Angela Davis: An Autobiography
By Dhoruba Shuaib, Derrick Alexander, Marcos, and Eric Paris Whitfield
Marcos ("Ito"), Derrick, Dhoruba and I (Paris) are at Eastern NY Correctional Facility, in Napanoch, New York. If you have not heard of the place before, it's where Ken Burns’ College Behind Bars was filmed; where the Bard College Prison Initiative (BPI) debate team beat Harvard, Morehouse, and University of Pennsylvania's debate teams. Despite the space we inhabit, each of us work in some small way to create pockets of growth holistically: interpersonally, collectively, and socially (in those communities we inhabit now, and in those communities we will be returning to).
When incarcerated people are not housed in the same area of the prison, finding time and space where we are "allowed" to speak becomes an herculean task. For Marcos ("Ito"), Derrick, Dhoruba and I, we were determined to bring our ideas together regarding the life-affirming, -challenging, and -changing reading of Angela Davis's autobiography. I am narrating this portion of the process, but I do so as I'm drawing from our collective and collaborative exploration of Davis's autobiography.
Initially my thought was for all of us to read the book, then do a brief review, individually, before we shared each other's point of view. It became apparent that our collective voices would make an even more interesting interpretation of Davis's work. It did.
If I'm being honest, the collaboration was not my idea, wholly, although if no one confesses to it I'll take the fall. To that point, our voices fell in sync, after much back and forth.
Before I share our collective book review, let me share some of the behind-the-scenes stuff:
Since Dhoruba, Derrick, and I were already familiar with Cedric Robinson, who is credited to being a founding pillar in this discipline, tradition, lifestyle (of resistance through existence), we were able to recognize two significant ways in which Angela Davis illustrates Black Radical traditions: 1. Black collectivism and 2. Anti-hegemonic state power. For us, Davis's autobiography reminds us that to be liberated, the manacles first have to be removed from our minds.
Dhoruba focused on the "tradition" for which Angela Davis writes her autobiography. It ought to be mentioned that her autobiography came at the request of Toni Morrison, who must have believed Angela Davis's fate would follow her comrades who were being murdered by those who believed their status and color were a threat towards the oppressive hegemonic system — white supremacy' racial order, Black suppression/oppression and chauvinism.
Marcos and I honed in on the era Davis's autobiography was written. What I mean here: Davis's voice cuts across sexism, race, violence/oppression and state power over and in Black and Brown people's lives. These intersectional issues served to cover up the harm done to Black and Brown folks, but also mute their protest. Yet, Davis's voice bridged over and tunneled under each issue to show how they intersected at the site of Blackness.
Derrick and Dhoruba saw how the 60s and 70s were years of Black and Brown progress, and the white backlash that followed. "Davis's voice was powerful then, but it is powerfully needed today," reflected Dhoruba and Derrick. Just to add context to their sentiments: we are reading Davis's autobiography in an era of mass shootings of Black supermarket shoppers in Buffalo, New York; the shooting of Brown children sitting in their classroom, in Uvalde, Texas; the eroding of women's rights, with the dismantlement of Roe v. Wade; and the shooting of LGBTQ+ people in their safe place--a club called "Q", in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Anti-Black/Brown, anti-women, and anti-queer sentiments are dangerously becoming normalized. Though acts of violence are not always carried out by white people, it is always rooted in white supremacy. Angela Davis illuminated this fact throughout her autobiography.
But here's how we were able to weave our collective discussions into our book review:
Point blank, Marcos wanted his full review of Angela Davis's words in any collective project we were thinking about doing. In his words, "if you are going to war, you need all your soldiers, well... my words are my soldiers. A war does not get won without all of a general's soldiers!"
I had no honest reply for his passion. In truth, because of his passion, he leads the conversation, as you the reader will see, and so I conceded: his entire work is built on that "fire" hidden up in Angela Davis's words.
Derrick, Dhoruba, and I see each other more frequently, we are all in college together. We still have vastly different schedules. However, landing a spot next to one another inside the mess-hall allows for us to chat-it-up a bit about how the reading and writing went.
A general consensus we all shared: "Wouldn't it kick a$% for Angela Davis to give a talk about her book at Eastern?" Then we thought, "She's probably banned from visiting ANY prison!" We love her for that, because she is not a revolutionary talking point, her life affirms her values.
We hope that the reader will see, in our words, how our minds have been sparked by the light Angela Davis's autobiography radiates into the consciousness of humanity, of all hues, but, especially in the minds of the incarcerated. Because her words get us a minute, hour, and day closer to our freedom — both the mental freedom as well as the liberties awaiting us on the other side of the walls.
Using an anti-racism lens, how might you describe Angela Davis's autobiography?
Marcos: "We all sat in the sun on the grass in the backyard. I sank deep into the moment, husbanding this delight, hoarding it. For I knew it would be short lived. Work. Struggle. Confrontation lay before us like a rock-strewn road. We would walk it... but first the grass, the sun... and the people."
