We live in a society of an imposed forgetfulness, a society that depends on public amnesia.
Angela DavisRead
The prison is not the only institution that has posed complex challenges to the people who have lived with it and have become so inured to its presence that they could not conceive of society without it. Within the history of the United States the system of slavery immediately comes to mind.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Society can become overly accustomed to oppressive systems, making it difficult for people to envision a life without them.
Angela Davis highlights how institutions like prisons and slavery shape societal perceptions and existence. She emphasizes that when people grow accustomed to such oppressive systems, they may find it hard to imagine a world devoid of these challenges, underscoring a critical need for awareness and transformation within societal structures.
Themes
OppressionSocietyInstitutionsAwarenessFreedom
In practice
Example use cases
During a discussion on social justice, one might refer to this quote to emphasize the need to challenge oppressive systems.
More from Angela Davis
All quotes →Well, we see an increasingly weaker labor movement as a result of the overall assault on the labor movement and as a result of the globalization of capital.
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Racism is a 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.
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Imprisonment has become the response of first resort to far too many of our social problems.
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It's true that it's within the realm of cultural politics that young people tend to work through political issues, which I think is good, although it's not going to solve the problems
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Radical simply means 'grasping things at the root.'
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