Dr. Angela Davis – a 1960s radical associated with the Black Panthers and Communist Party – headlined a private event in Los Angeles last month where she joined Black Lives Matter leaders in advocating for the abolition of police, prisons, and capitalism.
“You can’t simply focus myopically on one thing and say ‘get rid of slavery,’ or ‘get rid of prisons,’ or ‘get rid of the police,’” Davis, a former professor in the University of California system, explained. “Abolition asks us to think about what it is we need to do to transform the entire context, the entire society.”
Titled “Abolition in the Age of Trump,” the <a href="http://patrissecullors.com/2017/04/19/abolition-age-trump/">gathering</a> was organized by Dignity and Power Now &#8211; an activist group focusing on the rights of incarcerated people. DPN was founded by Patrisse Cullors, who is also a co-founder of Black Lives Matter. It was instrumental in the formation of a new civilian oversight board for the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department (LASD), which oversees the nation’s <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2016/09/22/us/lisa-ling-this-is-life-la-county-jail-by-the-numbers/">largest</a> jail system.
As the Los Angeles Times <a href="http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-sheriff-oversight-20160112-story.html">reports</a>:
<blockquote>The push to create a civilian panel began amid revelations of widespread abuses in the county jails and has gained new currency as national attention has been focused on police use of force and relationships between law enforcement and minority communities last year.
Mark-Anthony Johnson, an activist with the group Dignity and Power Now, which led the push by community groups for a civilian commission, praised the progress made over the last three years but slammed the decision to allow former law enforcement officials on the panel.</blockquote>
“I am an abolitionist,” Cullors, who emceed the event, told the crowd assembled in the Underground Museum’s Purple Garden. “I’m going to proclaim it and shout it and remind people.”
Davis, a leader of the new abolition movement, praised Cullors and the emergence of Black Lives Matter for creating “a new arena of struggle” that incorporates the same objectives that she has been fighting for since the 1971 Attica Prison <a href="http://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime/hostages-died-gunshots-not-cut-throats-1971-article-1.2351968">riot</a>. It was a four-day uprising where inmates took control of a correctional facility in New York. After the State Police had moved in, 29 prisoners and ten hostages had been <a href="http://www.cbsnews.com/news/likely-attica-prison-riot-shooters-named-45-years-later/">shot</a> dead.
“The brothers who stood up in Attica called not for the reform of the prison system, but abolition,” Davis recalled. “That was the first time that I began to take it really seriously.”
At the time, Davis herself was incarcerated on charges of murder, kidnapping, and conspiracy in <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/books/98/03/08/home/davis-shooting.html">connection</a> with the shooting deaths of four people in California &#8211; including a judge. An international “Free Angela Davis” campaign ensued.
As the New York Times <a href="https://mobile.nytimes.com/1971/01/31/archives/carolina-abduction-of-8-called-a-scheme-to-free-angela-davis.html">reported</a> on January 31, 1971:
<blockquote>A State Senator whose wife was shot two weeks ago in an attempted kidnapping plot said this week that two young black men involved had planned to demand ransom and to attempt a trade of their victims for Angela Davis, the black militant accused of murder in California.</blockquote>
More than 45 years later, Davis still has the allegiance of black revolutionaries, who have latched on to her concept of abolition that she revived not long ago. In 1997, Davis <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/summer-noble/angela-davis-speaks-on-ra_b_6601260.html">co-founded</a> Critical Resistance, an organization created to challenge “the idea that imprisonment and policing are a solution for social, political, and economic problems.”
“We were thinking about trying to change vocabularies, and the term that we introduced at that time was the ‘prison industrial complex,’” Davis recalled. “That gives us the opportunity to talk about racism. That allows us to talk about the economy and the role that capitalist corporations play, particularly in the context of global capitalism &#8211; which is really responsible for the proliferation of prisons all over the world. Because you need a place for people that are rendered ‘surplus’ by the kinds of economies that are created by capitalist corporations.”
The phrase Davis helped coin is now part of the Black Lives Matter lexicon. Its website <a href="http://blacklivesmatter.com/11-major-misconceptions-about-the-black-lives-matter-movement/">calls</a> for “the complete dismantling of the prison industrial complex,” and states:
<blockquote>Many of the movement’s organizers identify as abolitionists, which in the 21st-century context refers to people who want to abolish prisons and end the problem of mass incarceration of black and Latino people.</blockquote>
The activists at the forum agreed that the pursuit of abolition must be conjoined with an effort to tear down and replace what’s left of America’s capitalist structure.
“Anti-capitalism without abolition doesn’t work,” said Janaya Khan, co-founder of Black Lives Matter-Canada.
“Abolition isn’t just about destroying something,” said Cullors. “It’s about the building up of something.”
“We will have to overthrow the economic system under which we live,” said Davis. “We will have to look beyond capitalism. We need something else – whether we want to call it socialism or communism or whatever, we need something else.”
The event concluded with Davis joining hands with members of Black Lives Matter-Los Angeles, as Cullors paid tribute to former Black Liberation Army leader Assata Shakur. Also affiliated with the Black Panthers, Shakur was <a href="http://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime/assata-shakur-convicted-murder-1977-article-1.3008371">convicted</a> of murder for her involvement in a 1973 shootout that left a New Jersey State Trooper dead. She is currently living in exile in Cuba after escaping from prison in 1979.

