then and is now, paternalistic and insulting. Many others, especially Palestinian and Arab scholars and activists, have also been targeted and attacked for their outspoken stance in support of Palestinian human rights. And we support their right of expression as well.

We stand with Angela Davis and applaud her outstanding and admirable track record as a public intellectual, feminist scholar, and advocate for peace, freedom and justice around the world. The BCRI leadership has refused to recognize or value Dr. Angela Davis’s sterling human rights record. They have instead chosen to pander to conservative critics and the pro-Israel lobby. History will not view this decision kindly.

Angela Davis represents the best of the tradition Black freedom fighters who were uncompromising internationalists, refused to bow to intimidation, and were unafraid to speak truth to power. We thank and honor Angela Davis for her life’s work, her moral courage and her visionary leadership, even if BCRI has chosen not to do so.

Signed,

A. Lynn Bolles - Professor Emerita, University of Maryland College Park

A. Naomi Paik - Assistant Professor, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign

A. B. Clausell - Hope Commumity Non-Partisans Association

Adam Bush - Provost, College Unbound

Adom Getachew - Assistant Professor, University of Chicago

Aisha Ray, Ph.D. - Professor Emerita of Child Development, Erikson Institute

Aishah Shahidah Simmons - Visiting Scholar, University of Pennsylvania

Akinyele K Umoja - Chair and Professor, Georgia State University

Alaka Wali - Curator of North American Anthropology, The Field Museum

Alan M. Wald - H. Chandler Davis Collegiate Professor Emeritus, University of Michigan

Alex Lubin - Professor of American Studies, University of New Mexico

Alexis Gumbs - Founder, Eternal Summer of the Black Feminist Mind

Allyson Hobbs - Associate Professor & Director of African & African American Studies, Stanford University

Amanda Joyce Hall - Doctoral Candidate, Yale University

Amira Rose Davis - Assistant Professor of History, Penn State University

Amrita Chakrabarti Myers - Ruth N. Halls Associate Professor of History and Gender Studies, Indiana University

Amy King - Professor, SUNY Nassau Community College

Ana Lucia Araujo - Professor, Howard University

Andrea J. Ritchie - Researcher in Residence on Race, Gender, Sexuality and Criminalization, Barnard Center for Research on Women

Andreana Clay - Associate Professor and Department Chair, San Francisco State University

Andrew Dilts - Associate Professor, Loyola Marymount University

Andrew Kahrl - Associate Professor, University of Virginia

Anene Ejikeme - Associate Professor, Trinity University

Angeline Gragasin - Writer, Filmmaker, Researcher, Brooklyn College and The University of Chicago

Anita Plummer - Assistant Professor, Howard University

Ann Savage - Professor, Butler University

Anna Chandler - Film student and activist, Columbia College Chicago

Anna Guevarra - Director and Associate Professor, Global Asian Studies, University of Illinois Chicago

Annalisa Butticci - Assistant Professor, Utrecht University, the Netherlands

Annelise Orleck - Professor of History, Dartmouth College

Ariel Dougherty - National Director, Media Equity Collaborative

Arti Mehta - Lecturer, Howard University Department of Classics

Ashley Farmer - Assistant Professor, University of Texas, Austin

Austin McCoy - Assistant Professor, Auburn University

Avery F. Gordon - Professor, University of California

Barbara Ransby - Distinguished Professor of African American Studies, Gender and Women's Studies and History, University of Illinois at Chicago

Barbara Mutnick - Activist, youth participant of Mississippi Summer (SNCC/COFO) during the summer of 1964

Beatrice J Adams - Graduate Student, Rutgers University

becky thompson Ph.D. - professor, simmons university

Bernardine Dohrn - clinical faculty (retired), Northwestern University School of Law

Dr Bernice Johnson Reagon - Retired Founding Director, Program in African American Culture Smithsonian Institution, Founder, Director of Sweet Honey In The Rock, African American Acapella Female Ensemble

Bertin M. Louis, Jr. - Associate Professor, The University of Tennessee, Knoxville

Beth Blue Swadener - Professor, Arizona State University

Beth E Richie - Professor, University of Illinois at Chicago

Betsy Loren Plumb - Administrator, African and Afro-American Studies Department, Brandeis University

Beverly Guy-Sheftall - Anna Julia Cooper Professor of Women’s Studies and Director of the Women’s Research and Resource Center, Spelman College

