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Eric Adams at church (photo: Erica Sherman/Brooklyn BP's Office)

God told me, Eric, youre going to be Mayor. I am here because of my spirituality, Eric Adams said last month as he announced the creation of the Office of Faith-Based and Community Partnership. Though the office will connect with all faiths, it is being led by Gilford Monrose, pastor of the predominantly Black church, Mt. Zion Church of God 7th Day in Brooklyn, where Adams has lived for decades and was borough president before becoming the citys 110th mayor.

Throughout his winning campaign and into his administration, Adams roots in the Black churches of New York City are evident. In fact, it was support from these congregations and others across the five boroughs that helped pave the path for the Democrat and former two-term Brooklyn Borough President to elevate to Gracie Mansion.

Mayor Adams is only the second Black mayor in the citys history, and the first since David Dinkins, who served from 1990 through 1993. According to recent Census data, more than 24% of New York City residents are Black, and 79% of Black Americans identify as Christian, according to the Pew Research Center. For New York political candidates, Black churchgoers are a key constituency and dependable voting bloc, especially in what are usually low turnout local elections.

While Adams road to the heights of political success was not always a smooth one, Black churches can take some credit for his ascension through the ranks of the NYPD, into state and city government, and win in the tough 2021 mayoral election. Adams did particularly well in the competitive 2021 primary -- where he beat Kathryn Garcia by just 7,197 votes after the final round of ranked-choice voting -- in communities of color, especially predominantly Black areas of the city such as his Central Brooklyn and Southeast Queens bases, the two areas where hes lived virtually all his life, as well as the North Shore on Staten Island and Harlem in Manhattan.

Now, despite the many obstacles of a unique election cycle amid a devastating pandemic, the Black church including Baptist, Methodist, Catholic, and Pentecostal congregations, its leaders and worshippers could have more meaningful influence in the New York City mayors office than perhaps ever before.

In a January visit to The Greater Allen Cathedral of New York in Queens, Adams said, I cannot thank you enough, Allen, for all you have done. Never turned your back on me. Allowed me to become the Mayor of the City of New York.

Adams has been speaking at Black churches and spiritual gathering places for decades, including regular appearances in front of Rev. Al Sharptons National Action Network, perhaps the place in New York City best known for the intersection of politics and faith. Adams stopped by once again for its Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day celebration. Many years up here [speaking], and you did not fight this hard for me to get here and not see things change, said Adams.

But there is one church, and one reverend in particular, that is arguably most integral to Adams life: Reverend Herbert Daughtry and The House of the Lord Pentecostal Church on Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn.

Adams Connection with The Black ChurchNinety-one-year-old Reverend Herbert Daughtry was the National Presiding Minister of The House of the Lord Churches from 1959 to 2019. His father, Alonzo, founded the church. As Reverend Daughtry tells it, his father started out Methodist but broke away and began his own church in Georgia in 1930. The elder Daughtry moved north in 1940, settling in Brooklyn. Some of the church members followed him.

The younger Reverend Daughtry came a year later but the transition wasnt easy. His parents split and his mother moved to Jersey City. My background, Im straight out of the streets, Daughtry said in a recent phone interview. Brooklyn and Jersey City. My credentials also include some involuntary vacation time.

Daughtry said that his first incarceration came as a teenager of about 15-years-old. He remembers walking by a store near Ralph and St. Marks Avenues in Brooklyn with friends, but they didnt touch a thing. The police were across the street watching. Several blocks from the store we were pounced on like we were Al Capone. Taken to the precinct and beaten for nothing. I spent about three weeks in old Raymond Street jail. (The jail was closed in 1963.)

Daughtry would spend time in prison again for armed robbery as well as money laundering. But in 1957, towards the end of his final incarceration at the Lewisburg Penitentiary in Pennsylvania, he remembers, God spoke to me and said write. I wrote 11 pages of what I was called to do. That calling led him to become a revered church leader for the next six decades, work that included becoming a mentor to a future mayor of New York City.

