We live in a society of an imposed forgetfulness, a society that depends on public amnesia.
That's true but I think the contemporary problem that we are facing increasing numbers of black people and other people of color being thrown into a status that involves work in alternative economies and increasing numbers of people who are incarcerated.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Angela Davis highlights the issues faced by Black individuals and people of color in alternative economies and the prison system.
In this quote, Angela Davis discusses the pressing social issue of how contemporary society marginalizes increasing numbers of Black individuals and other people of color. She points to the struggles they face as they are pushed into alternative economies, which often lack stability and opportunity, while also addressing the troubling rise in incarceration rates among these communities. Davis's insights call for a deeper examination of the structural inequalities that lead to such disparities.
Themes
In practice
Example use cases
This quote could be used in a discussion about systemic racism and its impact on the economy.
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.
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.
Imprisonment has become the response of first resort to far too many of our social problems.
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
Radical simply means 'grasping things at the root.'
Similar quotes
We have a deeply rooted misconception in our country that unhoused people have done something to deserve their conditions - when the reality is that unhoused people are living the consequences of our government's failure to secure the basic necessities people need to survive.
I don't want to flee, nor do I want to abandon the battle of these farmers who live without any protection in the forest. They have the sacrosanct right to aspire to a better life on land where they can live and work with dignity while respecting the environment.
The success of the few does not excuse the caste-like system that exists for many. In fact, black exceptionalism - the high-profile, highly visible examples of the black success - actually serves to justify and rationalize mass incarceration.
If you grew up white before the civil rights movement anywhere in the South, all grown-ups lied. They'd tell you stuff like, 'Don't drink out of the colored fountain, dear, it's dirty.' In the white part of town, the white fountain was always covered with chewing gum and the marks of grubby kids' paws, and the colored fountain was always clean.
The appalling racial injustice inherent in the Trayvon Martin tragedy reminds us that there is still much to do.
Poverty, the racial divide and social injustice do not impact only those who suffer most visibly. Alleviating poverty and injustice is a responsibility we must never forget or abandon.