Bob Zellner - Activist, SNCC, SCEF, NAACP

Brandy Thomas Wells - Assistant Professor, Oklahoma State University

Brenna Bhandar - Senior Lecturer, SOAS, University of London

Brett Gadsden - Association Professor, Northwestern University

Brian Behnken - Associate Professor, Iowa State University

Brittney Cooper - Associate Professor, Rutgers University

Bruce Smith - Southern Student Organizing Committee , Virginia Student Civil Rights Committee, 1964-1969, Lynchburg College, Lynchburg, Virginia

Brunie Emmanuel - Founder, The UniVision Group

Carina E. Ray - Associate Professor, Brandeis University

Carole Boyce Davies, Professor, Cornell University

Carolle Charles, Phd - Associate Professor of Sociology CUNY, Baruch College

Carolyn M. Byerly, Ph.D. - Professor of Communication, Howard University

catherine orr - Professor and Chair of Critical Identity Studies, Beloit College

Cathy J. Cohen - Professor, University of Chicago

Celia E. Naylor - Associate Professor of Africana Studies and History, Barnard College, Columbia University

Chanda Prescod-Weinstein, Assistant Professor of Physics and Core Faculty in Women’s Studies, University of New Hampshire

Chandra Talpade Mohanty - Distinguished Professor, Women’s and Gender Studies, Syracuse University

Charisse Burden-Stelly, PhD - Assistant professor, africana studies and political science, Carleton College

Charles Hughes - Director/Assistant Professor, Rhodes College

Charles W. McKinney - Director of Africana Studies, Rhodes College

Charlie Cobb - Writer, SNCC veteran

Charlie Thomas - Volunteer, SNCC

Cheryl Harris - Professor of Law, University of California. Los Angeles

Cheryl Johnson-Odim - Provost Emerita, Dominican University

Christen Smith - Associate Professor of African and African Diaspora Studies and Anthropology, University of Texas, Austin

Christina Heatherton - Assistant Professor, Barnard College

Dr. Christina Sharpe - Professor of Humanities, York University

Christine Dussault - Chicago Public Schools, Teacher

Claire O'Connor - Community Organizer, Freedom Rider

Clayborne Carson - Martin Luther King Jr. Centennial Professor, Stanford University

Colleen S. Bell - Professor, Hamline University, St. Paul, MN

Constancia Dinky Romilly - SNCC Northern Coordinator, Friends of the Jenin Freedom Theatre

Courtney J. Patterson-Faye, Ph.D. - Assistant Professor, Wesleyan University

Crystal N. Feimster, Associate Professor, Yale University

Crystal Moten - Assistant Professor of History, Macalester College

Crystal R. Sanders - Associate Professor of History and Director of the Africana Research Center, Pennsylvania State University

Curtis Austin - Associate Professor, University of Oregon

Cynthia Mosteller - Member, Hope Community Fairhope AL

Cynthia Wu - Associate Professor, Indiana University

Dan Berger - Associate Professor of Comparative Ethnic Studies, University of Washington Bothell

Dana-Ain Davis - Professor, Graduate Center, CUNY

Daniel Rosenberg - Professor, Adelphi University

Daphne Muse - Writer, Mills College (Retired)

Davarian Baldwin - Distinguished Professor of American Studies, Trinity College (CT)

David Palumbo-Liu - Louise Hewlett Nixon Professor, Stanford University

David Stovall - Professor, University of Illinois at Chicago

Dayo F. Gore - Associate Professor, Ethnic Studies and Critical Gender Studies, University of California, San Diego

Deborah A. Thomas - R. Jean Brownlee Professor of Anthropology, University of Pennsylvania

Deborah Hope - Activist & Attorney, National Bar Association

Debra L. Schultz - Assistant Professor of History, Kingsborough Community College, CUNY

Diane Harriford - Professor of Sociology, Vassar College

Donna Murch - Associate Professor of History, Rutgers University, New Brunswick

Dorothy C. Salem - Professor Emeritus, Retired Cuyahoga Community College

Dylan Rodriguez - Professor and Chair of the Academic Senate, UC Riverside Division, University of California at Riverside

D. Patrick Johnson - Professor, Northwestern University

Ebony Coletu - Assistant Professor of English and African American Studies, Pennsylvania State University

Dr Eddie Bruce-Jones - Reader in Law & Anthropology, Birkbeck College, University of London