Daughtrys preaching was mixed with activism, a push to save the planet and its people. He was particularly vocal about combating police brutality, due to his personal experience and watching a series of tragedies where police shot and killed several Black children throughout the 1970s. He prioritized working with and inspiring young people through the decades, a list that includes current New York State Attorney General Letitia James, City Council Member Charles Barron, and Mayor Eric Adams.

To some degree, Adams personal history mimics that of Daughtrys. The new, Democratic mayor was also arrested at age 15 and beaten by the cops, in this case at the 103rd precinct in Queens. The police brutality he endured, along with having grown up witnessing other police violence, also influenced Adams future, and how Adams and Daughtrys lives intersected.

Daughtry believes you have to have relationships in the systems you want to change.

According to Adams, who recently recounted the story on Hillary Clintons podcast, Daughtry, met with me and 12 other young menand he came to us and said listen, were fighting from outside. We want you guys to go inside and be advocates for justice and safety.

Daughtry was asking them to become police officers. We needed models of good, solid, respectful, competent policemen who would protect the community, said Daughtry. Many in the Black community resented law enforcement and opposed this plan. According to Daughtry, even Adams initial response was, Youve got to be crazy.

Yet, Adams would follow that guidance and graduate from the police academy in 1984 and eventually rise to become a captain. In 1995, he also helped found the group 100 Blacks in Law Enforcement Who Care. Daughtry says that that in itself was a way for Adams to both criticize the police department from the inside while trying to usher in change.

Once Adams was an officer, Daughtry says, It wasnt wise for us to be arm in arm. However, Adams continued to join Daughtry in his activism, demonstrating against police brutality, teaching anti-bias workshops, and working to counter violence in communities. Though Adams wasnt a regular at the church, Daughtry said he was still there often enough, never missing a special event, and providing extra security when needed.

This decades-long mentorship proved invaluable to Adams in his race for mayor. While public safety and Adams decades in the NYPD were key to his electoral success, his law enforcement background complicated things for some voters. According to Daughtry, the Black church community and strong police supporters made up a lot of Adams base.

Where he [Adams] had difficulty was that people remembered he was a police officer. With police baggage, he needed to have someone to say he was a good cop, said the Reverend. Its hard to support a former police officer when your innocent loved one has been killed by the police. But after spending decades fighting police brutality against Black New Yorkers, if they didnt recall Adams activism while in the department, they couldnt question Daughtrys bona fides. He had the credibility to say, Adams is solidly in the community. He fought the battles we fought.

During the 2021 campaign, Adams frequently spoke about Daughtrys influence on him, including encouraging him to join the NYPD.

As mayor, Adams has quickly been faced with the challenges he knew he was stepping into: improving policing, keeping the city safe, and ensuring, as he says it, that safety and justice go hand-in-hand. In his first months as mayor, Adams has had to deal with continued increases in gun violence, including the murder of two police officers in Harlem, outlining and implementing his policing policies, along with his chosen NYPD commissioner, Keechant Sewell. They must ensure that Adams promise of robust policing without overreach is enacted while garnering community support and improving NYPD morale. That community includes leaders and members of the Black church.

Adams acknowledged the importance of the Black church in a brief December interview with Gotham Gazette, saying, I would not be who I am if it wasnt for the Black church, as a police officer and now as the future mayor of the city.

When asked if the church will have a larger seat at the table because of this connection, he said, Without a doubt. I think thats the missing piece. Because they are the weathermen and women. They see inclement weather long before we do. The Black church knew we had a gang problem because they were dealing with the family members. They knew we were having a problem around drug use, opioid abuse. They were watching it. If we have a better connection with the Black church and theyre sitting down and feeding the information we need, we will be more preventive and not reactionary. We have ignored their warning signs and Im not going to do that.

This is exactly what many Black church leaders are hoping for. They are cautiously optimistic that the issues they have been advocating for more action on including affordable housing, more jobs and reducing income inequality, improving educational outcomes, better public safety and health care will be addressed more meaningfully by an Adams administration.

