Free Angela and All Political Prisoners Page #10

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"Mom, you've got to come."

There was a way in which we were all

kind of in our own silos.

When we came into the courtroom

with, you know, obviously, solidarity,

but we were all also

just steeling ourselves

for whatever that jury was going to say.

And the jury walks in,

and then Margaret falls apart completely.

So, I'm in a situation where

I'm having to help Margaret,

and she kind of stretched her arms out.

And then Franklin started crying.

He was in the audience.

And the judge says,

"Have you reached a verdict?"

And Mrs. Timothy said,

"Yes, Your Honor, we have."

The jury hands the jury slip to the clerk,

and the clerk then hands it to the judge,

and the judge then looks at it,

and you look at the judge

to see if he's happy or sad,

or if he's giving away anything.

And no judge ever does at that moment.

The court clerk reads out the charge.

"In the case of Angela Davis

on the charge of first degree murder,

"how does the jury find?"

And she said, "Not guilty."

And then they read the second one.

"First degree kidnapping,

how does the jury find?"

"Not guilty."

And then the clerk read out the next

charge, which was the conspiracy,

and that's the one

we were most nervous about.

I think I stopped breathing.

Everybody was just sobbing.

Angela reached over

to touch her mother,

who was sitting right behind her.

And she said, "Not guilty."

And there came the yell, "Power

to the people! Power to the people!

"Power to the people!"

And then they started,

"Power to the jury.

"Power to the jury. Power to the jury."

Today's verdict climaxed the trial

which many have viewed

as a testing ground

for the American judicial system.

Supporters said political and racial bias

would prevent a fair trial.

But despite these claims,

today in San Jose, an all-white jury

acquitted Angela Davis.

The simple truth obvious to all long ago

was this,

there never was a legal case against Angela.

But the political necessity for such a trial

was incontrovertible for the state.

That is why it is so important

that this state's conspiracy to get Angela

was smashed.

Just general reaction.

Could you just take off and rap?

I think you've been able to see

from all of the celebrating

that has already taken place here

what my reaction is

and the reaction

of the members of my family.

And all of the sisters and brothers who

have been struggling for my freedom.

This is the happiest day of my life.

Throughout this country, people are

becoming increasingly aware

of the fact that whatever

the government does,

is not a priori the truth.

And it's not only the struggle around

political prisoners

that has begun to change

the climate in this country

so that an acquittal like this could occur.

But also the reaction to the war in Vietnam

and the reaction to Nixon's

economic policies.

I think there's a lot more resistance now.

And that means that we have to continue

to build that resistance

and allow it to mature.

This was not something

that we could set aside

and say, "This is over.

Now let's get on with our lives."

This was the way in which

we were creating our lives.

This is the way we were choosing

to live our lives.

Sisters and brothers,

this is really a beautiful, beautiful moment.

It would have been a little hard to imagine

22 long months ago

that tonight, thousands and thousands

and thousands of people

are here at Madison Square Garden

celebrating a magnificent people's victory!

I was so glad that

that part of my life was over.

At the same time, all of this energy

that had been generated.

We sat down to talk about

how we could keep that structure in place

and how we could go on

in order to bring more victories

to more people.

That became the theme of my life.

And here I am today.

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