Freedom Is a Constant Struggle

While acknowledging the various types of feminism that exist, Davis follows a definition of feminism that is exemplified by Black feminism. Davis defines Black feminism early in Essay 1 as “a theoretical and practical effort demonstrating that race, gender, and class are inseparable in the social worlds we inhabit” (3). This crux of Black feminism is an intersectional lens that allows an understanding of how seemingly separate ideas and processes interrelate. Davis further explains that Black feminist intersectionality includes finding the connections between struggles, not just identities.

Davis makes a purposeful decision to refer to the “Black freedom movement,” or sometimes the “Black liberation movement,” rather than the “civil rights movement.” The term “civil rights,” she argues, creates a sense of closure, suggesting that the work of that movement is filed away into the past as completed. She draws particular attention to the word “freedom,” which is not equivalent to the term “civil rights,” although the two terms are often used interchangeably.

An ongoing movement led by Palestinians who call for international support to apply pressure on Israel through boycotting, divestment from, and economic sanctions against Israel as part of the larger Palestinian freedom movement. Davis calls for support of the BDS movement and the Palestinian people and also compares it to the similar tactics used in the antiapartheid movement in South Africa to draw connections between struggles.

An economic system based on private ownership for profit. Davis defines capitalism within context of this book as a profit-driven system that results in prioritizing of profits over people’s needs, as seen in the prison-industrial complex, for example. She believes capitalism is the source of individualist attitudes and thinking that are dangerous to freedom. Her vision of abolition would reject capitalist views and concepts, including individualism.

The mass movement through the 1950s and 1960s that fought for equality, justice, and voting rights and particularly challenged racial segregation and discrimination against Black Americans. Davis prefers to refer to this movement as the Black freedom movement or sometimes the Black liberation movement to convey the more expansive fight for freedom that was seen in the 20th century. Davis sees “civil rights” as a narrower or limited label for the movement.

Freedom is a concept that Davis contrasts with the term “civil rights,” which is narrower, focusing particularly on legal protection of particular rights. Freedom, on the other hand, is “more expansive than civil rights” (119). Freedom includes not only “formal rights to fully participate in a society” (119), but also economic and substantive freedoms, such as free education or health care, affordable housing, and full employment.

While Davis provides the official United Nations definition of the term genocide on page 132, she notes that genocide, like the term terrorism, has selectively applied to only certain groups of people. She references the 1951 petition sent to the UN from Black leaders charging genocide against Black people in the United States, a charge that never became official. She places genocide within her discussion of historical violence in the United States and emphasizes the importance of learning how to talk about concepts like genocide, especially to acknowledge the genocide against Native Americans and the ongoing effects of genocide and colonization in the Native American community.

Individualism is a “central ideological component of neoliberalism” and capitalism (52), focusing on individual actions, victims, or perpetrators rather than collective actions, or structures and systems as a whole. Davis addresses rejecting individualism as a recurring theme throughout the book and discusses the dangers of viewing problems or trying to find solutions through an individualist lens.

Intersectionality refers to a recognition of the interconnections of aspects of identity such as race, class, gender, and sexuality. However, as Davis emphasizes, intersectionality has evolved to expand beyond just identities, encompassing looking at connections between struggles across space and time. As a result, Davis sees intersectionality as the key to understanding how we can bring struggles across the world together and, as a result, create global solidarity.

The relationship and shared interests between multiple institutions, such as private corporations and the government, with respect to prisons defines the prison-industrial complex. It refers to a relationship that is centered on profits and is increasingly profitable on a global level. Davis refers to the prison-industrial complex as embodying “the destructive tendencies of global capitalism” and as a focus of abolitionist goals (7).

A period of history that Davis refers to as a “hidden era,” attributing its infrequent reference in historical record to the fact that it was a successful era for progressive laws pushing for “democracy for all” (71). This period saw many Black elected officials, the development of public education, and economic development. It ended when racial segregation and groups like the Ku Klux Klan rose in response to the newly freed Black people and the success of Radical Reconstruction.

Davis discusses solidarity more specifically in the context of advocating for global or transnational solidarity between struggles across the world. She describes it as a “symbiotic relationship between struggles abroad and struggles at home, relationships of inspiration and mutuality” (114). Solidarity between struggles creates the collective power to produce real change, such as when there is global support for someone’s freedom.

This is a term that is a flip side of the recurring theme of rejecting individualism in this book. Systemic change means looking beyond individual actions to systems, structures, or institutions underlying a particular issue to find a solution. For example, for addressing police violence, it can mean “reconceptualizing the role that the police play,” “addressing racism in the larger sense,” or “looking at the ways in which police are encouraged to use violence as a first resort and the connection between this […] and other modes of violence” (32).

The Ten-Point Program was the primary agenda of the Black Panther Party (founded in 1966). The program included calls for freedom, full employment, anticapitalism, housing, education, health care, an end to police brutality, an end to all wars, and freedom for incarcerated peoples. Many of these demands were similar to those made by abolitionists in the 19th century. Davis cites the Ten-Point Program to show its expansive agenda for freedom in comparison to civil rights alone and to portray its agenda as one that remains relevant today.