Eric Adams has positioned himself as someone I can support, but at the same time I also have to hold him accountable. Its up to him to demonstrate that he can walk the walk, said Rev. Julian Walls Jr. of Greater Hood Memorial A.M.E. Zion Church in Harlem.

Rev. Charles Curtis of Mt. Olivet Baptist Church in Harlem said he has told fellow supporters of Adams, Dont expect New York City to turn overnight. Be patient with him.

An Unprecedented YearIn last years unusual election cycle, not only were there disruptions caused by the pandemic, for the first time there were multiple top Black candidates, and there was worry that voters would be turned off by ranked-choice voting, which was introduced into the mayoral primary for the first time.

There was also concern among some clergy that the long-term political power of the institution of the church could also be impacted with the rise of movements like Black Lives Matter and the growing political divide between younger Black voters and older, more religious Black voters. Church leaders spent a lot of time this past election cycle trying to navigate these issues to remain a relevant resource to both candidates and parishioners.

In a typical election year, candidates for New York City mayor spend many Sunday mornings visiting and speaking in-person at the citys myriad predominantly Black churches, especially in Brooklyn, Queens, and Manhattan. They know thats where many voters are.

But not last year. With the coronavirus pandemic upending traditional religious services, many of which were held online throughout much of 2020 and 2021, opportunities to speak directly to large numbers of African-American voters declined, and they too, didnt get the same exposure to candidates.

If it were not for covid, we would probably welcome the politicians to the church, acknowledge their presence, and thank them for worshiping with us, said the Rev. Elaine Flake, a co-pastor at The Greater Allen AME Cathedral, where her husband, Rev. Floyd Flake, is senior pastor and a former congressman who served in the House of Representatives from 1987 to 1997. Their church is among the top destinations for politicians.

One place where the changing nature of the relationship between the church and candidates could be found was a meeting room in the sprawling basement of Mt. Olivet Baptist Church at 120th Street and Malcolm X Boulevard in Harlem.

There, the mostly Black pastors from the New York Interfaith Commission for Housing Equality, met individually last spring with Democratic mayoral candidates Eric Adams, Maya Wiley, Scott Stringer, and Ray McGuire (all but Stringer are Black).

The Interfaith Commission is led by the Rev. Curtis, a kind, gregarious man who has led Mt. Olivet for over 40 years. He and the other pastors are aware that as leaders they have a voice in New York politics but are dismayed by the inaction of many politicians. Prior to one meeting of the Commission, Curtis explained the need for the church beyond being a place of worship saying, When politicians dont do their job, the church steps in.

Their hope was that the next mayor would in fact do the job well and be a partner to help address issues of social justice and inequality, including affordable housing, one of the major concerns that almost every clergy member interviewed for this article cited as pressing.

Virginia Montague is like a political church whisperer. A former political staffer and avid church-goer who is currently a member at Reverend Walls Jr.s Greater Hood Memorial A.M.E Zion church in Harlem, Montague understands both worlds well. She typically advises candidates on how to make a good impression on the congregation. That includes understanding church protocols and making a donation, she said, adding that both show that a candidate wants a relationship with the church and its congregants.

In previous election cycles, Montague had set candidates up with church appearances at various churches around the city. She said that the reason parishioners are inclined to listen to their pastors personal political recommendations comes down to trust. If Im relying on him for my religious experience, I trust him with that, I may very well ask him about politics too, she said of how many parishioners think.

With many in-person introductions off the table, during the primary there was an increased reliance on Zoom, which was deemed not as effective at reaching congregants by many of the pastors interviewed. Some churches were so focused on just getting people to show up to virtual services that politics took a back seat. Therefore, a pastors personal stance on the election may have been one of the only ways that some voters learned more about the candidates, aside from commercials or mailings.

African-American seniors are very tactile, said Montague. Most of them are not online. They get campaign literature. The pastors are going to present [candidates] very carefully.

