Recently, Angela Davis visited the university to speak on social issues past and present. 

After her presentation, one of the hot topics discussed on campus and Facebook was about how wrong it was for her to come to Southeastern, and much less, even get paid for it. 

As one post on the Lion’s Confession page said, “Nice to see that a terrorist is giving a lecture at 2 p.m. on campus today.”

This is where I have an issue. She went to court; she was acquitted, by an all-white jury no less and released. She is now using her academia and intellect to make America a better place while fighting for the rights of minorities.

She could have easily traveled to a country she agreed with politically, but did not. She chose to use the political wrong-doings of America and work inside the system to improve society. 

Prison reform, or a prison evolution as Davis describes it, needs to happen to ensure that minorities are treated as equals compared to the rest of society. 

Currently, those that face the harshest repercussions of being a minority are African Americans, Hispanics and people who are transgender. There has also been an increase in female incarceration.

The fact that African Americans are targeted for drug use and then get imprisoned with almost the same prison sentence than a white American would for a violent crime is appalling. 

According to the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People’s Criminal Justice fact sheet on their Web page, African-Americans are nearly incarcerated six times that of whites. In the United States, about 14 million whites and 2.6 million African Americans report using an illicit drug. While five times as many whites are using drugs as African Americans, African-Americans are sent to prisons tenfold over whites.  Furthermore, African Americans serve 58.7 months in jail for a drug offense while whites will spend 61.7 months in jail for a violent offense. 

I can’t comprehend how people believe our current prison system is fair and that is not even with going into discussion of how the rich are using the prison system in order to make profit. 

Though some people may be appalled by how she is a communist or was a part of the Black Panther Party, I believe it is important to remember that we are in America, we have our freedom and all people should be treated equally. Or in the words of Voltaire, “I do not agree with what you have to say, but I’ll defend to death your right to say it.”

I will never know what a minority group had to experience and still has to experience, simply because I am a white male and have it easier than those who are not. I may not be able to experience this inequality, but I can do my best to try to comprehend it and change it for the better. 

In an interview with democracynow.org, Angela Davis says that “I always find hope in struggle. I find hope in younger generations.” We may not all agree with her political views, but we do heed those words of wisdom and look around and ask ourselves, “What is wrong with society and how can I make a difference to help try to pave a path for equality in the future?”