Eddie S. Glaude Jr. - James S McDonnell Distinguish University Professor, Princeton University

Edward Ahmed Mitchell, Esq. - Executive Director, CAIR Georgia

Eileen Boris - Hull Professor of Feminist Studies, University of a California Santa Barbara

Elaine Richardson - Professor of Literacy Education, The Ohio State University

Elizabeth K Warman - Community Worker, Social Justice Coordinator, Second Unitarian Church, Chicago

Elizabeth Todd-Breland - Assistant Professor, University of Illinois at Chicago

Elizabeth Walsh - Journalist, Al Jazeera English

Elizabeth Vitale, MSN, PsyD - EMDR International Association, Kehilat Chaverim (West Hartford, CT), Center for Serenity (Hartford, CT)

Ellen Wu - Associate Professor, History, Indiana University Bloomington

Elsa Barkley Brown - Associate Professor, University of Maryland College Park

Efia Nwangaza, Founder/Exec Director, Malcolm X Center for Self Determination

Erik S. McDuffie - Associate Professor, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Eve L. Ewing - Assistant Professor, University of Chicago

Evelynn M. Hammonds, PhD - Professor, Harvard University

Farah J Griffin - Chair, African American and African Diaspora Studies Department, Columbia University

Felicia Jamison - Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Maryland

Filomina C. Steady - Professor, Wellesley College

Flora Farago - Assistant Professor, Stephen F. Austin State University

Frances Jones-Sneed, Ph.D. - Professor Emeritus of History, Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts

Francoise Hamlin - Associate Professor, Brown University

Frank D Rashid - Professor Emeritus, Marygrove College

Dr. Fredrick Douglass Dixon - Assistant Professor, University of Wyoming

Gaye Theresa Johnson - Professor, UCLA

George Derek Musgrove - Associate Professor of History, UMBC

Gina Dent - Associate Professor, University of California, Santa Cruz

Gina Athena Ulysse - Professor of Anthropology, Wesleyan University

Gordon Mantler - Associate Professor of Writing and of History, George Washington University

Grace Hong - Professor of Gender Studies and Asian American Studies, UCLA

Gwendolyn Midlo Hall - Professor, Rutgers University

Gwendolyn Zoharah Simmons - Senior Lecturer, University of Florida

Heather Ann Thompson - Professor and author, University of Michigan

Helen H Jun - Associate Professor, University of Illinois, Chicago; Departments of English and African American Studies

Herb Boyd - Adjunct Professor, City College of New York

Horace G. Campbell - Professor, Syracuse University

Ibram X. Kendi - Professor, American University

Imani Uzuri - vocalist, composer, cultural worker

Jaime Veve - Labor Organizer, Transport Workers Union local 100 NYC (ret.)

Jakobi Williams - Ruth N. Halls Associate Professor, Indiana University

James Smethurst - Professor, University of Massachusetts Amherst

Janet Jakobsen - Professor of Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, Barnard College

Jarvis Tyner - NY State Chairperson, Communist Party USA

Jasmin A. Young, PhD - Scholar, UCLA

Jasmin Cardenas - Arts Justice Activist, CWC Worker’s Resistance Theater Collective

Jasmin Howard - Doctoral Student, Michigan State University

Jason McGraw - Associate Professor, Indiana University

Jay Schaffner - Moderator, Portside

Jean Allman - Professor, African and African American Studies, Washington University in St. Louis

Jeanine Ntihirageza - Faculty, Northeastern Illinois University

Jeanne M. Toungara - Associate Professor or History, Howard University

Jeanne Middleton Hairston - Scholar, Teacher and Witness to the Movement, DOCJMH, LLC

Jeanne Theoharis - Distinguished Professor, Brooklyn College of CUNY

Jeffrey O.G. Ogbar - Professor of History, University of Connecticut

Jennifer Ash - History Ph.D Candidate, University of Illinois-Chicago

Jennifer Brier - Professor of Gender & Women’s Studies and History, University of Illinois - Chicago

