Angela Davis

Good evening. This is a public affairs presentation of KUNM in Albuquerque. This speech was recorded in Pope Joy Hall, November 19, 1973, Angela Davis. Thank you very much. Let me begin by thanking the students of the University of New Mexico for inviting me to speak here this evening. And I would like to take this opportunity to express my very deepest gratitude to all of those who are present here this evening, who participated in some way in the movement around the demand for my freedom. I was just talking to Brother Dhammu a few minutes ago who teaches African studies here at the University who was involved along with other sisters and brothers here on the campus and the fight

around the demand for my freedom. And before I begin, perhaps it's a point that I should make. And that point is this. I am not here to speak to you this evening because I think that there is anything in particular about me as an individual which would be important to impart to you. I am here to speak to you this evening because I can tell you what the power of organized masses of people is all about because if it had not been for the fact that thousands and hundreds of thousands of people in this country throughout the world if they had not decided to unify against racism, against repression, then I would not

be here this evening. I can assure you that I would this evening be in the California Institute for Women along with all of my other sisters who are still suffering behind the walls. And the reason why this message of unity, this message of struggle is so important today is because of the fact that they are still thousands, thousands of political prisoners and victims of racist and political repression who are suffering in the dungeons all over this country right here in New Mexico. And so this evening I want to talk about how to draw the lessons from the struggle that was waged around my freedom in order to

build vast movements around all political prisoners in this country. And I think that all of you are going to have to begin to understand why you have to become involved in that struggle as well. You see, shortly before I was arrested I was very active in the movement to free the solid debt brothers. We were traveling throughout the state of California trying to engender the kind of support and the kind of protest which we felt would free George Jackson and Jan Clouchet and Frieda Drungall. And one of the things I used to say when I spoke to audiences throughout California was that you have to understand the dynamics of political repression in this country and you have to understand that the next one, the next victim

might well be you. And I said this, scores of times, not realizing that I myself was going to be one of those next victims. And I think you should think about that. Reflect on that for a while. I'd like to point out incidentally for those of you who might be interested, because questions have been raised on other occasions at the Honourary and which is being given to me for this lecture this evening will go to the National Alliance against racist and political repression in order to further the movement against racist and political repression. You know it's something I can't quite resist the temptation to say to you this evening. I've said it on other occasions and I think it might interest you. When I was

in jail in the New York Women's House of Detention about three years ago, I heard about a man who had appeared on television speaking about my capture. In fact, on that particular occasion he congratulated the FBI and it's a head at that time, J. Edgar Hoover, for the excellent work they had done in tracking down such a quote dangerous criminal, unquote, as Angela Davis. And then this man who by the way was supposed to be an accomplished legal scholar or at least the lawyer went on to proclaim my guilt before any judge had ever heard a plea of innocence before any jury had ever received the evidence or the lack of evidence. I have to confess that it gives me a certain satisfaction this evening to note that this

particular lawyer, this particular man who congratulated J. Edgar Hoover has been spending a hell of a lot of time over the last couple of months trying to devise every devious trick he can contrive in order to defend himself. In fact, out of all of the many lies, out of all of the many very unconvincing lies I've heard him tell, I think one of the most unconvincing statements he made was the other evening when he said the people of the United States have a right to know whether or not their president is a crook. Well, then I am not a crook. Did you hear him? He didn't do a very good job of rehearsing and I think Ronald Reagan will probably teach him some lessons.

Did you talk about criminals? To be serious, I think that the man who calls himself the president of the United States of America is the one who belonged on that list they put me on when I think of the ten he would certainly be number one. I don't know whether any of you saw Art Bookwell's column a couple of days ago talked about a problem that the president had. He had lost his mandate and he sent for, what's his name? Lieutenant Columbus, you know, Columbus sent for him to try to track down his mandate

for him. Columbus asked him how much it was worth, well, it was very valuable and he said, well, I pay $50 million for his own. And there is a very profound criminal truth to what he was saying. And speaking about criminals and columns, a couple of, about a month ago when another well-known criminal, one who, by the way, spent a little while trying to make up his mind how he was going to admit that he was a criminal, that he is. There was a column, it was a cartoon that was published by her block, the syndicated cartoonist.

