Angela Davis talks prison abolition on Democracy Now

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=af1gQpkpk6Q

Angela Davis is for sure one of my activist icons. Her longevity in the movement, her commitment to radical politics and her wisdom have been incredible to witness. The intro into Amy Goodman’s (swoon) interview lays out some of the highlights of her activist career (watch it here).

In this segment on Democracy Now, Davis addresses what many have come to call the crisis of mass incarceration in the United States. We now incarcerate more people than any country in the world–and the rates are only continuing to rise. Her push for prison abolition is informed by her own time inside. This month marks the 40th anniversary of her incarceration. She was acquitted of all charges in 1972 and now is back in academia and political life.

It’s not easy to carry the banner of prison abolition–an extremely radical idea without wide public support. But it’s a crucial piece of the social justice movement, when so much poverty, racism and injustice can be rooted back to our practices of mass incarceration.

Thank you to Davis and others for keeping up this crucial work. She founded the organization Critical Resistance, which works to prevent the expansion of the prison industrial complex.

The clip above is just an excerpt, you can see the whole segment here.

Transcript here.