The 2015 Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Convocation will feature Angela Davis, Distinguished Professor Emerita, UC Santa Cruz

Angela Davis: “Racism, Militarism, Poverty: From Ferguson to Palestine”

Date: 7 p.m., Wednesday, January 28th 2015
Location: Santa Cruz Civic Auditorium
The event is free and open to the public

Through her activism and scholarship over the last decades, Angela Davis has been deeply involved in our nation’s quest for social justice. Her work as an educator – both at the university level and in the larger public sphere – has always emphasized the importance of building communities of struggle for economic, racial, and gender equality. She is Distinguished Professor Emerita of History of Consciousness and Feminist Studies at UC Santa Cruz, and the author of nine books, including her most recent book of essays called The Meaning of Freedom.

In recent years a persistent theme of her work has been the range of social problems associated with incarceration and the generalized criminalization of those communities that are most affected by poverty and racial discrimination. She draws upon her own experiences in the early seventies as a person who spent eighteen months in jail and on trial, after being placed on the FBI’s “Ten Most Wanted List.”

She is a founding member of Critical Resistance, a national organization dedicated to the dismantling of the prison industrial complex. Internationally, she is affiliated with Sisters Inside, an abolitionist organization based in Queensland, Australia that works in solidarity with women in prison.

Having helped to popularize the notion of a “prison industrial complex,” she now urges her audiences to think seriously about the future possibility of a world without prisons and to help forge a 21st century abolitionist movement.

Also featuring a performance by: Singer and songwriter, AlexisRose

 
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UCSC Shuttles

UC Santa Cruz shuttles will be provided to students for transportation to the Civic Auditorium and return to campus after the event.
Beginning at the campus main entrance at 5:30pm and 6:30pm, the shuttle will make all stops along the perimeter route to pickup students, exit the west entrance, and arrive at the Civic at app. 6:00pm and 7:00pm. (With an expectation of a large audience this year, riders are encouraged to consider taking the earlier shuttle to insure securing of the best seats. Doors open at 6:30pm, and a line is anticipated.)

The shuttle will be parked in front of the Civic at the conclusion of the Convocation and depart for campus app. 10 minutes after the Convocation ends. It will make all perimeter route stops on its return trip.
 

Tony Hill Memorial Award

Members of the Santa Cruz and UCSC community are invited to nominate outstanding individuals for the Tony Hill Memorial Award. The recipient will be recognized at the convocation.

Criteria for nomination: The individual is actively engaged in the needs of the community and seeks to provide tools to work toward a solution. The individual demonstrates hands-on service that results in building connections among diverse groups, promoting equality and justice.

The deadline for the Tony Hill award nomination is January 9th, 2015.