There was Agnew sitting in his office making a telephone call and the caption, believe it or not, was, hello, Angela Davis, you'll be surprised to learn who this is. Obviously, the message was clear. Here was the man who had been talking about soft-headed judges and punishment without pity, who was in trouble himself and was having a hard time trying to figure out how to deal with it. But then, there was something else, another side to that cartoon which I think is important to point out. Agnew was not the kind of political prisoner which her block was trying to project him as namely someone who was being victimized

by the legal process in this country. I think we have to understand the very tricky kind of thing that was going on where they were trying to convey the idea that there was no difference between a solid dad, Bobby C. Hugh Newton, and all the other political prisoners whose names that you would probably recognize and an Agnew, but see, there's an essential difference, an essential difference which has to be said very loudly and very clearly. And that is, when we talk about political prisoners, we're talking about those of us who are innocent and who are being persecuted by a racist reactionary system in this country. When we talk about someone like Agnew, we're talking about those who are the real criminals in this society. You're talking about those who need to be prosecuted and those who need to be in the places which are now occupied by all of the thousands of victims in the dungeons

all over this country. And you see, I myself resented the fact that so many people talked about the tragedy of a Spiro Agnew. He was a man who admitted that he had stolen from the people of his state and affected it. What kind of punishment did he receive? What was it, a $10,000 fund? And what is $10,000 to Spiro Agnew? And then take a situation where a George Jackson was convicted unjustly convicted of the crime of taking $70. He was not even involved in that $70. And he received a sentence of from one year to life in prison

and spent 11 years of his life and would probably still be in prison if the state of California and the prison officials had not decided that he was a little bit too dangerous and had not assassinated him. I don't want to hear about any talk about the tragic incident of the United States or the tragic situation of a Spiro Agnew. The real tragedies in this country are the tragedies of George Jackson and Maggie. And right here, the tragedies of Felipe Maris and Roy Galejo's and Antonio Corredova, those are the real tragedies. And if you want to talk about someone like Richard Nixon, you have to recognize that the past quarter century of the history not only of the people of the United States, but

the history of the world is littered with the intolerable savage deeds of Richard Nixon. And there are many of us who can remember what he was doing back in the 50s when he built his career, his political career on racism and anti-communism. An attire and entire generation has grown to adulthood in this country having to contend with the evil presence of Richard Nixon on the political scene. The lives of thousands of people, hundreds of thousands of people all over the world in Vietnam, in Cambodia and Laos, South Africa, Chile, the lives of human beings have then extinguished destroyed because of people like Richard Nixon, the man who calls himself

the President of the United, and he has the nerve to say I'm not a cook. He has built his entire career on the creation of fear and hate and unvictimization. He is indeed the servant of all of those who exploit and oppress, and he has to be punished. He has to be punished. We talk about punishment. They're very courageous, they're very beautiful, Chilean poet, wrote a poem about people such as Richard Nixon. He is one of those who lost his life in the recent coup by the fascist hunter in Chile.

I'm talking about Pablo Nero. And he said in the name of these dads, speaking about those who have been murdered all over the world because of the ruling class, which people like Richard Nixon serve, in the name of these dead, I demand punishment. For those who spattered our fatherland with blood, I demand punishment. For him by whose command this crime was done, I demand punishment. For the traitor who clamate to power over these bodies, I demand punishment. And I think about all of the bodies of sisters and brothers and the ghettos and barrios all over this country. I demand punishment. For those forgiving ones who excuse these crimes, I demand punishment.

