Former Black Panther and suspect on the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted list Angela Davis told a group of local activists Friday afternoon she is embarrassed that President George W. Bush represents her country.

Davis condemned the current wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, calling them racist and imperialist, at the anti-war rally in Forman Park.

The rally was located outside Syracuse University’s Feminism and War Conference at the Marx Hotel. Davis spoke at the conference later that evening.

An audience of about 150 people crowded under tents to avoid the rain and responded ‘not in our name’ to Davis’ calls against war, state terrorism and torture.

‘(Bush represents) the death of democracy under the sign of democracy,’ she said.

The rally, titled ‘Voices Against the War: The Majority Speaks Out,’ was organized by the Syracuse Peace Council as part of their campaign relating the cost of war to Onondaga County, said Carol Baum of the SPC.

Other speakers included Magda Bayoumi, who spoke at the conference earlier that day, and Gertrude Danzy, an SU Food Services employee.

The student turnout at the Feminism and War conferences Friday afternoon was not as great as Bayoumi said she would have liked.

‘(Students) are the ones who stopped Vietnam and are the ones who can bring our troops (home) from Iraq,’ she said.

Christina Coons, a sophomore psychology and social work major, said she heard of the rally from one of her professors.

‘It’s a problem-not just at SU-that our age group needs to be more involved in political activism because (the war) affects every one of us,’ Coons said.

Students may not have attended the conference because it wasn’t well publicized and because of the negative connotation of the word ‘feminism,’ she said.

‘Not enough people learn about feminism in an academic setting,’ Coons said.

Davis entered the national spotlight after being fired from her teaching position at the University of California, Los Angeles in 1969 because of her social activism and affiliation with the Communist Party.

In 1970, a gun registered in Davis’ name was involved in an attempted courtroom escape in which a judge was killed, forcing her underground.

She was later found and arrested on charges of conspiracy, murder and kidnapping. Davis spent 16 months in jail before being acquitted in 1972.

She is now a professor at University of California, Santa Cruz.

Many in the audience held signs protesting the war and the president. One mud-splattered sign quoted Jimi Hendrix.

Some held hands as speaker Colleen Kattau sang, and later threw their fists into the rain cheering anti-war messages.

Bayoumi mentioned the wet, cold weather, but said rally attendees shouldn’t take their luxuries for granted.

‘We’re in a better place than any Iraqi person,’ she said.

Published on October 21, 2006 at 12:00 pm