Black Agenda Report
Black Agenda Report
News, commentary and analysis from the black left.

  • Home
  • Africa
  • African America
  • Education
  • Environment
  • International
  • Media and Culture
  • Political Economy
  • Radio
  • US Politics
  • War and Empire
  • omnibus

Angela Davis Reoffered Award By Birmingham Civil Rights Institute
Kimberley Richards
30 Jan 2019
Angela Davis Reoffered Award By Birmingham Civil Rights Institute
Angela Davis Reoffered Award By Birmingham Civil Rights Institute

An embarrassed and shamed Institute reinstates award “in keeping with its commitment to learning from its mistakes.”

“Reversal based on ‘new input from the community.’”

Angela Davis has been reoffered an award from an Alabama civil rights museum after it sparked controversy for rescinding the honor this month.

The Birmingham Civil Rights Institute released a statement last week announcing its decision to reaffirm Davis as the recipient of its 2018 Fred L. Shuttlesworth Human Rights Award.

Davis was personally invited to accept the award, the institute said, adding that it “respects her privacy and timing in whatever her response may ultimately be.”

In keeping with its commitment to learning from its mistakes and in order to stay true to the BCRI’s mission, the Board of Directors has voted to reaffirm Dr. Angela Y. Davis as the recipient of the 2018 Shuttlesworth Human Rights.

“Dr. Angela Davis, a daughter of Birmingham, is highly regarded throughout the world as a human rights activist,” BCRI President and CEO Andrea L. Taylor said in the statement, citing Davis’ “significance in the movement for human rights, her involvement in raising issues of feminism, as well as her leadership in the campaign against mass incarceration.”

The institute announced in September that Davis would receive the award, after a board meeting on Sept. 18.

“Her ‘long-term support of justice for Palestine was at issue.’”

In early January the BCRI announced that it was canceling a gala planned for February and rescinding the honor for Davis, saying she “unfortunately does not meet all of the criteria on which the award is based,” The Associated Press reported.

In an interview with Democracy Now this month, Davis, a scholar and civil rights icon born in then-segregated Birmingham, said the reasons behind the decision were not initially made clear to her.

“When I made requests to them to offer me more substantive reasons for the rescission of the award, I was met with very abstract responses,” she said.

Davis released a statement this month indicating that she later learned her “long-term support of justice for Palestine was at issue.”

The Birmingham Holocaust Education Center reportedly sent a letter to the institute on Jan. 2 asking its board to reconsider honoring her, because of her support for the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement, according to AL.com.

BCRI’s statement noted that the board “began receiving messages of concern from various segments in the Birmingham Community” strongly opposing Davis’ “views on a variety of issues.”

The statement did not provide details on the nature or source of the complaints.

“Jewish Voice for Peace, which launched a petition in support of Davis.”

The Birmingham Holocaust Education Center’s letter to the institute, obtained by AL.com, expressed “concern and disappointment” over the decision to honor Davis.

Neither organization immediately responded to requests for comment.

The decision to rescind the award sparked outrage on social media and condemnation from organizers and other groups, including the social justice organization Jewish Voice for Peace, which launched a petition in support of Davis this month.

“The decision seems to stem from a misinformed view that to advocate for Palestinian human rights is somehow offensive to the Jewish community,” the petition read.

Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin released a statement saying he was “dismayed” by the institute’s decision to rescind the award.

The BCRI said its board voted 9-2 on Jan. 4 to rescind the award “based on new input from the community.” The board issued an apology on Jan. 14.

“Immediately after that public apology, in keeping with its commitment to learning from its mistakes and in order to stay true to the BCRI’s founding mission, the Board voted to reaffirm Dr. Davis as the recipient,” the BCRI said in a statement.

The annual award pays tribute to the Rev. Fred L. Shuttlesworth, a civil rights activist who died in 2011 at 89.

This article previously appeared in the Huffington Postand Portside.

COMMENTS?

Please join the conversation on Black Agenda Report's Facebook page at http://facebook.com/blackagendareport

Or, you can comment by emailing us at [email protected]

Israeli Apartheid

Do you need and appreciate Black Agenda Report articles. Please click on the DONATE icon, and help us out, if you can.