In this election cycle, Black church leaders faced a complex calculation when deciding who to support. Although churches, as non-political tax-exempt organizations, cannot officially make endorsements, oftentimes pastors are asked for their personal opinions about candidates. While Curtis, Daughtry, and many other Black church leaders came out in support of Adams, other candidates also either had ties to or good reputations in various Black communities.

For example, Maya Wileys father was a lauded civil rights activist and she followed in his footsteps with her own career. Businessman Ray McGuire had given back to the community through philanthropy. Shaun Donovan, who is white, was praised for his work on affordable housing when he was commissioner of the citys Department of Housing Preservation and Development under former Mayor Bloomberg and then as Secretary of Housing and Urban Development in the Obama administration. Scott Stringer, the recent city Comptroller and previous Manhattan Borough President, who is white and Jewish, had cultivated strong relationships with Black leaders over his years in public service.

Several Major African-American Candidates in the PrimaryThough the Black vote in New York City is by no means a monolith, Walls Jr. acknowledged that African-Americans will often vote for Black candidates. Its not that were against white people, but we want to make sure that theres representation, particularly when youre a minority group, he said. You have to vote as a bloc, or you wont have any influence.

This year presented a possible wrinkle in that strategy. In the final months leading up to the June primary, three of the eight leading candidates were African-American Adams, Wiley, and McGuire -- and another, Dianne Morales, identifies as Afro-Latina. Walls Jr. wasnt sure how people were going to choose.

When you have this dynamic of three, he said in reference to Adams, McGuire, and Wiley, it makes it a little more difficult. What happens when you split the vote?

Prior to the primary, that concern was shared by Assemblymember Inez Dickens, whose district includes Harlem and who endorsed Adams. The Blacks in this country cannot afford for us to run against one another, she said. Weve got to learn to stick together and fully vote. We need to have one candidate.

Dickens and others worried that, even with ranked-choice voting lessening the impact of a split vote, the voice and interests of the larger Black community could be diluted. She also added that if no Black candidate won, then whoever became mayor would have done so without the full support of the Black community, and therefore could be less motivated to address their concerns.

With Adams victory, her fears did not come to pass. However, Dickens shined a light on the calculations that some Black leaders and voters, and those of most demographic groups, feel they need to make to ensure their voices are heard and their issues are addressed through their votes and government representation.

Impact of a New Generation of VotersIf the church is behind something, it will succeed, said Curtis, when asked if the churchs influence is waning.

But theres a new generation of voters, and movements that have risen and are changing the way people participate in politics. I still think people go to church, but it does usually skew a little older, said New York City Public Advocate Jumaane Williams in an interview. Elected officials are going to have to do a good job of engaging people where they are. Whether its online or the Black church.

Hawk Newsome is an outspoken activist and a church-goer who attends Convent Avenue Baptist Church in Harlem. In December, he and then-Mayor-elect Adams exchanged charged language with regard to Adams plans for policing in the city and Newsomes warning of potential rioting if Adams brought back the NYPDs anti-gun unit. (In mid-March, Adams introduced Neighborhood Safety Teams, a revamped version of those anti-gun units. Newsome, a co-founder of a local chapter of Black Lives Matter, is not officially connected to the national organization nor an official spokesperson for the Black Lives Matter movement.)

Newsome says that to some activists, the church is too concerned with respectability politics or courting political influence by being, in some cases, too deferential to or patient with politicians. While Newsome doesnt believe that Black Lives Matter is taking the place of the church, he does think the church hasnt stayed with the times. The church has failed to be active in this movement, in this fight for social justice in a way young people approve of, he said, though he did not outline what he thought church leaders should be doing.

Newsome believes the Black church plays a role in every election and acknowledged the groundswell of support Eric Adams received from Black clergy as part of the reason he won. Newsome had endorsed Wiley, who ran on a progressive platform, in the primary.

The church will remain a force into the future, according to Newsome, because Black Lives Matter could never give the feeling that the church gives. We give people a sense of fight, urgency. The church gives people hope.

