Angela Davis: We Owe It to People Who Came Before Us to Fight to Abolish Prisons

democracynow.org - Angela Davis is a leading advocate for prison abolition, a position informed by her own experience as a prisoner and a fugitive on the FBI's top 10 wanted list more than 40 years ago. Once caught, she faced the death penalty in California. After being acquitted on all charges, she spent her life fighting to change the criminal justice system. Amy Goodman sat down with Angela Davis at Busboys and Poets in Washington, D.C., in October to talk about the prison abolition movement.
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[@cindyrolle6476]

We African Americans must study our history and know that Ms. Davis and how she stood up and was imprisoned fighting for are human rights. Thank you Angela

[@cindyrolle6476]

Jane Dough - suggest you do the same. I understand why true white history isn’t taught in high school. It is truly the most disgraceful racist history ever.

[@jenniferbecca3050]

You should read the book Color, Communism, and Common Sense by Manning Johnson. He was apart of the same Communist Party. He eventually left after realizing the party wasn’t helping black people, but hurting them. His book is being played out then, as it is, right now. Both whites and blacks are hurting black people, not just whites and it’s not all whites are doing it. Very eye opening.

[@cindyrolle6476]

Jennifer Becca - she was speaker at the university I graduated from. I grew up knowing who she was and still is. She can’t and won’t be discarded by our people. She has seen and lived injustice as many minorities have. America’s TRUE history must be taught to all.

[@jenniferbecca3050]

@@cindyrolle6476 So you are not going to read a book from a black guy? His book speaks volumes on what was going on then, and it's the same stuff going on now. Maybe get a different perspective of what his thoughts on being in the same Communist Party as her.

[@sonofyah-qx8fm]

We are not African Americans....We are Judah Decendants from The House Jacob 12 Tribes Book of Genesis Your Bible.

[@russelmurray9268]

I lived around the corner from the Panthers in Berkeley in the 60's and saw Angela in Oakland before she was famous n now she's a vegan n my hero thanks Angela for being an inspiration n strong n being vegan

[@estellesuarez27]

"All kinds of people are from Birmingham." Best polictical shade ever.

[@babycakes2077]

Go, Angela ✊🏾 ROOTS!

[@axeldurman5224]

Amy seems like such a wholesome unbiased human being! my reason for viewing Democracy Now. Awesome woman.

[@martyemmons8692]

She certainly reports on issues that are my beliefs. Issues that are not excepted by not only Republicans and law enforcement organizations, that are complicit in falsifying (spin) and out right cover up. I don't see any coverage of these issues by major media such as ABC, CBS or NBC.

[@willieduffie4967]

Much respect Amy!

[@user-xm1et7cz2o]

I just wish that Amy, along with most of the left people on the ground, weren't so caught up in the power structure of the medical-pharmaceutical industrial complex. As someone who has suffered extensive harm and trauma from the general and mental health systems, seeing how the left bows down to medical authorities, without applying the structural critiques and analytic tools used to look at other institutions, has been deeply discouraging and isolating. Not only have I found myself standing alone in the face of the oppression and abuse I've experienced from those systems, but also found little to no support in that struggle from the people on the left I consider/ed friends and allies. The left are working with huge blindspots and blinders on this matter. Making present day "health care" available to all, and pharmaceuticals more affordable, does nothing to address the system of medical dependence and subjugation we are all living within.

[@bigdog44pc]

We should stop calling them prisons and start calling them gulags.

[@justin5368]

There is soooo much irony in your comment. My cup runneth over. I don't know if that was your intent, but if it was, well done.

[@bigdog44pc]

I say, “gulags”, because our prisons are used for manufacturing, and if the prisoners refuse to do the labor they get put in solitary confinement. Our present prison system is a new kind slavery. The term, “summer camp”, I suspect, refers to children put in cages at the border, which is much worse. Either way, it’s all bad.

[@justin5368]

@@bigdog44pc I actually agree with your take on our prison system. Where I found the irony, however, was your use of the word "gulag" because Angela Davis has been an avowed Marxist and avid supporter of the Soviet Union, which as we should all know, starved and slaughtered tens of millions of its own people within its actual gulag system. You have to see how that's ironic.

[@bigdog44pc]

Our prison system makes criminals worse, not rehabilitated. Our prison system keeps prisoners in jail, including the falsely accused. Stalin used communist talking points to make himself appear communist, when in reality he was running state controlled capitalism. In other words the government, not private individuals, was the shareholder. It’s a lie that the USSR was communist. The Soviet union was certainly a totalitarian and brutal dictatorship to its people.

[@bigdog44pc]

Norway has found a way to rehabilitate their criminals with a low recidivism rate to their prisons, and no it’s not because it’s a white nation.

[@VaQm11]

Angela Davis, thank you for teaching me so much! You are such an inspiring person! Keep fighting for prison and police abolition!

