I went to a lecture given by Dr.Angela Davis, and I made notes to things that struck out at me. For those of who don’t know, she is a radical black activist, Black Panther, philosopher, teacher, United States Vice-President Candidate, and writer. Unfortunately, I couldn’t stay for the whole evening, but these quotes struck out at me during the time I was there , I hope you enjoy them too. Very powerful speaker! =)
“In the States, we are always looking for Messiahs. We are always looking for individuals who can lead us to the mountaintop.”
“When we use the word democracy, we’re not always talking about the same phenomenon. People don’t realize that democracy includes the right to vote, as well as the right to healthcare and education…and tuition free education.”
“US doctors are encouraged to think more about the money they earn then the service they perform.”
“What is the meaning of Black history? Why single out Black people? It’s popularity is related to the fact that black history is the history of the struggle for freedom.”
“Freedom is vaster than civil rights.”
“The rights of citizenship do not bring us the complete picture of freedom.”
“Justice is indivisible. You can’t decide who gets civil rights and who doesn’t.”
“The assumption that feminism is only about gender is the result of a yearning for simplicity that has racialized feminism as white. The kind of feminism I talk about can embrace more and more complexity…”
“Freedom then becomes not a state for which one yearns, but rather an incessant struggle to remake our lives…to remake our futures…”
“We stood up to the state and we won.”
“Black history is too often celebrated as a collective narrative about individuals.”
“We don’t understand the degree to which we inhabit our histories, and our histories inhabit us, even when we are not aware of it.”
“As we achieve victories in the struggle for freedom, our awareness of freedom changes and grows.”
“Hegel says that ‘history is progress in the consciousness of freedom.’”
“We fail to recognize that the people of Haiti have this incredible history that affects us all.”
“The rights of citizenship do not bring us the complete picture of freedom.”
“The leadership of the [civil rights] movement had to be a minister, because where else does leadership come from in black communities?” (Re: Martin Luther King and the civil rights movement)
“His greatness comes from the fact that he learned from the people with whom he struggled.” (Re: Martin Luther King)
“We can see the sediments of slavery in the prison industrial complex…there are 2.3 million people behind bars in the States.”
“Justice is indivisible. You can’t decide who gets civil rights and who doesn’t.”
“Marriage is heterosexual to begin with. It’s patriarchal. It’s capitalist.”
“We have to talk about the rights of disabled people…and environmental issues as well…”
“When talking about black history, a feminist approach inflected with Marxism…feminism has a history very much linked to black history.”
“Feminism is an approach that anyone can use.”
“I can’t imagine a feminism that is not anti-racist.”
“The assumption that feminism is only about gender is the result of a yearning for simplicity that has racialized feminism as white. The kind of feminism I talk about can embrace more and more complexity…”
“I think women’s studies is really important…it’s not only about studying women and gender, but we can use feminist methodologies to study history and other objects.”
“We are schooled in our Western way of thinking. When we are confronted with a contradiction, we have to choose one or the other…Feminism teaches us to dwell there, in that contradiction…rather than choose ‘either or’.”
“The meaning of Black history, as I see it, is that core of something you might call the practice of freedom…it’s about imagining a new world…”
“Freedom then becomes not a state for which one yearns, but rather an incessant struggle to remake our lives…to remake our futures…”
“Racism is much more clandestine, much more hidden kind of phenomenon, but at the same time it’s perhaps far more terrible than it’s ever been.”
by: Vaanmathy
Tags: News