Jennifer DeVere Brody - Professor, Stanford University

Jennifer L. Morgan - Professor, New York University

Jennifer Williams - Assistant Professor, Loyola Marymount University

Jerrad P. Pacatte - Graduate Student, Rutgers University

Jessica Viñan-Nelson - PhD candidate, The Ohio State University

Joan C. Browning - 1961 Albany Freedom Rider, Independent Scholar

joão vargas - Professor, University of California, Riverside

Joelle Fishman - Chair, Political Action Commission, CPUSA

Johanna Fernandez - Associate Professor, Baruch College, City University of NY

John Bachtell - National Chair, Communist Party USA

John Higginson - Professor of History, University of Massachusetts Amherst

Johnny E. Williams - Professor of Sociology, Trinity College

Jordan T. Camp - Term Assistant Professor of American Studies, Barnard College

Joshua B. Guild - Associate Professor of History & African American Studies, Princeton University

Joshua Bloom - Assistant Professor of Sociology, University of Pittsburgh

Joyce Elaine King - Benjamin E. Mays Endowed Chair for Urban Teaching, Learning & Leadership, Georgia State University

Joye Bowman - Professor of History, UMass Amherst

J.T. Roane, Assistant Professor of Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies, University of Cincinnati

Juana Maria Rodriguez - Professor, UC Berkeley

Judith Byfield - Professor of History, Cornell University

Judith Ezekiel - Professor emerita, Wright State University

Judy Richardson - SNCC Veteran (1963-66), Education Director, Eyes on the Prize documentary series, Visiting Professor, Brown University (former)

Judy Tzu-Chun Wu - Professor and Asian American Studies Chair, University of California, Irvine

Julie Buckner Armstrong - Professor of Literature and Cultural Studies, University of South Florida

Julie Saville - Associate Professor, Emerita, University of Chicago

Juliet Hooker - Professor of Political Science, Brown University

K.T. Ewing - Assistant Professor, Tennessee State University

Kairn A Klieman - Associate Professor, University of Houston

Karen Cook Bell - Associate Professor, Bowie State University

Karen J. Leong - Associate Professor, Arizona State University

Karen Kuo - Associate Professor, Arizona State University

Karen Sotiropoulos - Associate Professor of History, Cleveland State University

Karma R. Chavez - Chair and Associate Professor, Dept. of Mexican American and Latina/o Studies, University of Texas at Austin

Katherine Pecore - Staff Attorney, Office of the Appellate Defender

Dr. Maulana Karenga - Professor and Chair, Department of Africana Studies, California State University, Long Beach

Kaye Wise Whitehead - Associate Professor of Communication and African and African American Studies, Loyola University Maryland

Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor - Assistant Professor, Princeton University

Keisha A. Brown - Assistant Professor, Tennessee State University

Keisha N. Blain - Assistant Professor of History, University of Pittsburgh

Keisha-Khan Perry - Associate Professor, Brown University

Kellie Jackson - Assistant Professor, Wellesley College

Keona K. Ervin - Associate Professor of History, University of Missouri

Kesho Yvonne Scott - Associate Professor, Grinnell College

Kia Caldwell - Professor, African, African American & Diaspora Studies, UNC-Chapel Hill

Kimberle Crenshaw, Distinguished Professor of Law, UCLA and Columbia University

Dr. Kimberly Nichele Brown - Associate Professor in the Department of Gender, Sexuality and Women's Studies, Virginia Commonwealth University

Kimberly Thomas McNair, PhD - Postdoctoral Scholar, University of Southern California

Komozi Woodard - Professor of History, Public Policy & Africana Studies, Sarah Lawrence College

Koritha Mitchell - Associate Professor of English, Ohio State University

Krista Johnson - Associate Professor, Howard University

Lacey Peters - Assistant Professor, Hunter College, CUNY

Laila Farah - Associate Professor, DePaul University

Laura Briggs - Professor, Women, Gender, Sexuality Studies, University of Massachusetts

Laura Durnell - Professor, DePaul University

Laura Thomas - Activist

Lauren Araiza - Associate Professor of History, Denison University

Laurie Green - Professor, University of Texas at Austin

Lawrence Ware, Teaching Professor of Philosophy and co-director of the Center for Africana Studies, Oklahoma State University

Leah Sarat - Associate Professor of Religious Studies, Arizona State University

Lee Baker - Professor, Durham, NC

Leith Mullings - Distinguished Professor Emerita, Ph. D. Program in Anthropology, Graduate Center, CUNY

Leslie M Alexander - Associate Professor, University of Oregon

Dr. Leslie-Burl McLemore - Emeritus Professor, Jackson State University

Lester K Spence - Associate Professor of Political Science and Africana Studies, Johns Hopkins University

Linda E. Carty - Associate Professor, Syracuse University

Lisa Brock - Director of Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership, Kalamazoo College

