The Black Students Association and the Black Law School Students Association teamed up last night to bring lifelong activist and academic Angela Davis to campus in celebration of the start of Black History Month.

Drawing a crowd that stretched out the 350-seat room, Davis defined activism as social action on the part of dedicated individuals, warning students to be wary of unnecessary reverence for old methods and leaders.

"My advice to young people involved in political action is to combine the right amount of respect for past movements and the right amount of disrespect for their elders," Davis said. "In these complex times it seems necessary to break with tradition in order to encourage change."

Professor of Law Charles J. Ogletree introduced Davis as a longtime activist and advocate of social justice whose 1971 trial inspired him to a career of judicial activism.

"It convinced me that the law and social action are great avenues for change," Ogletree said, referring to Davis' leadership in the civil rights movement.

"She spoke out then and she continues to speak out today," he said. "She is a person who has dedicated her life to social justice."

Davis questioned the tendency of black civil rights leaders to cling to the 1960s rather than moving ahead into the next century.

"One of the obstacles to further developing activism is the intractability with which antique civil rights leaders try to maintain their status in a movement that no longer exists," Davis said. "Among the younger generation there's also a reverence for those figures which I try to de-mystify."

While Davis acknowledged the importance of civil rights and activist leaders, she singled out those which organize grassroots movements as being key to all social action.

Davis targeted welfare reform, the prison industrial complex, immigrant rights and political prisoners as central issues that should be addressed by activists and politicians.

"Part of the solution is to bridge the gap between academics and the community," said law school student Rebeka B. Mammo, who joined Davis on the podium during the question/answer period to extol the virtues of local action.

"Social justice issues impact nationally," said Mammo. "But you need community action to come up with change."

Davis stressed that now is the time for local organizing.

She urged students to remain loyal to the civil rights and associated struggles.

"This is a decisive period: we're fighting for anti-racist, anti-capitalist notions," said Davis. "We're fighting to defend the tools acquired in progressive struggle.