Jackson Free Press

At 23, Shawnee Davie is a woman already committed to her ideals.

Davie blew away the crowd at the Reproductive Freedom Project rally last month with her passionate defense of a woman's right to make decisions for her body. The Jackson State student works part time with the ACLU, organizing events like the Freedom Rally, but she also organized protests during the state Legislature's failed attempt to outlaw abortion earlier this year, as well as its botched attempt to limit a woman's ability to get braids by producing a bill requiring hair specialists to be licensed to twist hair.

Davie was born in St. Louis, Mo., to a father who was a minister and public speaker himself, so she had an early life at the microphone. Her first public speech was reading Psalm 139 at the age of 4.

"I think the definition of courage is to face one's fears. I'm definitely not necessarily the person who gives up and is never scared, but I know I have a mission and a purpose, and I know I have to do it," Davie replies when asked how she musters the courage to defend traditional blue-state philosophies in a state that seems blood red.

The idea of stewing away in ignorance scratches painfully at something very fundamental in Davie, and she revels in the chance to enlighten women and young people regarding their life choices.

"We held two summits, one at the Hinds County Community College in Rankin; we had 50 girls show up. We talked about pregnancy, HIV and STDs, emergency contraception as well as celibacy, and talked about dating and date rape, healthy relationships and career goals and college and resolving conflict between parents," Davie says, explaining that the summits have hopefully spurred others, hosted by summit veterans, who will spread a little knowledge where it may be lacking.

Davie said she worries that Americans are reaching new lows of complacency, silently relinquishing rights they would have screamed and fought for a couple of generations ago.

"I think Americans are no longer being educated about their civil rights and civil liberties with the tenacity they were before," Davie warns.

The English major said she plans to study the law after graduation, but when you ask her what she wants to be, she has a hard time nailing down precisely what kind of job title she'll have hanging on her office door. In fact, an office door might be nowhere near her when it's all said and done.

Previous Commentsshow

Awesome. As anyone who's ever been around Shawna knows, she has as much presence as any activist--young or world-weary--you're ever likely to meet. She has a preaching voice that good acoustics were made for and--as those of us lucky enough to be marching within earshot that magical Saturday know--a pretty damned impressive singing voice, too. She also falls into that category of people where you look at the bio and you think "She's 23?"--now that I think of it, yeah, she looks 23, but you know she acts like she's been at this for a very long time. The stuff she knows, the stuff that pops into her head before anyone else in the room (when there are some pretty smart people in the room to begin with)... We're so lucky to have her here in Jackson. I know we won't forever, but progressive activists should know that Shawna Davie is a name they'll be hearing for the rest of their lives and memorize it accordingly. What do you say about the transformational capacity of a human being who's a butterfly even before she goes into the cocoon. God bless you, Shawna. I'd march alongside you any day. Cheers, TH

Tom Head

Aug 24 2006

...she also organized protests during the state Legislature’s...botched attempt to limit a woman’s ability to get braids by producing a bill requiring hair specialists to be licensed to twist hair. If this is the same issue where they wanted hair braiders to have traditional cosmotology training, I wish I could shake her hand for this. Many who choose to exclusively braid hair or style dreadlocks do so because they do not believe in using chemicals such as relaxers to alter the hair texture, so it would be against their principles - and a waste of time - to take courses on how to relax hair. I wish Ms. Davie all the success in the world.

LatashaWillis

Aug 24 2006