Political activist Dr. Angela Davis spoke to Penn State students, faculty, and staff Monday night about a variety of topics, including mass incarceration and how to be a better ally.

The Q&A session was the first of many events sponsored by the Restorative Justice Initiative in its Justice Education Week.

Davis has spent her whole life fighting the injustice of racism and the systems that have created and fostered it. In the early 70s, she was a member of the Black Panther Party and an all-Black branch of the Communist Party. Her connection to communism led to her being fired by UCLA, but she was able to fight to retain her job until her contract expired.

She was also on the FBI’s Most Wanted list due to her connection with the attempted escape of George Jackson, an individual who was incarcerated and accused of murdering a security guard. When she was caught, her trial became international news, and the issue of racism and the judicial system in the United States was placed in the spotlight. She would spend 18 months in prison before being acquitted in 1972.

Now an author and professor, Davis has continued to speak up and fight for people who have been hurt by the system. In the Q&A moderated by Dr. Kathryn Belle, Efrain Marimon, and Divine Lipscomb, Davis provided insight into her experiences and beliefs as an abolitionist, how the RJI is contributing to helping others, and the role higher education plays in the system of mass incarceration.

“When many of us first decided to work against what we called the ‘prison industrial complex,’ we immediately realized that there were numerous repercussions for education at all levels,” Davis said. “Early on, some of the abolitionist slogans were ‘Education, Not Incarceration,’ or ‘Schools, Not Jail.’ We recognized that there could be no effective strategies to address mass incarceration that did not also involve the realm of education.”

Davis also said it is important to not just educate people who are incarcerated but to educate the people at universities and other institutions about the failures of prisons. She cautioned the crowd to not look at people who are incarcerated as if they need pity or are incapable of getting an education.

“One of the things that we need to emphasize on our campuses is that, actually, the institution of the prison is one arena for the production of knowledge,” Davis added. “There are people who are in prison that taught themselves how to read and write and taught themselves how to become amazing intellectuals. We can’t assume that all knowledge comes from the institution of the university.”

The conversation then shifted to the role higher education and universities play in terms of prisons and mass incarceration. Davis mentioned that there should be similar discussions about the role universities play within the system as there are about the role prisons play.

“The point that I am making is that that critical focus has to be directed on the institution of the university as well as the institution on the prison,” Davis said. “If the prison needs to be abolished, then we also need a very different education than the one that is available to us now.”

The next part of the Q&A had members of the community have a chance to ask questions, and Davis gave a lot of very thoughtful responses. She talked more about the role of higher education and how it is complicit in the current system, and she gave advice to people who are advocating for immigrants in detention centers currently.

After a heavy conversation about social justice topics, Davis ended her lecture by talking about one of the things she loves the most: jazz.

“What I think is so amazing about jazz is its collective spirit,” Davis said. “It’s the way that it creates relations within the collective and the way in which new and creative impulses arise from improvisation. We might learn from a jazz improvisation how we might address the issues that are confronting us in the larger society.”

Although the Q&A was virtual, it felt like everyone that was watching gave Davis a standing ovation at the conclusion of her lecture. Comments of appreciation filled in the Zoom chat, and all three of Belle, Marimon, and Lipscomb gave their sincerest thanks to Davis for coming to speak at Penn State.