Angela Davis's words, above, frames her autobiography. But her words are not able to be confined to the pages which they are written on.
Like smoke, slowly, creeping to a point of recognition. Racism, as Angela Davis so aptly points out, is the way of life for the oppressor. That is until that same smoke pillowed through the passing air of Black and Brown peoples' consciousness.
People who came to realize that that smoke was indeed toxic meant to choke their off life. This insubordinate fire that consumes everything in its path... if left to be... ignited a movement that is still in existence.
And although that fire had already consumed more Black and Brown lives than one can possibly adjust to, Angela Davis gives us chapter and verse for living free by a power that only unity can bring forth. The power of our struggle is rooted in our collective identities, as strivers not as mere survivors. Side-by-side, hand-by-hand, brings us one step closer to a better future, if we follow the fire shut up in Angela Davis's words.
Derrick reflects on those sentiments, adding: Dr. Davis's writing is not only enlightening, it is written as a form of art that visibly articulates the struggle of working class people and institutionalized racism in executive, legislative, and judicial bodies. Numerous times while reading Dr. Davis's autobiography, I am able to visually recollect my lived experiences with Dr. Davis's connection of echoes from a distant past linked to an unfulfilled present, which her words serve as a blueprint for our struggle-free future with a global perspective of Black liberation, everywhere.
Dhoruba: There are critical moments in our everyday lives that change us, mold us, and inspire us in ways that alter our lives forever. For the average person these moments are usually few and far in between. But, Angela Davis's life is anything but average.
In her autobiography, Angela Davis paints a vivid picture of the evolving ideologies, values, and temperaments of the oppressed people of the 1960s and 1970s. She weaves her proximity to the revolutionary movement and the important moments of her life to springboard conversations to critically evaluate the civil rights movement nationally, but also abroad.
The power of Davis's words lie in her willingness to not only praise the work of the radical organizations of the 1960s and 1970s, but even more so her ability to criticize their shortcomings and outright failures.
Paris circles back to the question, answering: By definition, an autobiography is a written account of one's own life, but not so much for Angela Davis. Her autobiography positions her life in the broader BIPOC "Village," one for which our African ancestor tells us it takes, "to raise a child."
Her autobiography examines race, gender, and sexuality, age — as mutually constructing systems of power. Each of these systems permeate all social relations for Black/Brown folks throughout the world.
Better yet, Angela Davis examines these social relations through a collective Black/Brown people's identity, as typified in their unyielding pursuit for self determination, in a nation/world that works with equal vigor to deny it, snuff it out even.
Instead of colorful stones, her words are a grotesque mosaic. She uses the trauma, violence, health disparities, housing access, educational quality, mass incarceration, murder (often state sanctioned), all the symbols for social abandonment with far reaching effects for BIPOC communities. It is a narrative that only a witness could retell.
Reflect upon Angela Davis's experiences, what is the common thread woven throughout her life? What is she asking, or telling, the reader regarding Black liberation, systemic racism, or gender?
Paris: Angela Davis threads liberation through resistance, which we can now examine how social death shapes the lives of people of color. But before we can get there, we must be told/shown what is happening to systemically separating Black/Brown people from their social potential, or the hegemonic social promise: "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." Angela Davis delivers the message.
Marcos: Angela Davis knew that anti Blackness and misogyny were world wide forms of oppression. She also understood that for Black/Brown people and women how America essentially dealt with these issues, so would follow the watching world. The push to remove the blinders of racial/sexist and hegemonic sickness, which seeks to subjugate people of color, meant removal of the social shackles from people's hands, feet, and minds.
Dhoruba: It is my belief that Angela Davis forces each of the readers of her amazing autobiography to question "just how free are we, if any of us are not free?" Her autobiography stokes the internal flames. Davis “call-to-arms" is for each and everyone of us. I do not mean a "call-to-arms" in the traditional sense.
Do you see your experience as a person of color or as an incarcerated citizen in Angela Davis's autobiography, if so, how?
Derrick: Being raised in Virginia, I can relate to Dr. Davis's simplistic southern roots, and that struggle fueled with constant racial undercurrents. And, the entire process of being harassed, arrested, and imprisoned, for being born Black.
I, like Dr. Davis, am the product of politics with a clear agenda — to keep my Black body perpetually in some form of enslavement.
Dr. Davis exposes the lengths to which the enemy is willing to go in order to hold on to a position of power and control. My suggestion to you is to guard yourself and identify your community's struggles to find parallels that can be changed with the organization of a movement. Systems of structural violence are comfortable with the power and control they have, and these systems enjoy being a part of something they feel is greater than them; however, I refuse to be constantly looked upon as inferior and Othered. As Dr. Davis illustrates, the only way to disrupt the enemy's plan requires a collective movement.
