Angela Davis Meaning Of Freedom Analysis
In The Meaning of Freedom, activist Angela Davis critiques the plausibility of democracy and collective freedom in the United States. By examining parallels between slavery and the carceral state, Davis contends that the two systems mutually characterize black people as disposable and compels them to incapacitation. Focusing on the two oppressive systems’ reliance on the maintenance of ignorance, Davis discusses how this ignorance is connected to America’s dominant sentiments of capitalism and self-interest, which, altogether, perpetuate cycles of abuse that disproportionately harm communities of color and lower-class peoples. As a result, this propels the creation of social hierarchies which, because it inherently cultivates inequalities, causes America’s classification as a “democracy” to be impossible. …show more content…
In regards to the more contemporary system of incarceration, Robin D.G. Kelley, in the foreword of Davis’ The Meaning of Freedom, refers to Davis’ employment of “negative” liberty (Davis 7). Here, as seen when he states, “This ‘negative’ liberty or freedom places a premium on the right to own property, to accumulate wealth…” Davis and Kelley distinguish that the collective freedoms of “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness,” are not guaranteed by the Declaration of Independence or the Constitution but instead are merely protected from the government’s abridgement” (Davis
Angela Davis Abolition Democracy Analysis
596 Words | 3 PagesAngela Davis’ book Abolition Democracy: Beyond Empire, Prisons, and Torture provides her critique on how today’s democracy is continually weakened by structures of oppression, such as slavery, reconstruction, and lynching. By utilizing her own experience and employing views from historical figures like Frederick Douglass and W.E.B. Dubois, Davis examines the chain of racism, sexism, and political oppression. She speaks of the hidden moral and ethical issues that bring difference within people’s social situations. In the “Abolition Democracy” chapter, she describes the relationship between the production of law and violation of law demonstrated in the United States.
Review Of Mass Incarceration In The Age Of Colorblindness By Michelle Alexander
983 Words | 4 PagesShe first supports her claim by chronicling America 's history of institutionalized racism and systematic disenfranchisement of African Americans. Then, she discusses America 's War on Drugs that disproportionately targets minorities and finally as she examines the hardship faced by felons she compares and contrasts Jim Crow Laws to mass incarceration. Alexander surmises that mass incarceration is designed to maintain white supremacy and sustain a racial classification system. Alexander 's book is relevant to my research paper because she provides evidence that the criminal justice system is rooted in racism and directly linked to the racist agenda of the white supremacist. Broussard, B. (2015).
Michelle Alexander The New Jim Crow Analysis
323 Words | 2 PagesThe author found that more people of color, especially black males are under the control our criminal justice system than were enslaved in 1850. The author supports the pervious idea by using specific examples such as the “War on Drugs” to show people of color are targeted more by law enforcement officers and scrutinize harsher by our courts for drug laws but the drug usage is used at the same rate by blacks and whites. With the help of mass-media, the “crack” epidemic in inner cities, the War on Drugs policies, the “Get tough on crime” policies, and the propaganda about people of color all have influenced the way mainstream society thinks about blacks. The author found that mainstream society believes that black people commits more crime and uses more drugs than white people, so therefore blacks deserved to incarcerated. However, Michelle Alexander disproves in “The New Jim Crow” that blacks commit more crimes than whites, the drug usage rates are the same between both races, propaganda has influenced the way mainstream society views blacks and that the “War on Drugs” and the “Get Tough on Crime” was policies targeted towards inner cities and people of color with the intent to enslave them in the criminal justice system by giving them felonies in which people of color are disenfranchise by society.
How Enfranchisement Stops Lynchings Summary
646 Words | 3 Pages“How Enfranchisement Stops Lynchings” by Ida B. Wells is an Investigative Article that aims to encourage individuals to protect the constitutional rights of black people. The Black Panther Party's “10-Point Program” is a list of demands aimed to highlight the criminal injustices and disparities black Americans face from the government, and to call other minorities to defend their rights. While “How Enfranchisement Stops Lynchings” uses Logos to state facts to support her argument and urge for government action. The Black Panther Parties' “10-Point Program” uses the authorial choice of historical reference to highlight the hypocrisy of the American Government. Both texts aim to promote racial justice and equity to influence their audience to
Jim Crow Laws In The 1900's
2100 Words | 9 PagesAl Sharpton radio host, and minister once said, “We have defeated Jim Crow, but now we have to deal with his son, James Crow Jr., esquire.” (cite) He then goes on to say that his “son” is smarter, slicker, and more cunning than him. This metaphor describes that even though the Jim Crow Laws have been ratified, there is a new racial discrimination in America that is growing and is harder to defeat than the last. The Jim Crow Laws were the set of laws that set the whites and blacks separate from each other in the 1900s, although they have been defeated, America today may be equal lawfully but not on an individual level.
Struggle And Resistance
651 Words | 3 PagesRacial issues and injustices in the United States are examined in both of Oden’s anthologies, “California Politics” and “Rivers of Struggle and Resistance.” The introduction in “California Politics” mainly discusses current political issues and how they have influenced the underrepresented ethnic minorities in California. On the other hand, “Rivers of Struggle and Resistance” focuses on the history of discrimination and oppression that haunt the African American society for several decades. Although both anthologies explores and examine similar themes, the introduction in “Rivers of Struggle and Resistance” related more to Michael Goldfield’s “The Color of Politics” excerpt.