[@GreenOrchid9]

An injury to one is an injury to ALL🤗👍

[@treneatramuhammad4611]

Black People seem to e the only one's injured.

[@sonjasimmonds9221]

Beautiful Interview good job Ladies xx Amy Goodman your programme Democracy now is my best news station,Angela Davies a true honour too hear you speak ❤

[@TerryTappArt]

I listened to Angela speak in Louisville in 2003. She was amazing and inspiring and still is.

[@ramsfire]

I still have a Book by Professor Davis that I purchased when I was 14 years old in 1971 New York. It was Titled: "IF THEY COME IN THE MORNING". FROM THAT POINT FORWARD I REALIZED I WAS UNDERGOING A "CHANGE" IN MY VIEWS ON RACE AND THE SOCIO/ POLITICAL CLIMATE OF THE TIME......I also understood EXACTLY WHO SHE WAS AND WHAT SHE REPRESENTED IN THE BROADER PICTURE. She is My Hero.......

[@pattagole]

Someone black should make a movie about her life from a black prospective, her life is so enrichment with courage and strength.

[@jeanettecampbell2110]

What an education!

[@ashebermulugata1437]

As always my dear sistah; honor and raspect. Your revolutionary commitment n loyalty is admirable and I salute you spirit warrior

[@movienerd202]

Fight the power!

[@johnpagoto1054]

Angela and Vietnam became the catalyze that made me politically aware. A white boy in the suburbs of Detroit well after the riots in '71

[@nicoletinker8081]

@@warpsneed9338 project much? You seem to think that black people are more powerful than you, given the fear you speak with about what you assume they are going to do to you. Try a mirror

[@GreenOrchid9]

She has lived with academic completion, accomplishments, purpose, determined sensitivity, without pause or editorial deficit, freedom fighters and thoughtfullness💃history of action! What have you done lately???🤔

[@justin5368]

I read about the Marxian, communist ideology for which she fought and stood. And I read the stories of the tens of millions of people that were maimed, tortured, raped, starved, cannibalized, and viciously murdered in the name of that selfsame totalitarian ideology. The class enemies and "wreckers" of yesteryear are the white supremacists and fascists of today. In the end, I've only done enough to be skeptical of the rhetoric of charismatic political leaders and activist academics. It's not much, but it can keep history from repeating itself.

[@movienerd202]

@@justin5368 What about the millions that have been maimed, tortured and killed in the name of capitalism and democracy?

[@justin5368]

@@movienerd202 I could acknowledge one without ignoring the other. But the murder tallies aren't even close, neither are the potentials for freedom and prosperity. But I find your skepticism of democracy very telling, as the opposite would fall somewhere in dictatorship or oligarchy territory. I don't get along with authoritarians like yourself.

[@alphaecka1949]

Exactly what is meant by the last caption of your mother doesn't seem very clear are you suggesting she should run as president of this country and it make a heck of a lot of difference

[@alphaecka1949]

@Jane Dough are you saying that she does not have a right to express her political views or the freedom to choose up unnh little girl have a right to walk a path on in the park she is grown and if ever tub must sit on their own bottom. then what are you saying she has done that is wrong in your eyes I saying that you preferred the oligarchic totalitarian terroism, tourism's was is, you've been governed by and you called them democracy which is controlled by these demagogue in return you call that deception democracy or republican definition in return you call that deception them democracy all of a Republican Tara cards wishes, definition of use you take whatever you want from the people #"you" regardless "if all lived in object poverity" thereour you own ,the rights to their own minerals and even that "the up the women body" that's U Controle : what you talkin about the only part I find disgusting about usa embarrassing what she calls liberalism wishes is it it's embarrassing lesbian Edonism it's Embarrassing for a revolutionary like Angela Davis closet taill issue is seems clear a Revoludionis as i lear i Xzoom in on the princioles of God and justice and not judical principle an ticking closette Homosexuslitied : if you have somebody to wipe your ass all the time a you want somebody to wipe your ass so that is the problem and you living in a place where it's comfortable to give somebody shit water to drink in pretends like the well all the poisonous toxic microbes still lives in it so you into bleaching water looking good and what is not good you better wake up and get on to your pratensis bulshit because I'm sure it's all your capitalistic and Democratic Outlook you don't have $1000000 in your bank account see you be better off living in a socialist society we're properties rum punch or you live dim in today make belief , from paycheck to with a dream u can never attained ; paycheck and you can see the ills of your deception and your so-called education which is is this bulshit and brainwashing Every Man have a right to his own destiny so you have no sayso saying how she should behave or a political choice on the Avenues of her political expression she had her days in jail as a children eat were u doing while she was in jail yes jail she been falsely charged she Feed the Children what have you done that makes a difference that is significant all goes down historically apart from your meager nasty criticism tell us what you've done and she owes no one any apology anything you should be apologizing to her No one going to be ur stool Groom: Wipe ur own Ass !!/

[@mwiluokolo9559]

It’s amazing how many Ppl are say’n they agree with her, I suppose on principle, yet give no commentary on how to fundamentally change the prison system if one agrees they shud be kept 🤷🏾‍♂️😒

[@dianazamarripa53]

This Is very POWERFUL .

