American civil rights icon Dr. Angela Davis. Credit: A.D. McKenzie.
PARIS, Jan 28 2021 (IPS) - Renowned activist and intellectual Angela Davis turned 77 years old on Jan. 26, marking more than five decades of her fight against systemic racism and inequality.
January 2021 also marks fifty years since she appeared before a court in California to declare her innocence after a legendary manhunt and arrest. With sympathisers around the world mobilising to demand her freedom, she was eventually acquitted of the charges of “aggravated kidnapping and first-degree murder” in 1972, following a 16-month incarceration.
Since then, Davis has been an emblem for social justice and has never stopped speaking out. In 2020, her long history of activism saw another chapter when she joined protests across the United States – in the wake of George Floyd’s killing and other acts of police brutality. Magazines such as
8. Deftones – Ohms
6. Svalbard – When I Die Will I Get Better?
5. Loathe – I Let It In And It Took Everything
4. Touché Amoré – Lament
2. Biffy Clyro – A Celebration Of Endings
1. Code Orange – Underneath
My early-year obsession with this record – it would get listened to in its entirety once, if not twice, a day; every day; every week – meant Underneath and I had to go on a self-imposed summer-long separation for the sake of my sanity. Revisiting it again for the first time only recently, it remains as enthralling and thrilling as it was all the way back in January. A monumental work of ambition and vision that few would dare even trying to pull off, yet alone do so with such aplomb.
Top 10 Shows in the EU of 2020
From the premiere of Aby Warburg’s
Mnemosyne Atlas in Berlin to Corita Kent’s political prints in Innsbruck
If there’s anything positive to say about 2020, then it’s that we were given the chance to rethink the status quo. We were asked to re-evaluate our priorities, to listen to those in need and to expand our knowledge in areas where we previously had blind spots. In many ways, 2020 has been a series of lessons in unlearning ignorance – something that art can contribute to as well, I believe. Here are a few highlights from some of the remarkable exhibitions that were on view in this unprecedented year:
Herman Wallace: Friend, artist and member of the Angola 3
December 16, 2020
Interview by Willow Katz
Willow Katz: Sharon Willis, you corresponded for 26 years with Herman Wallace of the Angola 3. Who are the Angola 3?
Sharon Willis: The Angola 3 are three Black men: Herman Wallace, Albert Woodfox and Robert Hillary King. In 1972, Herman Wallace and Albert Woodfox were accused of killing a young prison guard in Louisiana State Prison in Angola, Louisiana. They were put in solitary confinement. Later, Robert Hillary King was brought to Angola and also put in solitary. They were all charged and convicted of the murder, becoming known as the Angola 3.