Angela Davis: ‘Capitalism is Racial Capitalism’
In an exclusive interview with Al Jazeera’s Steve Clemons last week, veteran American freedom fighter Angela Davis offered some crucial insights into the meaning of the Black Lives Matter rebellion, its place in history and the strategic challenges it faces. In the interview, she honors “the impact of these amazing gatherings that have happened everywhere in the world in response to the murders of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor and Ahmaud Arbery and Tony McDade and Rayshard Brooks and others,” and considers how this movement might transform American institutions.
(Her words have been edited for clarity and length.)
On the challenge ahead
“I see this moment as reflecting work that has been done over decades and even over centuries. Finally, after decades of arguing that we need a conversation about race and racism in this country, it is on everyone's agenda. And I think what's so exciting is that we are recognizing that racism is indeed institutional and structural…
"Of course, the real work happens after the dramatic demonstrations … what we're going to have to do is to take up each institution, schools for example. The demand to get cops out of schools is so important because schools, especially in Black neighborhoods and neighborhoods of other communities of color, have begun to replicate the environment of police stations and prisons. So this is the beginning, I'm hoping, of a long process of self-examination and transformation of the institutions that constitute society.
“And I want to talk about the importance of understanding the impact of global capitalism, because that is often the elephant in the room that is largely responsible for the seemingly perpetual existence of racism. Capitalism is racial capitalism, and I think we need to confront that today and move in the direction of envisioning and hopefully building a socialist society.”
An international struggle
I always insist on framing our domestic issues as global issues… [After I was captured by the FBI,] there was an enormous global movement calling for my freedom, and that is why we were able to win … In this country, as we look at the reverberations of the horrendous murder of George Floyd, we also have to think about Adama Traoré in Paris. This is a case that has been central to the struggles against racism in Paris. We have to think about Marielle Franco, who was assassinated by former law enforcement in Brazil. So, I don't see being involved in local work as at all being in opposition to addressing global issues.
On U.S. electoral politics
“I have many critiques, of course, of the Republican Party, particularly given its turn toward white nationalism and racism and misogyny. But I think the Democratic Party is also very problematic, especially in its connection with global and corporate capitalism. I don't think we can assume that any candidate from that party, much less the one who is running now, will lead us in the radical direction I think we should be moving in. However … it is absolutely essential to vote. It is through the electoral process that we will oust the existing president.
“The electoral arena is not the best space to express radical politics. We can use the electoral arena to guarantee that we continue to have the space, or that we increase the existing space, for the expression of radical politics.”
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