WESTWOOD—Angela Davis, 70, former UCLA professor and countercultural activist, has been known for controversy. As leader of the Communist Party USA in the 1960s, Davis was considered a political radical and a known associate of the Black Panther organization.
In 2014, she continues to attract controversy, this time, for her selection as a UCLA Optimist in the school’s “We, the Optimists Campaign,” a program that began in 2012 to honor game-changing Bruins such as Jackie Robinson and Francis Ford Coppola.
A respected civil rights activist and scholar, Davis’ selection has come under fire in the UCLA community. An article published in “The College Fix” by Bruins Republicans member Jacob Kohlepp, argues, “Her selection as a UCLA optimist is not inspiring, it’s unbalanced and perhaps politically motivated.”
In 1970, Davis was implicated in a conspiracy to free George Jackson, a prominent member of the Black Panthers and member of the Soledad Brothers.
During the operation, Jackson’s brother, Jonathan P. Jackson, was killed while holding a judge, assistant district attorney, and two jurors hostage in a Marin County courtroom.
Jackson was one of four killed in the ensuing firefight. In the aftermath of the massacre, it was revealed that the shotgun used to kill the judge was owned by Davis.
Davis was subsequently charged with first-degree murder and aggravated kidnapping, but was later acquitted at her trial; her ownership of the gun did not stand as sufficient evidence to make her culpable for the crime.
She worked in the UCLA philosophy department between 1979-80 and has not expressed public displeasure in her selection as an Optimist. A professor in the history of Consciousness and Feminist Studies Departments at the University of California Santa Cruz before her retirement in 2008, Davis spoke at UCLA in May 2014, when she delivered a lecture on feminism and prison abolition.
