Nineteen sixty-three was also the year of the March on Washington, the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, which was attended by some 250,000 people. At that time it was the largest ever human assembly in Washington.

Racism is extant not necessarily because of individual actors but because it is so deeply ingrained in the system. We cannot assume that the worst is over just because white people are no longer burning crosses or screaming the n-word.Even though numbers of books, both scholarly and popular, have been written on the role of women in the 1955 Boycott, Dr King, who was actually invited to be a spokesperson for a movement when he was entirely unknown—the movement had already formed—Dr King remains the dominant figure. Davis speaks of a broad framework: pro feminism, queer rights, immigration rights, Palestinian rights, anti- racism and capitalism. In her eyes, these are all one. Justice requires our full support of each of these. It is a personal failure not to equally support all of them equally or to see them as one cause. Davis importantly draws the connection between US law enforcement agencies and the Israeli military. The Israeli military, which leads a regime that occupies a population and condones apartheid, has trained and continues to train US sheriffs, police chiefs, and FBI agents on combatting terrorism. When we challenge the Israeli military, it affects what happens in over-policed communities in the US, since US police departments are now equipped with military equipment and receive training from the Israeli military. So let me begin by evoking some of the fiftieth anniversary events. This is the fiftieth anniversary of Dr Martin Luther King’s letter from a Birmingham jail, in which he defended his decision to organize in Birmingham where he was accused of being an outside agitator in this way: ‘I am cognizant’, he wrote, Lead Support for Summer for the City Community Programming is provided by the Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF)

Angela Davis new book made me think of what Dear Nelson Mandela kept reminding us, that we must be willing to embrace that long walk to freedom. Understanding what it takes to really be free, to have no fear, is the first and most important step one has to make before undertaking this journey. Angela is the living proof that this arduous challenge can also be an exhilarating and beautiful one." —Archbishop Desmond Tutu

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As someone who has known about Angela Davis but never read anything by her before, this was a great introduction to her. It's very accessible, told either in the form of conversations with Frank Barat or through various transcripts of speeches Davis gave around 2013-2015. Because of this nature, it is at times a bit redundant. But the ways in which she brings to light connections between various freedom movements across the world is powerful. It is incumbent upon us not only to recognize these temporal continuities but also to recognize the horizontal continuities, links with a whole range of movements and struggles today. And I want very specifically to mention the ongoing sovereignty struggles in Palestine. In Palestine where not too long ago, Palestinian freedom riders set out to contest the apartheid practices of the state of Israel. The only struggle I had with this book was with some of the audio edits. It was noticeable when something was recorded later then added in. This was resolved by the last 3 chapters, which--if I can qualify-- triggered the deepest thought and reaction.