The New Jim Crow Analysis
1721 Words | 7 PagesMichelle Alexander, similarly, points out the same truth that African American men are targeted substantially by the criminal justice system due to the long history leading to racial bias and mass incarceration within her text “The New Jim Crow”. Both Martin Luther King Jr.’s and Michelle Alexander’s text exhibit the brutality and social injustice that the African American community experiences, which ultimately expedites the mass incarceration of African American men, reflecting the current flawed prison system in the U.S. The American prison system is flawed in numerous ways as both King and Alexander points out. A significant flaw that was identified is the injustice of specifically targeting African American men for crimes due to the racial stereotypes formed as a result of racial formation. Racial formation is the accumulation of racial identities and categories that are formed, reconstructed, and abrogated throughout history.
Structural Racism In African American Society
1258 Words | 6 PagesAfrican Americans have systematically been deprived of equal opportunities and fundamental rights in America since the establishment of slavery. Although the Civil Rights Act banned the implementation of segregation and racial inequality over 40 years ago, the overall concept of racial and cultural hierarchy still lingers at the forefront of today’s society. White America’s history of racially oppressing, isolating, and segregating African Americans have led to present-day issues surrounding the political and economic forces that intentionally limits Blacks access to and opportunity from social, economic, educational, and political advancement through the institution of structural racism. Structural racism within America’s governments and
The Good Lord Bird Symbolism
1393 Words | 6 PagesIn 1776, the United States became a free nation independent from Great Britain. It represented a world where all individuals were equal and had the opportunity to start anew. However, that was not the case for African Americans. They did not receive the same opportunities as white citizens and did not get their “freedom” declared until 1865 with the creation of the 13th Amendment abolishing slavery (The Library of Congress). To this day, the portrayal of African Americans is used as a tool to enhance the image of a white man or woman.
Class In America Gregory Mantsios Summary
977 Words | 4 PagesAmerican history is built on affairs regarding freedom and equality, but negative issues thought to be conquered in the past have also become present day problems. When confronting controversial social, economic, and political topics in America today, the line between fact and opinion blurs. People across the country develop their own views on national issues, based only on personal experience and what the media tells them. Whether it be intention or ignorance, Americans are not supplied with enough information to accurately confront the major, national problems that lie just inside this country’s borders. Americans are unaware of slavery and socioeconomic issues that exist around them, which in turn presents a concern when trying to combat
New Jim Crow By Michelle Alexander: Book Review
666 Words | 3 PagesMichelle Alexander argues in her introduction to the New Jim Crow that the racial caste in America has not ended and that it just has been redesigned. She highlights the ways that the justice system of the United States controls blacks through deliberately imposed legal restrictions. The United States has the leading incarceration rates in the world and most of the individuals involved with the country’s correctional system are African-American men. This essay seeks to discuss the author’s overall argument in the book. The essay will also discuss how the topics in the first three chapters of the book help Alexander develop this argument.
A Short Summary: Two Concepts Of Liberty
999 Words | 4 PagesThis is supposedly the ‘negative’ conception of liberty in its classical form. Secondly, Berlin believes that this negative notion is comparatively new. Thirdly, liberty, in this sense, is principally concerned with ‘the area of control, not with its source’. He believes that negative freedom is not logically related to democracy or self-government. In a nutshell, negative freedom can be seen as ‘an absence of something’.
Analysis Of Chokehold By Paul Butler
1418 Words | 6 PagesWill society ever view African-Americans as people and not as less than? In “Chokehold” Paul Butler will discuss this very idea depth. Butler provides history on why and how society sees African-American men as violent thugs. Butler goes on to explain in detail how the chokehold plays a part in oppressing African-American men and how to avoid the ramifications of the Chokehold, if possible.
Freedom Is A Constant Struggle: Chapter Summary
540 Words | 3 PagesIn chapter “Are Prisons Obsolete?” Angela Davis strictly points out factors in results of the elites methods to be in total control. African Americans are highly accounted for in incarceration as an addition to the prison industrial complex. Mental health conditions are then vulnerable in the prison community which helps the cycle. This Cycle as she describes, is a great catalyst towards business and global economics.
Angela Davis Are Prisons Obsolete Analysis
1191 Words | 5 PagesFor instance, tackling issues such as health care and education, which provide severe inequality and adversity, would create an equal and safer society that would thus reject any need for criminal behavior, Davis herself suggests, “Rather, positing decarceration as our overarching strategy, we would try to envision a continuum of alternatives to imprisonment-demilitarization of schools, revitalization of education at all levels, a health system that provides free physical and mental care to all…” (Davis 107). It is clear that prisons and
More about Angela Davis Meaning Of Freedom Analysis
Angela Davis Abolition Democracy Analysis
596 Words | 3 PagesReview Of Mass Incarceration In The Age Of Colorblindness By Michelle Alexander
983 Words | 4 PagesMichelle Alexander The New Jim Crow Analysis
323 Words | 2 PagesHow Enfranchisement Stops Lynchings Summary
646 Words | 3 PagesJim Crow Laws In The 1900's
2100 Words | 9 PagesStruggle And Resistance
651 Words | 3 PagesThe New Jim Crow Analysis
1721 Words | 7 PagesStructural Racism In African American Society
1258 Words | 6 PagesThe Good Lord Bird Symbolism
1393 Words | 6 PagesClass In America Gregory Mantsios Summary
977 Words | 4 PagesNew Jim Crow By Michelle Alexander: Book Review
666 Words | 3 PagesA Short Summary: Two Concepts Of Liberty
999 Words | 4 PagesAnalysis Of Chokehold By Paul Butler
1418 Words | 6 PagesFreedom Is A Constant Struggle: Chapter Summary
540 Words | 3 PagesAngela Davis Are Prisons Obsolete Analysis
1191 Words | 5 Pages