Lisa Levenstein - Associate Professor of History, UNC Greensboro

Lisa M. Anderson - Associate Professor, Arizona State University

Lisa Yun lee - Executive Director, National Public Housing Museum

Lise Vogel - Professor (ret.) of Sociology, Rider University

Dr. Lynette A. Jackson - Professor, University of Illinois at Chicago

M. Phyllis Cunningham RN, EdD - Retired, CUNY

Mae Ngai - Professor, Columbia University

Manisha Sinha - Draper Chair in American History, University of Connecticut

Marc B Steiner - President/Executive Producer, Center for Emerging Media

Margaret Washington - Professor, Cornell University

Maria Varela - Visiting Professor (former), The Colorado College/University of New Mexico

Marisa Fuentes - Associate Professor, Rutgers University

Marisela Gomez MPH PHD MD - CEO, Social Health Concepts & Practices.

Dr Mark Naison - Professor of African American Studies and History, Fordham University

Mark Anthony Neal - Professor, Duke University

Marlon M Bailey - Associate Professor, Arizona State University

Martha Biondi - Lorraine H. Morton Professor of African American Studies and Professor of History, Northwestern University

Mary Barr, Assistant Professor of Sociology, Kentucky State University

Mary Margaret Fonow - Professor of Women and Gender Studies, Arizona State University

Mary Pattillo - Professor of Sociology and African American Studies, Northwestern University

Mary Louise Patterson M.D. - Asst. Clinical Professor, Weill Cornell Medical College

Mathias Urban - Professor of Early Childhood Education, Dublin City University

Matthew Basso - Professor, University of Utah

Matthew M. Harris - PhD Candidate, University of California, Santa Barbara

Melanee C. Harvey - Assistant Professor, Howard University

Melina Abdullah - Professor & Chair, Pan-African Studies, California State University, Los Angeles

Melissa N. Stuckey, Ph.D. - Assistant Professor of History, Elizabeth City State University

Mia Charlene White - Assistant Professor, The New School

Michael Friedman, M.P.H., Ph.D. - Assistant Professor of Biology , American International College of Arts and Sciences of Antigua

Michael Keith Honey - Haley Professor of Humanities, University of Washington Tacoma

Michael A. Middleton - Deputy Chancellor and Professor Emeritus of Law, University of Missouri

Michael O. West - Professor, Binghamton University

Michael Simanga - Scholar, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign

Michelle Alexander - Visiting Professor of Social Justice, Union Theological Seminary

Michelle Duster - Author / Speaker / Educator, Columbia College Chicago

Michelle Moyd - Associate Professor of History, Indiana University, Bloomington

Michelle Salazar Perez - Associate Professor of Early Childhood, New Mexico State University

Mildred Boveda - Assistant Professor, Arizona State University

Minkah Makalani - Director, John L. Warfield Center for African and African American Studies, Associate Professor of African and African Diaspora Studies, University of Texas at Austin

Molly Crabapple - Artist and author of Drawing Blood, Independent

Mónica A. Jiménez - Assistant Professor, African and African Diaspora Studies Department, University of Texas at Austin

N. D. B. Connolly - Herbert Baxter Adams Associate Professor, Johns Hopkins University

Nadine Naber, Professor, Global Asian Studies and Gender and Women’s Studies, University of Illinois at Chicago

Nan Enstad, Professor of History, University of Wisconsin, Madison

Nancy Gruver - Founder, New Moon Girls

Nancy MacLean - William Chafe Professor of History and Public Policy, Duke University

Nancy Raquel Mirabal - Associate Professor, American Studies Department, University of Maryland, College Park

Natalie P. Byfield - Associate Professor, St. John's University

Natanya Duncan - Assistant Professor, Lehigh University

Natsu Taylor Saito - Professor of Law, Georgia State University

Nell Irvin Painter - Edwards Professor of American History, Emerita, Princeton University

Nicole Burrowes - Assistant Professor, University of Texas, Austin

Nikhil Pal Singh - Professor of Social and Cultural Analysis and History, Faculty Director NYU Prison Education Program, New York University

Nikki Brown - Associate Professor of History, University of New Orleans

Nikki M. Taylor - Professor of History, Howard University

Nishani Frazier - Associate Professor, Miami University of Ohio

Noorjahan Akbar - Founding Director, Free Women Writers

Pamela N Walker - PhD Candidate, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey

Pamela Sporn - Director, Grito Productions

Patricia Williams Lessane, Executive Director of the Avery Research Center for African American History and Culture at the College of Charleston

Patrick D. Jones - Associate Professor, University of Nebraska-Lincoln

Patti Duncan - Associate Professor of Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, Oregon State University

Paula Austin - Assistant Professor, California State University, Sacramento

Peggy Quinn - Member/ Organizer, Mississippi for Quality Education as a Constitutional Right

Penny Patch - Civil Rights Movement veteran, Nurse-Midwife, Adjunct Professor, Springfield College (ret.)