Dhoruba: As an incarcerated person myself, I deeply connect with the struggle Angela Davis described in her autobiography. The constant harassment of institutional racism; the inevitable hardship that accompany the struggle against it; and the unnecessary consequences that oppressed people receive for simply demanding recognition of their humanity. This resonates with me for many reasons: because each day I, too, am reminded by the carceral system, I, and others who look like me, do not matter.
Marcos: Follow Angela Davis's words, open your eyes, and then your mind will follow down the path she's walked. Davis's autobiography transforms race. Her amazingly and powerful words open our American spirit to the soul piercing stench of oppression.
Paris: For Angela Davis, she is both the activist and the voice of those who were murdered (killed because their voice shook at the foundation of white supremacy structures). She strives to remove the blindfolds from sheeple's eyes, those who cede their voice to hegemonic power systems, and those who defy living in the grave's social death. Her voice is purposed, as any prophet, because she is a trans-generational witness.
What is the impact of this reading? Why should someone invest their time in read Angela Davis's autobiography?
Dhoruba: Angela Davis's call-to-arms is for us to arm ourselves with this wisdom she gives us in her autobiography. Her unique perspective, insight, and critiques are for us to use, so that we may reshape the future Black revolutionary movements to come...
Derrick: True joy comes with the small victories because these victories illustrate that social justice is a justice for and of the people, not for only a select few. True joy comes with like minded people who are willing to fight — not with violence, but with whatever skill set You are able to bring to the movement that takes Us to the next level.
Being that the struggle continues, I invite You to join in the struggle, because the struggle lives on through Us. I would suggest to anyone to read Angela Davis's autobiography with a keen awareness of the struggle people of color face. It is only through a Striver's lens that we can come together and raise our fist, letting out our collective voices, so that we are heard by our oppressors, who must surely learn that we will not cease until equity/liberation is for all.
Paris: Angela Davis protested the murders of Black/Brown political figures; they were cut down by a hegemonic white power system. A system that recognizes Black/Brown intellectuals, liberators, and agitators (of the status quo) as candidates for imprisonment or assassination.
Angela Davis is both witness and voice to state sanctioned violent tactics used to separate Black and Brown people of their humanity, thereby foisting upon them a social death.
Angela Davis closes her story almost in the same fashion as she begins it: she speaks about the collective Black/Brown people's struggle for life and freedom in America/global. She centers liberation, through a conscientious Black-struggle. Her voice carries the embers from a fire long passed on to her.
If only we are brave enough to receive it, we can fundamentally change the hegemonic white power structure: a system we are able to see through her testimony, and made even clearer through Black/Brown people's lived experiences. Comrade Angela Davis... your testimony has rendered a just and timely verdict: we still have "good trouble" to make, and more work to do. I am grateful for this fire.
Marcos: It is my hope that this book is read by those who can imagine a world with true "freedom" for the people. Worldwide. I began this review with Angela Davis's words, it seems quite apropos to end with them: "We -- you and I -- are there only hope for life and freedom." I agree, we are.
Dhoruba Shuaib is a Bard College student ("BPI"), and BPI Debate Union member; he is an artist who has used his art to highlight social activism; Dhoruba is an active ally-meber of Queers for Justice ("Q4J"), under Director Alisha Kohn, and he is the Team Leader of the Q4J's art team; he hope to obtain his Master's in social work, from Columbia University; and he is an incarcerated citizen.
Derrick Alexander was born and raised in Virginia; he has an undergraduate degree with Mercy College, and he is presently a Bard College student working towards his bachelor's degree; he is an active ally-member of Queers for Justice ("Q4J"), under Director Alisha Kohn; he served in the US Army and has an Honorable Discharge; he is an artist, avid reader, and he is an outdoors-men; he in an activist seeking to expand his social/political network, with those who seek to promote liberation and environment health; and he is an incarcerated citizen.
Marcos is a Dominican American raised in the NYC; he is an active ally-member of Queers for Justice ("Q4J"), under Director Alisha Kohn; he is a peer counselor/facilitator for the Hudson Valley P.A.C.E. (People for AIDS and Counseling Education) at Eastern NY; Marcos is mentor, sports enthusiast, and writer; he has plans for attending Bard College ("BPI") fall/2023; he debates; he hopes to obtain his graduate degree from NYU, in Youth Counseling; and he is an incarcerated citizen.
Eric Paris Whitfield is a team leader at Newburg LGBTQ+ Center, supervised under the Queers for Justice Director Alisha Kohn; a Sylvia Rivera Law Project Prison Advisory Committee Member; an Inside/Outside Coalition Member (formerly of NYC's No New Jails); a resident poet for "What's the Tea"; published poet (recently by Tufts University for their New National Literary Arts Journal Resentencing Journal); an Empowerment Avenue writer; and an incarcerated citizen. Paris is also a Bard College Student working on their senior thesis.