{"id":65188,"date":"2014-12-01T09:00:09","date_gmt":"2014-12-01T14:00:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/socimages\/?p=65188"},"modified":"2014-11-27T05:34:59","modified_gmt":"2014-11-27T10:34:59","slug":"on-violent-resistance-no-idea-what-black-people-have-gone-through","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/socimages\/2014\/12\/01\/on-violent-resistance-no-idea-what-black-people-have-gone-through\/","title":{"rendered":"Angela Davis: “No Idea What Black People Have Gone Through”"},"content":{"rendered":"

From the great documentary, Black Power Mix Tape<\/em><\/a>, Angela Davis puts violence in perspective. She’s being interviewed about the tactics of the Black Panthers. The interviewer asks: “How do you get there? Do you get there by confrontation, violence?” She responds:<\/p>\n

Oh, is that the question you were asking?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

She smiles to herself.<\/p>\n

Because of the way this society’s organized, because of the\u00a0violence that exists on the surface everywhere. You have\u00a0to expect that there are going to be such explosions. You have to expect things like that as reactions. If you… if a black person lives in the black community all your life and walks out on the street everyday seeing white policemen\u00a0surrounding you…<\/p>\n

I grew up in Birmingham, Alabama. Some very good friends of mine were killed by bombs, bombs that were planted by racists. I remember from the time I was very small, I remember the\u00a0sounds of bombs exploding across the street, our house shaking. I remember my father having to have guns at his disposal at all times because of the\u00a0fact that at any moment someone… we might expect to be attacked.<\/p>\n

The… man who was at that time in complete control of the city government… would often get on the radio and make statements like: “Niggers have moved into a white neighborhood. We better expect some bloodshed tonight.” And, sure\u00a0enough, there would be bloodshed.<\/p>\n

…<\/p>\n

In fact, when the bombing occurred one of the\u00a0mothers of one of the\u00a0young girls called my mother and said, “Can you take me down to the church to pick up Carol. We heard about the bombing and I don’t have my car.” And they went down and what did they find? They found limbs and heads strewn all over the place.<\/p>\n

And then after that, in my neighborhood all of the men organized themselves into an armed patrol. They\u00a0had to take their guns and patrol our community every night because they did not want that to happen again.<\/p>\n

I mean, that’s why when someone asks me about violence, I just…. I just find it incredible. Because what it means is that the person asking\u00a0that question has no idea what black people\u00a0have gone through… what black people have experienced in this country since the\u00a0time the first black person was kidnapped from the\u00a0shores of Africa.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

She’s no longer smiling.<\/p>\n

The interchange begins at 1min 40sec:<\/p>\n