Angela Davis

Since the rise of global capitalism and related ideologies associated with neoliberalism, it has become especially important to identify the dangers of individualism. Progressive struggles—whether they are focused on racism, repression, poverty, or other issues—are doomed to fail if they do not also attempt to develop a consciousness of the insidious promotion of capitalist individualism. Even as Nelson Mandela always insisted that his accomplishments were collective, always also achieved by the men and women who were his comrades, the media attempted to sanctify him as a heroic individual.

You see, we think individualistically, and we assume that only heroic individuals can make history.

Prison abolitionists are dismissed as utopians and idealists whose ideas are at best unrealistic

the practice of mass incarceration during that period had little or no effect on official crime rates

Why do prisons tend to make people think that their own rights and liberties are more secure than they would be if prisons did not exist

this is not true in poor black and Latino communities. Neither is it true for Native Americans or for certain Asian-American communities. But even among those people who must regrettably accept prison sentences—especially young people—as an ordinary dimension of community life, it is hardly acceptable to engage in serious public discussions about prison life or radical alternatives to prison

We take prisons for granted but are often afraid to face the realities they produce

we tend to think of the prison as disconnected from our own lives

Because of the persistent power of racism, “criminals” and “evildoers” are, in the collective imagination, fantasized as people of color.

it relieves us of the responsibility of seriously engaging with the problems of our society, especially those produced by racism and, increasingly, global capitalism