Philip V. McHarris - PhD Candidate, Yale University

Phyllis Bennis - Fellow, Institute for Policy Studies

Premilla Nadasen - Professor, Barnard College

Prexy Nesbitt - Senior Lecturer, Making the Road

Prof. Blair LM Kelley - Associate Professor, NC State University

Quincy Mills - Associate Professor of History, Director of Africana Studies, Vassar College

Rabab Abdulhadi - Director and Senior Scholar, Arab and Muslim Ethnicities and Diasporas Studies, San Francisco State University

Rachel E. Harding, PhD - Associate Professor, University of Colorado Denver

Rashid Khalidi, Edward Said Professor of Modern Arab Studies and History, Columbia University

Rebecca Hill - Professor, Kennesaw State University

Regina Yasmeen Brown - Member, Sembène Films & Art Festival

Rhonda Hanson - NEA Peace & Justice Caucus

Rhonda Y. Williams - Professor, Vanderbilt University

Robbie Osman - Activist, Freedom Summer volunteer

Robert W. Widell, Jr. - Associate Professor of History, University of Rhode Island

Robin D. G. Kelley - Professor, UCLA

Robyn Ceanne Spencer - Associate Professor of History, Lehman College

Roderick A. Ferguson - Professor, University of Illinois

Ronda Henry Anthony - Associate Professor, Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis

Rosalie Uyola - Director, Independent Scholar

Dr. Rose Brewer - Professor, University of Minnesota

Rosemary Ndubuizu - Assistant Professor, Georgetown University

Ruby Sales - Director Founder, Spirithouse Project, SNCC veteran

Rudy Guevarra Jr. - Associate Professor, Arizona State University

Russell Rickford - Associate Professor of History, Cornell University

Ruth Wilson Gilmore - Professor, Graduate Center, City University of New York

Salamishah Tillet - Professor of African-American Studies and Creative Writing, Rutgers University

Samuel Kelton Roberts - Associate Professor of History & Sociomedical Sciences, Columbia University

Sara M Evans - Regents Professor Emerita, University of Minnesota, retired

Sarah E. Chinn - Professor, English Department, Hunter College, CUNY

Sarah Haley - Associate Professor, UCLA

Sasha Turner, Associate Professor, Quinnnipiac University, and Yale Research Fellow

Scott Saul - Professor of English, UC Berkeley

Sean Jacobs - Associate Professor, International Affairs, The New School

Senti Sojwal - Communications Coordinator, Planned Parenthood of New York City

Dr. Shana L. Redmond - Associate Professor, UCLA

Shanna G. Benjamin - Associate Professor of English, Grinnell College

Shannon Frystak, Ph.D. - Professor of African American/Women's History, East Stroudsburg University of Pennsylvania

Shannon King - Associate Professor of History, College of Wooster

Sharla M. Fett - Professor, Occidental College

Shawnita Sealy-Jefferson, PhD, MPH - Assistant Professor of Epidemiology, The Ohio State University

Sheshalatha Reddy - Associate Professor, Howard University

Simon Balto - Assistant Professor of History and African-American Studies, University of Iowa

Sina Kramer - Assistant Professor of Women’s and Gender Studies, Loyola Marymount University

Stanlie M James - Professor, Arizona State University

Stephanie Shonekan - Professor, W.E.B. Du Bois Dept of Afro-American Studies, UMASS Amherst

Stephanie Smallwood - Associate Professor of History, University of Washington

Steve Thornton - Past Vice President, District 1199 NE/ SEIU

Steve Wise - Activist, Virginia Students Civil Rights Committee

Sundiata Keita Cha-Jua – Associate Professor, University of Illinois

Susan Bliss Pearce - Writer, Independent

Susan M. Reverby - Professor Emerita, Wellesley College

T. Dionne Bailey - Postdoctoral Research and Teaching Fellow, Carter G. Woodson Institute - University of Virginia

Dr. Tara White - Historian, Wallace County Community College

Tera W. Hunter - Edwards Professor of American History and Professor of African American Studies, Princeton