I do not want to shake hands all around and forget. I want punishment. I do not want to shake their blood stained hands. I want punishment. I do not want them sent off somewhere as ambassadors nor covered up here at home until it blows over. I want to see them judged here in the open air in this very spot I want to see them punished. So we have to talk not only about demands for the impeachment of Nixon, certainly he should

be forced to resign, he hasn't already decided the steps of his vice president. But we have to go further than that. We have to talk about charging them with the crimes they committed. And I'm not speaking in wild rhetorical terms because it has been done before. Have you ever heard of the new and broke trials? And I have met many Vietnamese who would be happy to testify against Richard Nixon this summer in the German Democratic Republic, I attended the 10th World Festival of Youth and Students and had the honor to meet with the young 15-year-old Vietnamese woman who

was the sole survivor of the Mila massacre. She was 11 years old when all of her family, all of her friends, everyone she knew, was murdered by William Kelly and his courts. We must all so demand punishment, but at the same time we have to understand that what is happening in this country today and what is happening throughout the world is not only a question of individuals. And although indeed Richard Nixon is one of the most malicious individuals to have ever appeared on the political scene anywhere in the history of the world, it would be giving

him just a little bit too much credit to attribute all of these vast upheavals we are witnessing to the evil mind of Richard Nixon because it's not a question of individuals, it's a question of policies, it's a question of policies of a whole class of people. And Nixon is only the representative, the spokesman, the articulator, the executor of policies of racism, reaction, repression, policies which have to do with the unquenchable thirst for profit of the ruling class in this country. Why say ruling class? Because I'm talking about some very concrete kinds of things, I'm talking about the monopoly corporations that own, that have stolen the will from the people of this country.

I'm talking about IT and T, we're just speaking about Chile a few minutes ago, who doubts at the fascist coup, which recently attempted to destroy the revolutionary process which the people of Chile had decided to embark upon, who doubts that that should not be laid at the doorsteps of IT and T together with the CIA in the White House? Who doubts that what is happening in Africa now, the attempts to destroy the struggles for independence and sovereignty and freedom in countries like Mozambique and Guinea-Bissau, Angola, South Africa? Who doubts that all of those US corporations, you know, they're over 300 of the largest

corporations in this country who now have subsidiaries in South Africa? And do you know, just a few days ago, there was a vote taken in the UN, dealing with the question of the right of colonized peoples to struggle for their freedom by any means necessary, including armed struggle, when that vote was taken, there were only a few countries who dared vote against it, otherwise it passed unanimously, of those few countries that were South Africa, Portugal. I think maybe France and Great Britain, former colonial powers, presently neo-colonial powers in Africa, and the United States of America, the US voted against the sanctions which millions of people all over the world believe should be applied to South Africa and

tries continually to support the apartheid regime in South Africa. And this is what we're dealing with, and we have to see what is happening in this country now within the context of the world scene, because once you understand the aid, assistance, and support that is going to the most reactionary regimes in Chile, in South Africa, in Portugal, in Greece, once you understand that it's the US government and the US monopoly corporations that are buttressing their repressive attacks on the people of those countries, then it's not very difficult to understand why, or what the could emerge, it's not very difficult to understand why they wouldn't think anymore of the people of this country, and I'm talking

about black people, chicanos, Puerto Ricans, other Latinos, Asians, Indians, and white working people as well, because they don't care about you, all they care about is their profits, and they have taught you what they will do to you about what they have already done to people of color in this country, and what they have done to people all over the world in Vietnam, Latin America, Africa, that is what the ruling class in this country is all about, and you see when you talk about Watergate, you have to delve a little bit deeper and ask what is the real meaning of that thing which is called orthicate, and I think that if you do a little research, if you listen closely to all of the things that have been

said over the last months, then you will inevitably come to the conclusion that what Watergate is all about is that the ruling class in this country was ready and willing to allow the germ of fascism to spout in this country, and so I like to relate some of my own personal political experiences in this regard, and let me take you back, I was talking about UCLA for a while ago, when I was at UCLA I was fired before I even had a chance to teach my first class by the regents and their star performer Ronald Reagan, because they said I was a member of the Communist Party, the courts then declared that that particular

statue would allow them to fire me unconstitutional, so the next time around they fired me for the speeches I was making on campus, what were the speeches about, where are the reality of political oppression, primarily focusing on the question of the need to defend the solid debt brothers, because while I was at UCLA and came under attack, because of my political beliefs and political affiliation, I learned about three brothers in solid ad prison who were also coming under attack because of their political beliefs, because of their political activities behind the walls, because of their attempts to organize their sister and brother prisoners all over the California prison system, and I felt that

