We live in a society of an imposed forgetfulness, a society that depends on public amnesia.
Angela DavisRead
I'm no longer accepting the things I cannot change...I'm changing the things I cannot accept.
Interpretation
The quote emphasizes the importance of taking action to change what is unacceptable in one's life instead of passively accepting it.
Angela Davis asserts that instead of remaining passive in the face of challenging circumstances that one cannot change, it is crucial to take a proactive stance and initiate changes where possible. This perspective encourages individuals to focus on empowerment and activism, highlighting the need to confront societal issues head-on rather than resigning to them.
In practice
This quote can be used in a motivational speech to inspire activists to take action.
We live in a society of an imposed forgetfulness, a society that depends on public amnesia.
Well, we see an increasingly weaker labor movement as a result of the overall assault on the labor movement and as a result of the globalization of capital.
Racism is a much more clandestine, much more hidden kind of phenomenon, but at the same time it's perhaps far more terrible than it's ever been.
Imprisonment has become the response of first resort to far too many of our social problems.
It's true that it's within the realm of cultural politics that young people tend to work through political issues, which I think is good, although it's not going to solve the problems
Radical simply means 'grasping things at the root.'
There's a long history and a pattern of Black athletes - and Black people, period - being told to shut up and accept whatever it is they're given.
There is a determined though unseen bravery that defends itself foot by foot in the darkness against the fatal invasions of necessity and dishonesty. Noble and mysterious triumphs that no eye sees, and no fame rewards, and no flourish of triumph salutes. Life, misfortunes, isolation, abandonment, poverty, are battlefields that have their heroes; obscure heroes, sometimes greater than the illustrious heroes.
Courage is indispensible because in politics not life but the world is at stake.
Courage consists not in blindly overlooking danger, but in seeing it, and conquering it.
I think the self-burning itself on practice of non-violence. These people, you see, they easily use bomb explosive, more casualty people. But they didn't do that. Only sacrifice their own life. So this also is part of practice of non-violence.
Even if I don't finish, we need others to continue. It's got to keep going.
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