It’s Angela Davis’s birthday today, January 26. Angela Davis was (and still is) an eminent figure often associated with the Black Panthers and black power from the 1960s-70s. She is a scholar, writer, and activist. Davis is also widely known for her support of the ‘Soledad Brothers‘, three inmates of Soledad prison who were accused of murdering a prison guard in the 1970’s. The three inmates were perceived to be used as scapegoats following a murder of African American inmates during a fight by another guard. It was recorded to have been a gun of hers that was used in attempt to free the prisoners. This landed Davis in jail and ultimately led to the “Free Angela” worldwide movement.
Davis is inherently inspirational. Even as a teenager, Davis attempted to set up interracial study groups that were eventually broken up by the police. In short, she has contributed to the movement of civil rights to such a large extent and is still presently politically active.
Davis’s attempt to liberate minorities, women and marginalized classes can only be categorized as admirable. Therefore, as it is her birthday – here are 12 quotes remembering her eminence and all that she has contributed up until now:
1. “We have to talk about liberating minds as well as liberating society.”
2. “I am no longer accepting the things I cannot change. I am changing the things I cannot accept.”
3. “I try never to take myself for granted as somebody who should be out there speaking. Rather, I’m doing it only because I feel there’s something important that needs to be conveyed.”
4. “A woman of color formation might decide to work around immigration issues. This political commitment is not based on the specific histories of racialized communities or its constituent members, but rather constructs an agenda agreed upon by all who are a part of it. In my opinion, the most exciting potential of women of color formations resides in the possibility of politicizing this identity – basing the identity on politics rather than the politics on identity.”
5. “Sometimes we have to do the work even though we don’t yet see a glimmer on the horizon that it’s actually going to be possible.”
6. “The prison, therefore, functions ideologically as an abstract site into which undesirables are deposited, relieving us of the responsibility of thinking about the real issues afflicting those communities from which prisoners are drawn in such disproportionate numbers. This is the ideological work that the prison performs—it relieves us of the responsibility of seriously engaging with the problems of our society, especially those produced by racism and, increasingly, global capitalism.”
7. “ ‘Woman’ was the test, but not every woman seemed to qualify. Black women, of course, were virtually invisible within the protracted campaign for woman suffrage. As for white working-class women, the suffrage leaders were probably impressed at first by the organizing efforts and militancy of their working-class sisters. But as it turned out, the working women themselves did not enthusiastically embrace the cause of woman suffrage.”
Source for quotations: Goodreads
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