Addressing leadership and social responsibility, a well-known political activist and author spoke Saturday to students and Ames residents about issues beyond what directly affects the black community.

Angela Davis made the closing public speech for the Big 12 Conference on Black Student Government in Stephens Auditorium, in which she argued against the policies of the current administration and expressed the importance of Black History Month. More than 1500 people attended the speech.

“Black History Month does not set us apart as black people. It is a chance to meditate on our history,” Davis said. “Black History Month can and should be embraced by everyone, regardless of their ethnic or racial identity.”

Davis was heavily involved in the civil rights movement and was associated with the Black Panther Party and the Communist Party. In 1970, she was put on the FBI’s 10 Most Wanted List and was charged for three capital crimes. She was later acquitted of all charges after spending 18 months in prison.

Davis stressed the importance of making activist movements new.

“Elders need to resist imposing old ideas and out-voted notions on youth whose most important task is to find their own way,” Davis said.

She said she was disgusted by the current administration, calling President George W. Bush the “greatest terrorist in the world.”

“Whenever I see President Bush pontificating about what he calls the hunt for terrorists, I see Senator Joseph McCarthy conducting his great quest for Communists,” Davis said.

She said Bush’s domestic eavesdropping program is one of the ways the current administration has been systematically taking citizens’ civil liberties away.

“We are further away from democracy than we have ever been,” Davis said.

She spoke about problems in the media that she said force people to forget problems that exist and give them a sense of emotional closure when there is none, specifically about what is going on in New Orleans.

“There are children still missing, most evacuees do not have permanent housing and they do not have the prospect of returning home,” Davis said.

Selorm Atiedu, senior in electrical engineering, attended the lecture and said he was impressed.

“She still has the same passion that she had many years ago,” Atiedu said.

Clarissa Taylor, senior in communication studies, was the chairwoman in charge of organizing lecturers to speak at the conference.

“We wanted to have someone who would really knock it out of the park,” Taylor said.

It was Davis’ fourth visit to Iowa State in more than 30 years.