Teresa A. Barnes - Assoc. Professor, Center for African Studies, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Teresa Prados Torreira - Associate Professor, Columbia College Chicago

Thavolia Glymph - Professor, Duke University

Theresa El-Amin - Regional Director, Southern Anti-Racism Network

Thomas A. Guglielmo - Associate Professor of American Studies, George Washington University

Thomas C Holt - Professor, University of Chicago

Dr. Tiffany Ruby Patterson - Associate Professor of African American and Diaspora Studies and History, Vanderbilt University

Tikia K. Hamilton, Ph.D. - Educator, Latin School of Chicago

Timothy B. Tyson - Senior Research Scholar, Duke University

Dr. Tiyi M. Morris - Associate Professor, Ohio State University

Todd Moye - Professor of History, University of North Texas

Toussaint Losier - Assistant Professor, University of Massachusetts at Amherst

Tracye A. Matthews - Executive Director, Center for the Study of Race, Politics and Culture, University of Chicago

Tyina Steptoe - Associate Professor, University of Arizona

Ula Taylor - Professor, University of California, Berkeley

V. P. Franklin - Educator/Historian, University of New Orleans

Victoria Wolcott, Professor of History, University of Buffalo

Wahneema Lubiano - Associate Professor, African & African American Studies, Duke University

Walter D. Greason - Chair, EDCNL, Monmouth University

Wangui Muigai - Lecturer, Brandeis University

Wellington W. Nyangoni - Professor, Brandeis University

Dr. Willi Coleman - Professor Emerita, University of Vermont

William Ayers - Distinguished Professor, University of Illinois at Chicago

William Minter - Editor, AfricaFocus Bulletin

William P. Jones - Professor of History, University of Minnesota

Zebulon V. Miletsky - Assistant Professor/Africana Studies, Stony Brook University

zillah eisenstein – Professor Emerita, Anti-racist feminist theory, Ithaca College

(The affiliations of individuals listed are provided for identification purposes only)

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

January 21, 2019

For inquiries: bcri.openletter [at] gmail.com

For more information: AngelaDavisPalestineSolidarity.com

SCHOLARS AND VETERANS OF CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT SPEAK OUT IN SUPPORT OF PALESTINIAN RIGHTS AND IN DEFENSE OF ANGELA DAVIS.

On this 2019 Martin Luther King Jr. Day of national observance, over 360 scholars of the Civil Rights and Black Freedom Movements, and veterans of these historic struggles, along with educators and human rights advocates, issue a strong statement in support of Palestinian human rights, and in defense of our colleague and sister, Angela Y. Davis, who was publicly dishonored three weeks ago by the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute when it abruptly reversed its decision to recognize her with its annual award because of her stand on this issue.

The attached statement represents a broad cross section of scholars from dozens of colleges and universities, including Pulitzer prize-winning authors, MacArthur “Genius Grant” Fellows, and some of the most distinguished Civil Rights historians and African American Studies scholars in the country. Signees also include many who knew Dr. King and organized alongside Rev. Shuttlesworth.

Many of the sentiments expressed in our collective statement were amplified in an eloquent opinion piece published yesterday, January 20, in The New York Times by one of our signees, Michelle Alexander, entitled “Time to Break the Silence on Palestine.”

This statement is part of a larger movement that is refusing to be silent on Palestinian rights, refusing to have our words and values misconstrued and maligned, and refusing to tolerate McCarthy-like tactics to subvert dissent and debate on this important issue.

This statement was the initiative of Scholars for Social Justice, a new national network of progressive scholar-activists, led by scholars of color. A contingent of our group will travel to Birmingham, Alabama on February 16^th to participate in an alternative ceremony to honor Angela Y. Davis organized by local activists and officials in the city.

Initial signees of the statement include: Barbara Ransby, Cathy J. Cohen, Beth E. Richie, Patrick Jones, Premilla Nadasen, Russell Rickford, Ashley Farmer, Beverly Guy-Sheftall, Robin D.G. Kelley, Farah Jasmine Griffin, Elizabeth Todd-Breland, Chanda Prescod-Weinstein, Ruth Wilson Gilmore, Nadine Naber and Robyn Spencer.