WASHINGTON, Saturday, January 26, 2019 (WAFA) - The Birmingham Civil Rights Institute (BCRI) has reversed on Friday its earlier decision to rescind its 2019 Fred Shuttlesworth Award to renowned academic and human rights activist Angela Davis over her outspoken support for Palestinians struggling for their freedom, including the boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) campaign for Palestinian rights, according to a statement by the Washington-based Institute for Middle East Understanding (IMEU).
A statement by the board of BCRI said that after its January 14 apology “for its missteps in conferring, then rescinding, its nomination of Dr. Angela Y. Davis in early January,” it has re-invited Davis, who is a native of Birmingham, Alabama, to be once against the recipient of that prestigious award.
"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 (of the Fred Shuttlesworth Award,” said the statement.
BCRI’s reversal follows a public outcry in support of Davis, including a letter signed by more than 300 scholars, human rights activists, and veterans of the civil rights movement that was issued this week. Signatories include Barbara Ransby, Michelle Alexander, Robin D. G. Kelley, Eddie S. Glaude Jr., and Ibram X. Kendi, said IMEU. The letter read in part:
“We may not all agree on the best way forward in the Middle East but we do share Dr. Davis’ view that the Israeli Occupation is wrong, and that the repressive, discriminatory and often violent policies of the Israeli government vis-à-vis the Palestinian population are wrong and indefensible…This is one of the fundamental human rights issues of our time, and we will not be bullied into silence on it. Individuals and institutions that choose to punish, censor, blacklist and dishonor anyone who dares to take a critical stand on this issue are acting in the disgraceful tradition of McCarthyism and furthering the intolerance of dissent.”
Davis has not yet responded to the reversal of the BCRI decision, whose board said in its statement that it “respects her privacy and timing in whatever her response may ultimately be.”
New York Times Opinion Columnist Michelle Alexander, one of the signatories to the letter in support Davis, wrote on January 19 that the BCRI decision to rescind the award from Davis for her support of Palestinian human rights has backfired.
“But that attack backfired. Within 48 hours, academics and activists had mobilized in response,” she said in her New York Times column “Time to Break the Silence on Palestine” that stunned the pro-Israel lobby in the US after she expressed strong solidarity with the Palestinian people.
“[W]e must condemn Israel’s actions: unrelenting violations of international law, continued occupation of the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and Gaza, home demolitions and land confiscations. We must cry out at the treatment of Palestinians at checkpoints, the routine searches of their homes and restrictions on their movements, and the severely ed access to decent housing, schools, food, hospitals and water that many of them face,” wrote Alexander in explaining her decision to speak out for Palestinian rights.
“In this new year, I aim to speak with greater courage and conviction about injustices beyond our borders, particularly those that are funded by our government, and stand in solidarity with struggles for democracy and freedom. My conscience leaves me no other choice.”
M.K.
