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Prison relieves us of the responsibility of seriously engaging with the problems of our society, especially those produced by racism and, increasingly, global capitalism.

Angela Davis

The campaign against the death penalty has been – while a powerful campaign, its participants have been those who attend all of the vigils, a relatively small number of people.
ANGELA DAVIS

Attempt Campaign Death Participation Penalty Powerful
No march, movement, or agenda that defines manhood in the narrowest terms and seeks to make women lesser partners in this quest for equality can be considered a positive step.
ANGELA DAVIS

Agenda Consideration Equality Movement Seek Women
Well of course I get depressed sometimes, yes I do.
ANGELA DAVIS

Depression Human Nature
When children attend schools that place a greater value on discipline and security than on knowledge and intellectual development, they are attending prep schools for prison.
ANGELA DAVIS

Children Development Discipline Intellectual Knowledge Prison School Security Value
Jails and prisons are designed to break human beings, to convert the population into specimens in a zoo – obedient to our keepers, but dangerous to each other.
ANGELA DAVIS

Convert Danger Design Each Other Human Jail Obedient Population Prison Zoo
Equal pay for women has always been an issue, eventhough we all know women work 10x harder than most men do.
ANGELA DAVIS

Equality Issue Men Pay Wages Women Women Empowerment Work
The idea of freedom is inspiring. But what does it mean? If you are free in a political sense but have no food, what’s that? The freedom to starve?
ANGELA DAVIS

Food Freedom Ideas Politics Sense Starve
What this country needs is more unemployed politicians.
ANGELA DAVIS

Country Need Politics Unemployment
The process of empowerment cannot be simplistically defined in accordance with our own particular class interests. We must learn to lift as we climb.
ANGELA DAVIS

Climb Interest Learning Particular Process Women Empowerment
Justice is indivisible. You can’t decide who gets civil rights and who doesn’t.
ANGELA DAVIS

Civil Decision Justice Rights
Imprisonment has become the response of first resort to far too many of our social problems.
ANGELA DAVIS

Prison Problem Response Social
Feminism insists on methods of thought and action that urge us to think about things together that appear to be separate, and to disaggregate things that appear to naturally belong together.
ANGELA DAVIS

Action Appearance Feminism Method Separate Togetherness Urge
Progressive art can assist people to learn what’s at work in the society in which they live.
ANGELA DAVIS

Art Assistance Live People Progress Work
As a black woman, my politics and political affiliation are bound up with and flow from participation in my people’s struggle for liberation, and with the fight of oppressed people all over the world against American imperialism.
ANGELA DAVIS

Country Participation People Politics Racism Struggle World
I think we have to really focus on the issues much more than we may have in the past.
ANGELA DAVIS

Focus Issue Past Struggle
I don’t think we have any alternative other than remaining optimistic. Optimism is an absolute necessity, even if it’s only optimism of the will, as Gramsci said, and pessimism of the intellect.
ANGELA DAVIS

Absolute Alternative Intellectual Necessity Optimistic Thinking
I’m suggesting that we abolish the social function of prisons.
ANGELA DAVIS

Abolish Function Prison Social Suggestion
I decided to teach because I think that any person who studies philosophy has to be involved actively.
ANGELA DAVIS

Acticity Decision Involvement Person Philosophy Study Teaching
I have a hard time accepting diversity as a synonym for justice. Diversity is a corporate strategy.
ANGELA DAVIS

Acceptance Diversity Hard Time Justice Strategy Synonym
History always seems to repeat itself.
ANGELA DAVIS

History One Liner Past Repeat
Consent needs to be present in order for it not to be considered rape. “No” means No & guys need to understand that.
ANGELA DAVIS

Consent Consideration Feminism Guy Understand
Walls turned sideways are bridges.
ANGELA DAVIS

Bridge One Liner Wall
We have to talk about liberating minds as well as liberating society.
ANGELA DAVIS

Feminism Liberty Mind Society Talk
We know the road to freedom has always been stalked by death.
ANGELA DAVIS

Death Deep Freedom Road Stalk
It’s my body and I have the right to do whatever I want to do with it. So does every other female on this planet.
ANGELA DAVIS

Body Female Planet Women Rights
Anyway I don’t think we can rely on governments, regardless of who is in power, to do the work that only mass movements can do.
ANGELA DAVIS

Government Movement Power Regard Thinking
It is essential to resist the depiction of history as the work of heroic individuals.
ANGELA DAVIS

Essential History Individual Work

Prison relieves us of the responsibility of seriously engaging with the problems of our society, especially those produced by racism and, increasingly, global capitalism.

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Prison relieves us of the responsibility of seriously engaging with the problems of our society, especially those produced by racism and, increasingly, global capitalism.

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