By Charlie Jones
The George Washington University’s “Diversity Summit” was headlined by a former terrorist and former communist party leader last week.
The keynote speaker for the summit was Angela Davis, a former terrorist who has expressed support for the Boycott, Divest, and Sanction (BDS) movement against Israel and was a member of the Communist Party USA. Davis was also on the FBI’s Most Wanted List after conspiring with the Black Panther Party to purchase weapons used in a hostage crisis.
In her speech, Davis discussed intersectionality and how the concept of having multiple identities has made it easier to understand one’s “place in the world.”
The theme for the summit was “The Audacity of Hope, The Power in Community,” and according to the website for the conference, attendees would be challenged to strive “for equity through an anti-racist and decolonized lens.”
Davis also stated that “A world that would no longer need prisons and police for security would be a world in which people were happy and free and were able to explore their own individual desires and passions… It would be a socialist world, let me put it that way.”
The summit also featured a presentation from interim Provost Christopher Bracey on Critical Race Theory (CRT). Bracey claimed that conservatives oppose CRT, particularly in the school curriculum, because it may negatively portray white people. Bracey further went on to say that opponents to CRT “have no clue” what the term actually means and are instead opposing the rise of multiculturalism.
Other sessions at the summit included “What a Decolonized & Anti-Racist Classroom Looks, Feels, and Sounds Like; and “Community Affinity Networking Session” with over 16 affinity groups.
It says a lot about the state of our campuses that a university’s administration is paying a former terrorist to inspire students. Not only is Angela Davis a frequent speaker across the country, she is a Distinguished Professor Emerita at the University of California, Santa Cruz.
While GW brings and promotes leftist speakers such as Angela Davis and Joy Reid, no conservative speakers are found–except those brought by the GW Young America’s Foundation chapter, in recent years. Conservative students must continue to forge the path forward ensuring their peers have access to prominent conservative voices––if no one else will.
Charlie Jones is the chapter chairman of Michigan State University YAF and a contributor to The New Guard.