Angela Davis 1972
Identifier
F.2013-02-0052
Date Of Production
June 16 1972
Abstract
Excerpt of a speech given by activist Angela Davis at Chicago's Arie Crown Theatre on June 16, 1972, shortly after she was acquitted of charges in connection to a 1970 shootout.
Description
The film begins with silent footage of security officers waving metal detectors around incoming audience members outside of Chicago’s Arie Crown Theatre. Inside the auditorium, a large banner reading “Welcome Angela - Free All Political Prisoners” hangs over a podium that has been equipped with bullet-proof glass. Angela Davis walks up to the podium to applause and a live band playing "Reach Out And Touch (Somebody's Hand)."
Davis then speaks to the crowd: "We have to talk about the judicial system, too, because if you take police violence, the whole police apparatus, the prison system, and the court system, and put them all together, what do we see? We see terror, and what we see is a microcosmic preview of fascism. That is what we see. How can you talk about a fair trial after months and months of solitary confinement? And how is it possible to talk about a fair trial when justice came not as the result of some kind of inherent fairness of the system, but rather as the fruit of a massive people's movement? That's where justice came from, not from the courts."
Davis then speaks to the crowd: "We have to talk about the judicial system, too, because if you take police violence, the whole police apparatus, the prison system, and the court system, and put them all together, what do we see? We see terror, and what we see is a microcosmic preview of fascism. That is what we see. How can you talk about a fair trial after months and months of solitary confinement? And how is it possible to talk about a fair trial when justice came not as the result of some kind of inherent fairness of the system, but rather as the fruit of a massive people's movement? That's where justice came from, not from the courts."
Run Time
1 min 52 sec
Format
16mm
Extent
100 feet
Color
Color
Sound
Optical
Reel/Tape Number
1/1
Has Been Digitized?
Yes
Language Of Materials
English
Element
Print
Form
Subject
Related Collections
Related Places
Main Credits
McIlvaine, Don (is filmmaker)
Participants And Performers
Davis, Angela (is participant)
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