it would be wrong of me to continue to fight for my job without at the same time fighting for the lives of these three brothers, when I say the large of these three brothers, I mean that quite literally, because as a result of their political beliefs and activities, they found themselves being charged with crimes which if they had been convicted they would have been sent to the gas chamber. And in talking about the struggle around the solid debt brothers, we said that there was a growing machine well oil apparatus of political repression which was located in the very heart of the government of this country, a lot of people said that we were using wild value, we were extremists, and that's what the Regents and wrong-regals say when

they part, because we said there was a conspiracy in this country on the part of those who have robbed working people of their wealth, spearsy on the part of the government to intensify repression, particularly racist political repression. A lot of people didn't believe us or didn't want to think about the fact that there could be this repressive apparatus which was run by the people who call themselves their leaders. But you see later on, what did it hurt, then came the work, and doing those hearings, we heard about the plumbers unit, and there was a job only to stop up leaks from the White

House, which is what there was alleged to have been doing, their job was to stop up to arrest all of the decent, just legal decent in this country. That is why they broke into Ellsberg's psychiatrist office, and we know they did that, and we know that the orders came from right in the White House. We know that they bugged the officers in the homes of Chilean diplomats. We know that they bugged the homes and the telephones of, for instance, Gerald, the lawyer for the Black Panther Party, the Harrisburg defenders, comes part, a lot of other parties,

a lot of other revolutionary organizations. We know that there was talk about abducting activists, leaders, anti-war activists, during the Republican convention in Miami and taking them to Mexico and holding them there for the duration of the convention, and we know that there was talk about getting some information from the Bookings Institute in Washington, and of using Orson to cover up the burglary. Who was the early man who talked about the fact that the Bookings Institute could be burned so that no one would know that it had been broken in?

Did you all see Jack Anderson's column a couple of days ago when he rightfully asked the question of whether or not that might not have been a menu to a Reichstag 5, because you know, burned down the Reichstag, it was Hitler, and his people, and you know, they blamed it on Demetra and the Communist. All of this is to say that there exists on the record, on the record, ample evidence of that repressive machine today. And I would just point out that what has already been learned is clearly only the tip of an iceberg.

You remember when Nixon got so upset and sent Cox running home and fired Richett Senna? No, it wasn't just because of some tapes. He knew that there were a thousand other water gates to be uncovered, and that's what they're worried about, because you see, if you want to know my opinion, I think that if you investigate the assassination of George Jackson, you will find a water gate behind that assassination. Not to speak of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King. I think that we have to understand that that thing which is called water gate is just the tip of a tremendous iceberg.

And it reveals not just the corruption of a few individuals, but it reveals the corruption of a whole class of people. It reveals their desperate response to their own historical obsolescence, because they do not want to accept the fact, and when I say they, I'm talking about standard oil and general mode as an IT and T. I see a lot of times, let me talk about the dynamics of racism, when a black revolutionary or a Chicano revolutionary or a revolutionary, from any oppressed nationality is talking

about the oppressed. The oppressed and other people will say, well, they're talking about white people. Somebody just asked me a question in the news conference of a while ago, whether or not I had changed my ideas about white people, you know, being the enemy and black people having to wage a revolutionary struggle alone, let's see, when you talk about the oppressor, when you talk about the ruling class, you're not talking about very many people, because even though there may be large numbers of white people who have racist attitudes, see, they are being victimized in cells, because they all benefit from racism. They don't have anything to gain from racism.

