Benjamin J. Davis, born on this day in 1903, was American lawyer and communist who was elected in 1943 to the New York City Council, representing Harlem. Davis was persecuted by the state via the anti-communist Smith and McCarran Acts.
Davis became radicalized through his role as defense attorney in the 1933 trial of Angelo Herndon, a 19-year-old black communist who had been charged “attempting to incite insurrection” because he tried to organize a farm workers’ union.
In 1949, Davis was among a number of communist leaders prosecuted for violating the Smith Act. He was convicted and sentenced to five years in prison. In 1962 Davis was charged with violating the Internal Security Act (also known as the McCarran Act), but died before the case could come to trial.
“Whether one agrees with the Communist Party or not, one must at least know the truth about it. One must not permit his ideas to be shaped by the hysteria which now passes as a ‘crusade against Communism’… For example, the canard that every Communist has his pockets lined with ‘Moscow gold.’ If that were true, one could be sure that there would scarcely be any room in our party for workers. The capitalists, to whom gold is god of the universe, would crowd them out.”
- Benjamin J. Davis
I hope you nerds have a good month of September 
Remember no crackers
Im telling this white dude how the UAE military are trained by Americans and he hits me with the “you are just bringing up noble savage arguments” same thing that happens when I bring up all the fucked shit the imperial core does around the world, or calling me a campist for supporting Iran, Yemen, Palestine, Venezuela.
I fucking hate whites Jesus fucking Christ
Dude clearly doesn’t even understand what the “noble savage” thing is.
I’ve gotten the “campist” thing too and while I wouldn’t choose that label myself, I don’t actually see a problem with what they’re decrying as “campism” given certain undeniable truths about how power and oppression are distributed globally.
I remember I had a failed date over me being a “campist.”
I was getting to know this Black trans woman, and I thought she was super sweet and finally someone compatible with me. She seemed firmly leftist and pan-Africanist, and she’s vegan, too.
This was back when I had this old Instagram profile where my bio said I’m a Marxist-Leninist.
She ended up seeing this, texting me, and saying, “Oh, I see your account says you’re an ML. Sorry, I don’t like campists!”
I was livid. Genuinely.
That’s frustrating, I’m sorry.
I had a bad date with someone who seemed cool until they started ranting about how much they hated tankies, a term I’d not heard. I asked what that meant, and as they described it more I began to suspect they’d consider me one too if we talked politics more. I did not give them a 2nd date
“Noble Savage Arguments” is when you stand in solidarity with the oppressed of the world.