[@joeycarlson634]

I've always wanted to right in Angela Davis for President I've always felt it was the proper thing for me. I'm a very light skinned Human being and I haven't got the slightest Idea what it is like to be a Dark skinned Human being one thing we do have in common we are all human beings. Best wishes to you and your family (: Joey

[@warpsneed9338]

If you're very light skinned then you're the only one under the current system that official anti-you laws and policies are on the books for. There is no greater, common humanity and the kill whitey crowd here proves it. Go read Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn on where this idea of a "common humanity" went under communism.

[@rhodadonovan975]

The rest of this conversation is not available on KZbin here. Does anyone have links to it? Thank you & Thank you for posting

[@beverlyscott3881]

I love Going back and seeing how our people fought for freedom. I was a little girl and saw it all. I think we should listen to our elders, then we can move forward.

[@MichelleS234]

This interview is full of so much knowledge and gems of activism from our people and the others who participated. 👊🏾👊🏾💪🏾💪🏾🙏🏾🙏🏾🌎🌎 My education didn't start, until I went out to seek it. Certainly not my public school or high school but higher education. I'm so glad I took some classes just to learn it's more to my environment than just my environment.🙏🏾🙏🏾

[@jd.elie1]

Love that she mentions Lolita Lebron! Truly internationalist... No wasted education here!

[@philipzaccheus8398]

Very interesting personality indeed. Listening to her and remembering her from that time is graceous indeed. Thanks.

[@robertgreen9150]

NEVER FORGET

[@jacquieedwards8218]

What would be used to confine people who break the law? What is proposed as an alternative for bad behavior? I could understand an update of the facilities, but nothing? Jesus is Love

[@Haitian-Vodou]

Haiti has few jails. And you never see juvenile jails in Haiti. Haiti builds schools because she loves her people. Poor or not.

[@warpsneed9338]

Ah yes, people should emulate Haiti. Such a nice place to live.

[@ianking9485]

When you talk of your experience of these wicked wrongs done to you, you are labelled with having a chip on your shoulder

[@ontheland5055]

Brazil and United States are not the two largest countries in the Hemisphere, though they may be the two most populous.

[@adiposerex5150]

The wrong lives wasted.

[@docterryates340]

Learning Question: Which Country it sounds like everyone is Old?

[@docterryates340]

"HOW to THINK is much more productive than what to think." By Graspmathologist Dr R Yates of Graspmatyx. Listen 🎧 and ear 👂 in Ame and Angela made me realize, "I am not an American, because I am the Ahme-Rikan (Ame-rican)."

[@user-en7cc2xi4n]

My Mom uses too says to her son in-law you Beat me not my Daughter same here I'll stand for the people freedom for better Road 🌞✨🌟⭐🌈👈🦅

[@Monk-Amani.]

America, America. This is not.

[@glipgloppapi9959]

Where’s the video about capitalism, I’ve watched the three videos on the democracy now channel; I’m wondering if a segment is missing..

[@benyaminyisrael4634]

I deeply love and highly respect Angela Davis, but no way in the world we should abolish prisons...thats nuts! I need her to explain that one.

[@pramitpratimdas8198]

You can start by reading up on transformative justice and the abolition movement itself.

[@benyaminyisrael4634]

@Joshua Abramson She explained that Jonathan took the weapon to free his brother...You and I will probably disagree on that one...but Im not looking for an argument..I just want to know do we go straight to the death penalty or stocks and chains...no way should we go without prisons.

[@jordanabeaulieu2530]

Maybe not abolish prisons but there needs to be a complete overhaul of the prison industrial complex.

[@benyaminyisrael4634]

@@jordanabeaulieu2530 agreed!

[@stefdelev]

She wrote a whole book about it bro. Just read the book lol

[@countrylife8347]

So you want rapist and murderers on the streets really smart Democrats very dumb win you Get rid of jails prisons and Law enforcement

[@dianazamarripa53]

No one wants rapists n murders on the streets. Dont act stupid. U know d well how some people of color are STILL being treated in da USA. IN 2023 .

[@colonelangus8247]

People misunderstand the purpose of prison, it isn't to protect people from convicts it is to protect convicts from the people.

[@danf1550]

Seriously bad idea to try to turn this person into a hero.

[@danf1550]

@Lyricist One Am I mistaken here- was she not a communist and a criminal? Only a sick person would have a Nazi or a Communist as a hero- sick.

[@jordanabeaulieu2530]

@@danf1550 You're brainwashed by your own government into thinking that Communism is a dirty word and equals criminal.

[@VICAPONE]

Crazy the views aint in the millions we rather watch bs music videos then to learn from the greats

[@docterryates340]

Learning Question: Which Country it sounds like everyone is Old?