You go into any factory and you'll find a situation where the boss tries to get the white workers fighting the black workers, so that the white workers forget that they are being oppressed by the capitalists in the first place. And that is why I think that to those of you in the audience this evening were white students, workers, professors. I think you have to begin to understand the urgent need to fight racism for you to take the initiative and fight those racist attitudes and call anybody, any of your friends or your colleagues, any time that person makes a statement directed against black people or chicanos or Puerto Ricans or Asians or Indians or any other people

of color in this country or throughout the world. That is your responsibility and you have to start taking the initiative. And that means that you have to start taking the initiative too in convincing large numbers of people to get involved in the movement against racist and political repression. You have to talk about the situation right here in New Mexico, because we're not talking about something that's far away. It's right in your backyards, right here in your backyards because New Mexico is a hot head of political repression. But after we heard about Brother Teorina and the Allianza and the repression which they were being made targets of, that was just the opening up of a whole Pandora's box of racist

and political repression. And we heard about and protested, the bombings, the fires, the shootings and all the things that were directed against the members of the Allianza. And although we rejoiced when Brother Teorina was originally acquitted, we understood that they, the conviction of the other brothers, indicated that the struggle against repression here is something that's going to have to be weighed for a long time. And then certainly afterwards you will remember in 1969, when they took Reyes Teorina to prison on other charges, we can move on and talk about what happened in the summer of 1971.

Even though I was in jail myself, we heard about the rebellion here in Albuquerque and the murders of brothers like Felipe Mores and Roy Gallegas and then there was the rebellion in the state prison in Santa Fe and the attempts to completely crush the development of political consciousness behind those walls. You have to turn your attention to the way in which the Black Parades have been repressed because of their involvement in the fight for Chicano liberation and the liberation of all oppressed people.

There is Brother Antonio Cordovo, the journalist for Grito and Brother Rito Canales, who were murdered by police the night before they were to appear on television to expose the repression in the state. Do you remember that? How many of you remember that? Because if you remember that then you ought to also remember the fact that you still have to fight against the very same forces who assassinated them because they're going to continue to meet out their murders and their repression unless you, the people, do something about it. We can continue with this short history of what has happened right here in your backyards because in August

1972 Ricardo Falcón was killed and March 1973, an Indian brother by the name of La Casuz, was murdered and just a little more than two months ago. On September 3rd, 1977, do you, do you know what happened on September 3rd? How many of you know what happened on September 3rd in Santa Fe, New Mexico? At the Escuela Donazín, and I'm talking about the savage, vicious, brutal murder of Sister Linda Montoya, a 17-year-old Chicano sister who was killed with her hands in the air. You heard about the raid on the Chicano School in Santa Fe, and the shootings that occurred when the sisters and brothers inside surrendered.

Well, I think you can have to start doing something about it. Maybe some of you remember that before that raid took place, the district attorney in Santa Fe said that he was going to close down the Escuela Donazín because he didn't agree with alternative schools talking about the need to fight for liberation. So I think that all of you, every one of you in this hall this evening should feel that it is your responsibility to serve notice on everyone from the governor of the state, Bruce King, down to those who say that they are only following orders, those who actually are the ones who execute the brutality. You have to serve notice

on them that you are not going to allow that to happen anymore, and you have to understand as you do that, that you are not doing anything more than fighting for your own survival, because you may very well be the next victim. Understand that. They have indeed been many victories in the struggle against political repression. If we want to broaden our vision of the reality of racist and political repression in this country a bit, we can talk about recent victories, such as the acquittal of the New York 21 for the Black Panther Party, the L.A. 18, Huey Newton, Barbie CEO, Solid Ed Brothers, the Harrisburg Defendants, and we can talk

about the victory in my own case. There have been victories, but that does not mean that the repression is lessening, and the lessons we draw from those victories is that if masses of people join together then we can throw a wrench into that machine of repression, we can pour it, and we can bring more of our sisters and brothers over to this side of the walls. That is what we talked about some months ago in Chicago when we found it the national alliance against racist and political repression, and I should probably point out that after my own acquittal, in fact the very night after the verdict came in, many of the sisters and brothers who have been working in the defense movement sat down and had a meeting, and one

of the things we talked about or the topic of that meeting was how do we keep the momentum of the movement that freed me, going, and how do we place that at the service of all political prisoners? Because you see, I was extremely conscious throughout my entire imprisonment of the fact that there was so much national, international activity around my case, and not nearly enough around the cases of all of my sisters and brothers all over this country who were suffering as much and many even more than I. Let me just, let me give you perhaps a more vivid example of what I'm talking about. We moved for a change of venue in the case, and finally had the case transferred from