<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<script async src="https://www.tiktok.com/embed.js"></script>
<script async src="https://www.instagram.com/embed.js"></script><div data-widget-host="revcontent" data-pub-id="165152" data-widget-id="290588"></div><script src="https://delivery.revcontent.com/165152/290588/widget.js"></script>

EXCLUSIVE: Radical Professor Calls For Abolition Of Police ‘In The Age Of Trump’

CONTINUE READING

Chestnut Devours 70+ Hotdogs, Dominates Competition In Annual Display Of American Exceptionalism

Man Plows Truck Into Crowd In New Orleans’ French Quarter, Mayor Calls It A ‘Terrorist Attack’

5 Dead, 2 Kids Injured In Philadelphia Shooting. Suspect In Custody.

3 Dead In ‘Gang-Related’ Shooting At Annual New Mexico Biker Rally

McCarthy Says Biden Beholden To ‘Radical Socialists,’ POTUS Calls GOP Debt Ceiling Position ‘Extreme’

Illinois Supreme Court Puts Controversial Law Eliminating Cash Bail On Hold

News and Commentary

Angela Davis

Donald Trump

Police

A video goes viral showing a baby being refused his mother by two gay "dads". This is just the tip of the iceberg, which is why we will have an important discussion today about surrogacy. 

Hour 1

The Matt Walsh Show

Ep. 1765 - This Video Is One Of The Worst Things I've Seen In A Long Time 

The Strait of Hormuz officially opens for business (kind of), the Pope makes “shocking” comments on immigration, and President Trump promises UFO disclosure at TPUSA. 


The Michael Knowles Show

Ep. 1956 -  Pope Leo's "SHOCKING" Immigration Comments EXPLAINED

A false miscreed has corrupted our leadership class.


The Andrew Klavan Show

Ep. 1275 - Dumb, Dumber and Progressive

President Trump announces a 10-day ceasefire between Lebanon and Israel, a murder-suicide involving former Democratic Lieutenant Governor Justin Fairfax shakes Virginia, and France and Britain hold a conference to secure the Strait of Hormuz – after the Iranian conflict ends. Get the facts first with Morning Wire.

- - -

Ep. 2738

- - -

Wake up with new Morning Wire merch: https://bit.ly/4lIubt3

- - -

Today's Sponsors:

Alliance Defending Freedom - Visit https://JoinADF.com/WIRE or text 'WIRE' to 83848 to learn more.

Pocket Hose - Text MORNING to 64000 to get a FREE pocket pivot and their 10-pattern sprayer with the purchase of ANY size Copper Head hose. Message and data rates may apply.

Morning Wire

U.S. Expands Hormuz Blockade & VA Fairfax Deaths Investigated | 4.17.26

U.S. Expands Hormuz Blockade & VA Fairfax Deaths Investigated | 4.17.26 [Member Exclusive]

A ceasefire goes into effect between Israel and Lebanon, a tragic murder-suicide rocks Virginia, and Dairy Queen deploys AI in the drive-thru. Get the facts first with Evening Wire.
- - -
Ep. 2737
- - -
Wake up with new Morning Wire merch: https://bit.ly/4lIubt3 
- - -
Today’s Sponsor:

Alliance Defending Freedom - Visit https://JoinADF.com/WIRE or text “WIRE” to 83848 to learn more.


Evening Wire: Lebanon Ceasefire Begins & Murder-Suicide Rocks VA | 4.16.26

The Pendragon Cycle

Menu

— News and Commentary —

EXCLUSIVE: Radical Professor Calls For Abolition Of Police ‘In The Age Of Trump’