Related Stories

Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
Papa Cop’s Pedagogy of the Oppressor (Apartheid state professors or SS students?)
15 May 2024
“The policeman isn't there to create disorder;
Israel’s True Target Is Not Islamic Jihad
Ahmed Abu Artema
Israel’s True Target Is Not Islamic Jihad
10 August 2022
Israel's periodic and deadly attacks on Gaza continue.
The African Union, Israel and the Futility of Appeasement
Marwan Bishara
The African Union, Israel and the Futility of Appeasement
08 September 2021
The AU should be leading the fight against racism, not cozying up to racist regimes.
Two Former Israeli Ambassadors to South Africa Join Tsunami of ‘Apartheid’ Accusations Against Israel
Philip Weiss
Two Former Israeli Ambassadors to South Africa Join Tsunami of ‘Apartheid’ Accusations Against Israel
16 June 2021
By gradually driving occupied populations from their land and concentrating them into dense and fractured pockets, both South Africa and Israel thw
What’s wrong with the IHRA “working definition” of Anti-Semitism?
Tim Anderson
What’s wrong with the IHRA “working definition” of Anti-Semitism?
29 January 2020
The idea that Israel cannot be targeted or criticized as a “racist endeavor” is an absurd suggestion.
Israel's Scramble for Africa: Selling Water, Weapons and Lies
Ramzy Baroud
Israel's Scramble for Africa: Selling Water, Weapons and Lies
04 September 2019
Many African governments are giving Israel exactly what it wants – a way to break out of its isolation and legitimize its Apartheid.
Zionism and Global African Studies
Samar Al-Bulushi, Peter James Hudson, Zachary Mondesire, Corinna Mullin, Jemima Pierre
Zionism and Global African Studies
24 July 2019
Delegates to a conference on Global Africa at Oxford University say Zionists and their apologists are targeting the academy.
Will New Black-Jewish Caucus in Congress Advocate for Israel?
Josh Ruebner
Will New Black-Jewish Caucus in Congress Advocate for Israel?
19 June 2019
Congressman John Lewis has joined a new caucus that will likely rally other Black lawmakers in defense of the apartheid state.
Time to Break the Silence on Palestine
Michelle Alexander
Time to Break the Silence on Palestine
23 January 2019
If we are to honor King’s message and not merely the man, we must condemn Israel’s actions.
Angela Davis “Stunned” at Award Revocation, But Still Coming to Birmingham
Roy S. Johnson
Angela Davis “Stunned” at Award Revocation, But Still Coming to Birmingham
09 January 2019
Davis joins a long list of scholars and activists who have been censored in efforts to silence debate on Israeli apartheid.

More Stories


  • BAR Radio Logo
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Black Agenda Radio May 9, 2025
    09 May 2025
    In this week’s segment, we discuss the 80th anniversary of victory in Europe in World War II, and the disinformation that centers on the U.S.'s role and dismisses the pivotal Soviet role in that…
  • Book: The Rebirth of the African Phoenix
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    The Rebirth of the African Phoenix: A View from Babylon
    09 May 2025
    Roger McKenzie is the international editor of the UK-based Morning Star, the only English-language socialist daily newspaper in the world. He joins us from Oxford to discuss his new book, “The…
  • ww2
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Bruce Dixon: US Fake History of World War II Underlies Permanent Bipartisan Hostility Toward Russia
    09 May 2025
    The late Bruce Dixon was a co-founder and managing editor of Black Agenda Report. In 2018, he provided this commentary entitled, "US Fake History of World War II Underlies Permanent Bipartisan…
  • Nakba
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    The Meaning of Nakba Day
    09 May 2025
    Nadiah Alyafai is a member of the US Palestinian Community Network chapter in Chicago and she joins us to discuss why the public must be aware of the Nakba and the continuity of Palestinian…
  • Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
    Ryan Coogler, Shedeur Sanders, Karmelo Anthony, and Rodney Hinton, Jr
    07 May 2025
    Black people who are among the rich and famous garner praise and love, and so do those who are in distress. But concerns for the masses of people and their struggles are often missing.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us