Marin County to San Jose, Santa Clara County. The day I was transferred, I found myself in Santa Clara County in a five by cell, no heat, a plumbing was all broken, there was about three or four inches of water around the floor, they took away my clothes, shoes, they didn't even have a large foot, so they didn't even have shoes to fit me, it was the middle of the winter, and it was, they took away all the reading material I had, and the only thing I could do, until my lawyers came with blankets around me and tried to keep, I asked for a cup of coffee, and they said, well, the matron and from Marin County told us that before you came down, which is four o'clock

and then morning you had a cup of tea, so you don't get anything until lunchtime, and it's just to indicate what the attitude of the people there was all about. In any event when my lawyer came in a few hours later, she saw what the situation was, and I explained to her some of the things that had been said to me. She went out, she called a meeting of the Defense Committee, and those who were leading the mass movement, got on the telephone, called all over, there was some, at one time, 250 different committees in cities all over this country, sent telegrams to countries abroad, and within a matter of a day or two, there were telegrams and letters and telephone calls pouring into the jail and into the sheriff's office in Santa Clara County, and within a

matter of days, the attitude had totally changed. The heat was repaired, the plumbing was fixed, they gave me my clothes, and they stopped serving the TV dinners, they even brought in a cook. Let's see what I was thinking about at that moment, sisters and brothers, who shall McGee? The San Quentin 6, all of the brothers in the San Quentin Adjustment Center, the brothers and sisters and strip cells, all of the thousands of prisoners all over this country who could not call their lawyer and say, go to the people and tell the people to come to my aid. So that is what we are trying to do now, we are trying to go to the people and tell the

people to come to the aid of a brother like Reverend Ben Chavis in North Carolina, and all of the other scores of political prisoners, and have you heard about the situation in North Carolina? North Carolina, the home not only of the Ku Klux Klan, but the organization which says the Ku Klux Klan is too moderate, and I'm talking about the organization which calls itself the rights of white people. Recently when we were in North Carolina to attend the trial of Reverend Ben Chavis who was on trial for listening to this, being an accessory after the fact to an involuntary manslaughter. He had already received 35 years, and this is serious, he had already received 35 years for attempted arson, and there are three other brothers who was standing trial for attempted

arson of a stable four years ago, and the charges were brought three years after the incident allegedly took place, and we were in North Carolina. The situation was so repressive that the Wilmington police force said that they were going to put security on us, to protect us from the rights of white people who had already bombed the local black newspaper, and bombed other houses in the black community, and bombed some local white activist bookstore that was a very strange situation, indeed, to have the police outside our hotel to a night and day. In fact, we found ourselves having to do security, be vigilant over the police who were supposed to be doing security on us because of the rights of white people, but North Carolina is

the state where there is, listen to this, a state prison in every single county. Some are talking about the county jails and the city jails, there are those two where there's also a state prison in every county. North Carolina is the place where they are constructing the Bhattna Institute. I think it's causing Bhattna Center for research and behavioral transformation or something like that. I can't remember the exact reason, one of those long-worded innocuous sounding titles, but do you know what they are doing there, psychosurgery, lobotomies, and you can check that out. North Carolina is the state where 15 people have already been sentenced to death over the last three months. North Carolina is a state where assisted by the name of a re-hill at the age of 16 could

be charged with the killing of a white grocery store proprietor and could be beaten by local police in Rocky Mount North Carolina and forced to sign a confession and could go on trial with that confession being the only piece of evidence they had and at the age of 17 could be convicted and sentenced to death. Fortunately, because there was somewhat of a movement around her case, the death sentence was rescinded, but it's five years later and she is still doing a life sentence without possibility of parole, Marie Hill. And ironically, the last person to have been sentenced to death in this recent year is a woman, a 52-year-old plaque woman from the same town as Marie Hill, Rocky Mount North Carolina.

