Bo Holmström: Self
Quotes
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Bo Holmström : Angela Davis. Her name and face is recognized from hundreds and thousands of protests around the world. She's a symbol for the Black struggle against oppression; not only in America, but in the whole world. Protests have been arranged for her sake in Africa, South America, Europe and the Soviet Union. It was here that it all started: Marin County Courthouse in California. On August 7, 1970 James McClain was on trial for allegedly attempting to stab a guard in San Quentin prison. Two other black prisoners were witnesses at the trial. It had nothing to do with Angela Davis. It's not known if they even knew each other. Also in the courtroom sat 17-year old Jonathan Jackson, the younger brother of the Soledad Brother George Jackson, whom Angela Davis did know. Jonathan Jackson stood up and yelled, 'Everyone freeze,' and pulled out a gun. He handed weapons to the two black witnesses and attempted to take a hostage. They never got further than the parking lot, where a shoot out with the police took place. The judge, two black witnesses and Jonathan Jackson were killed. The police claimed that Angela Davis was the owner of the gun Jonathan Jackson had used. Angela Davis went into hiding. Much later the police found her at a New York hotel. She stands accused as an accomplice to murder, as she was the owner of the gun - a crime punishable by death under California law.
Dennis Roberts - Lawyer : This trial, I think will be historic in it's unfairness. There is no evidence at all to involve Miss Davis in the charges; none whatsoever. And I think that they seized upon this opportunity to try and put her to death. Governor Reagan originally fired her from her teaching job at the University of California, and this is simply an extension of that, as far as I'm concerned. The evidence presented to the grand jury, shows that the guns that were used in the shootout in San Rafael were registered in her name. Now, assuming for the sake of argument, that that's true; that's all it shows - that she owned some guns. There's nothing illegal in the state of California about owning guns. They were registered and it's not a crime. But, because of the inflammatory press that built up around this incident, and because of the need that the government felt to put her in jail and to hopefully, form their point of view, to kill her - they could put enough pressure in that grand jury room to get an indictment.
Bo Holmström : No one believes she was behind the murders. Her thousands of supporters will be sure to politicize her trial. She has received one of the best educations a black person in America can get. Her professors said she was the most gifted student they'd ever had. In Germany she met Herbert Marcuse. It was through him that her interest in philosophy and Marxism grew. Her doctoral thesis was on Kant's analysis of violence in the French revolution. She's more intelligent and knowledgeable than most people. She has not let the prison stay break her down. She's on a hunger strike as a protest against the conditions. She's black, she's a woman and she stands accused of murder. Despite all that, she seems to be not only an icon for women, but for most blacks.
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Bo Holmström : Very few have met her. She's being detained in this building; a courthouse outside of San Francisco, in a small cell. This is the first time a TV camera has been brought to her cell. She seems silent and pale when we visit her... A year ago the Black Panthers were much more active, you heard much more about that type of struggle. Is the time of the Black Panthers past?
Angela Davis : The Black Panthers still exist and the Black Panthers are still extremely active in the Oakland community and communities all over the country. I'm not sure whether you are aware of what is now happening in the Black Panther Party and the kinds of things that members of that party are doing now.
Bo Holmström : No, but tell me.
Angela Davis : First of all, if you're gonna talk about a revolutionary situation, you have to have people who are physically able to wage revolution; who are physically able to organize, and physically able to do all that is done.
Bo Holmström : But the question is more; how do you get there? Do you get there by confrontation? Violence?
Angela Davis : Oh, is that the question you were asking?
Bo Holmström : Yeah.
Angela Davis : You see, that's another thing. When you talk about a revolution, most people think violence; without realizing that the real content of any kind of revolutionary thrust lies in the principles and the goals that you're striving for - not in the way that you reach them. On the other hand, because of the way this society is organized; because of the violence that exists on the surface everywhere - you'd have to expect that there are going to be such explosions. You have to expect things like that as reactions. If you are a black person and live in the black community all your life, and walk out on the street every day seeing white policemen surrounding you... When I was living in Los Angeles, for instance, long before the situation in L.A. ever occurred - I was constantly stopped. The police didn't know who I was, but I was a black woman and I had a natural, and they, I suppose; thought that I might be a quote, 'Militant'. And when you live under a situation like that constantly... and then you ask me whether I approve of violence... I mean, that just doesn't make any sense at all... whether I approve of guns. I grew up in Birmingham, Alabama. Some very, very good friends of mine were killed by bombs. Bombs that were planted by racists. I remember, from the time I was very small, I remember the sounds of bombs exploding across the street; our house shaking. I remember our father having to have guns at his disposal at all times, because of the fact that at any moment we might expect to be attacked. The man who was at that time in complete control of the city government - his name was Bull Connor - would often get on the radio and make statements like, 'Niggers have moved into a white neighborhood, we better expect some bloodshed tonight'. And sure enough, there would be bloodshed. After the four young girls who lived... one of them lived next door to me; I was very good friends with the sister of another one, and my sister was very good friends with all three of them, my mother taught one of them in her class. My mother... In fact, when the bombing occurred, one of the mothers of the young girls called my mother and said, 'Can you take me down to the church to pick up Carol? We heard about the bombing and I don't have my car.' And they went down, and what did they find? They found limbs and heads strewn all over the place. And then after that, in my neighborhood, all of the men organized themselves into an armed patrol. They had to take their guns and patrol our community every night because they did not want that to happen again. I mean, that's why when someone asks me about violence, huh... I just... I just find it incredible. Because, what it means is that the person who is asking that question has absolutely no idea what black people have gone through in this country, what black people have experienced in this country, since the time the first black person was kidnapped from the shores of Africa.
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Bo Holmström : What is the new policy of the Black Panthers now, in 1972?
Elaine Brown : The policy isn't new. We like to say that we are returning to what we call our 'Original Vision'; which was to serve the people and to move the masses of our people - black and other oppressed people inside of this country - to the point of total liberation. What is new is that we have stopped becoming what we would call a 'Revolutionary Cultist Group'. We're not here to build heroic images that people can make posters out of, and that they can glorify. The point is for the struggle to be waged between the oppressed people and the oppressor - not between the Black Panther Party and the police.
Bo Holmström : What do you think about Angela Davis? She's not from the Black Panther's Party.
Elaine Brown : No, Angela, umm... Angela Davis is a very close friend of the Black Panther Party. She was a very good friend of mine, even prior to her being in the organization, the Communist Party - as she is now; and prior to my being in the Black Panther Party. She's always been very close and a very firm fighter, a very strong fighter for the people's liberation.
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Bo Holmström : Political trials are getting more common in the USA. In Chicago, we have been able to follow the trials of seven leaders of radical parties. They are accused of trying to start riots at the Democratic National Convention. It's a trial that is less about a crime, and more about the political views of the society of the accused.
Gerald Lefcourt - Lawyer : Yes, it's a political trial. We told the judge that when you take militant Black Panthers that have been created by a system of oppression and you bring them into a courtroom, you are creating a political trial. Added to it of course, is the severe punishment that they've already suffered - waiting almost one year for trial in jail conditions that are certainly from the Middle Ages.