You heard about the New South? That's what the New South is all about. You heard about the New Southern Justice? That's what New Southern Justice is all about. And if you want to talk about New Southern Justice, as brother Malcolm will probably say, it's not only down south, but it's out south, out here, and it's up south. It's out in California, where, in order to attend the trial of Rochelle McGee, my co-defendant, you had to, first of all, show your ID, two or three pieces of ID, downstairs in the court has received a seat assignment in the courtroom upstairs, go upstairs, get in line, have your

photograph taken, move from the line where you had your photograph taken, if you were woman over behind a screen, where a matron watched you as she told you to lower your underpants, and I went through that myself, I went through it, my mother even went through it, every woman who attended that trial had to lower underpants. And that is not all because once you get through all of that mess, if you survive, if you were not turned away by all of the degradation they force you to submit to, when you got inside the courtroom, you were confronted with a courtroom divided by a plexiglass bulletproof shield, where Rochelle and his lawyers and the judge and the jury were on one side and you were on the other side having the proceedings piped in over a loudspeaker to you.

That's the other day I attended a hearing of the San Quentin VI with the six brothers, black and Latino brothers who were indicted as a result of the attempt to cover up for the assassination of George Jackson. Few days ago I attended their hearing, it was in the same courtroom as the hearings in my own case, I didn't even recognize somebody told me it was the same courtroom. Now that courtroom also has a bulletproof shield separating the spectators from the participants in the trial, only you can't see through this one very well, it's sort of smoky and something is wrong with the way the plexiglass is made because every time someone moves on the other side their faces become wavy and grotesque and monstrous and you have the impression of

living through a nightmare. That is the reality of political repression in this country today. The reality of political repression in this country today also has to do with all of the hundreds of Indian sisters and brothers who will soon be undergoing trials as a result of their valiant stand at Wounded Knee. That has to do with the brothers at Attica who will soon be facing trial, you see, you talk about Wounded Knee, you talk about Attica, everybody was so involved in what was happening at Wounded Knee and Attica during the time the press felt that they had good copy. But as soon as the headlines disappeared, people forgot.

And you know, a poll was done during the occupation of Wounded Knee, like one, a Gallup poll or Harris, but one of them, I don't remember which one, it was one of the quasi-official polls that appears in the papers all the time. And it was determined that the majority of the people in this country, and not only Indian people, not only Chicano, Puerto Rican, Black Asian people, but white people as well, empathize with the Indian struggle and the occupation of Wounded Knee. But you see, there was a problem. The problem was that we did not have ourselves organized, and we could not dramatically make our resistance be known. And that's what we have to talk about doing today, because you see, we are confronting as wardigators reveal, as Nixon himself revealed, when he talked about that thing that he had

created, that police force, that police apparatus, because of, quote, national security. You remember that speech he made last May when he mentioned national security, the state media who wasn't even making speeches then, when he talked about national security using those words about 24 times and explaining wardigate, anyway, when we talk about that well-oiled machine of repression, we have to talk about an organized systematic form of resistance. And I think that you here in New Mexico, at the university, those of you who are students, have to very seriously think about the role which you have to play in fighting repression right here in your state, because you have to talk about avenging the murder of Linda

Montoya, and freeing all of those who are unjustly behind walls in the state. And I think that most of you would consider yourselves on the side of justice and freedom, and all of those things that human beings are supposed to be about. And I think that it is up to you to demonstrate that you can organize yourselves and you can do something, you know, you hear all this talk about apathetic students. How many of you consider yourselves to be apathetic in this day and age? How many of you can afford the luxury of being apathetic?

Have you heard about what is happening at the University of Santiago, the University of Concepción in Chile, what the hunter is doing, and they are not only expelling students on mass from the universities, they are assassinating, executing, killing students. And what happened in Chile is not too far away from what might possibly happen here. And so I would very seriously suggest to you that you sit down and decide what you can do to fight this monstrous apparatus of repression. It can be fought and we can win. It can be victories, and I think that it has to be fought.

You have to fight it if we intend to talk about destroying the reality of racism and repression, and finally ushering in the real reality of freedom. Thank you very much. Angela Davis, her speech from November 19, 1973, this has been a public affairs presentation of KUNM in Albuquerque. Thank you for listening, and good night.