Associate Pastor at Mt. Olivet, Rev. Dr. Wendy Kelly-Carter, knows that young people are spiritual and recognizes that for the church to have influence with parishioners long-term, it will have to acknowledge the beliefs of and include young people in leadership roles. She said of the younger generation, they have a lot to offer. And they have different ways of doing things. Certainly, they are more educated. Theyre upwardly mobile, not as traditional, a little bit more liberal on issues, like LGBTQ issues and abortion, that normally the Black church is not in agreement with.

Kelly-Carter believes that for the church to appeal to and influence younger people, itll have to adjust and change its outreach. Regarding Black Lives Matter, she said, Watching them you can see how young people think. They want things now, theyre not waiting. Whereas we took years to get things done. And instead of just passing out tracts (tri-fold papers with messages of God) on the street, Kelly-Carter said the church will have to meet the younger generation where they are: on social media.

Christopher Barrett, a 38-year old member of Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem, explained the dynamic at play when it comes to reaching different generations. The older folks get a lot of their news from the church, from the pastor, he said. The younger generation gets a lot of their news from social media, from their friends, through other platforms, and being activists.

Jerry Skurnik, a longtime political consultant, said that the primary election in particular revealed a gap between younger and older Black voters. He noted that Wiley did a lot better with younger Black voters based on the polls before the primary. While Adams did better with older Black voters, and there are more of them. Based on the final results, he said, it is clear that the larger voting bloc of older Black voters helped drive Adams win.

One of the challenges Black churches, and in fact most churches, face is how to maintain or grow their congregations when so many of the participants are older. They need to appeal to younger Black people to join the church, said Skurnik, echoing Kelly-Carter. If they want politicians to pay attention to them, they need to maintain or grow the parishioners they have. They need to replace the people who will age out.

Demanding Democrats Deliver More In a city where Democrats outnumber Republicans seven to one, its not surprising that Adams won the general election against Republican nominee Curtis Sliwa and others on the ballot. But it begs the question of whether a Republican can win a citywide election anymore.

Ted Ghorra, Chair of the Brooklyn Republican Party, is quick to point out that, These things dont trend overnight. But if you look at a number of communities, whether its the Asian community, the African-American community, the Latino community, the Jewish communityif you look at many parts of the city, we are doing much better in being competitive and winning where just a few years ago, many races were seen as a unwinnable. Because many of those communities relate to the messaging of truly endorsing small businesses and lower costs of living. With the right messaging and a continued effort, well continue to work hard, grow and do better.

Several pastors acknowledged that the Democratic Party has not always delivered for Black voters as much as it should. Pastor Dedrick Blue of the North Bronx Seventh Day Adventist Church, and a member of the New York Interfaith Commission for Housing Equality, said Democrats have done better than Republicans, but not enough.

Blue wants Black voters support to be earned. He also understands the importance of those voters showing up to the polls. We did know in the general election [Adams] would probably win, Blue said. But the pastors that I know were saying to their congregations, Lets not take the election for granted. Because if he is going to be elected, its better that he go in with a mandate, and a clear and decisive victory. Moving forward, even in New York, the Black pastors are getting fired up more and more about registration and turnout.

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'They are the Weather Men and Women': Eric Adams and the Black Church - Gotham Gazette

In the letter E of the street mural in front of Palo Alto City Hall, Oakland artist Cece Carpio painted the likeness of Assata Shakur, a convicted cop killer from New Jersey who escaped from prison and is believed to be in Cuba. Post photo.

This story was originally printed by the Daily Post on Thursday. To get all of the local news first, pick up the Post in the mornings at 1,000 Mid-Peninsula locations.

BY EMILY MIBACHDaily Post Staff Writer

A Santa Clara County judge issued a tentative ruling yesterday (March 2) in favor of the city of Palo Alto in a lawsuit filed by six of its police officers, who claim that a Black Lives Matter mural in front of City Hall was racist and offensive.

Judge Socrates Manoukian posted a ruling yesterday siding with the citys request to throw out the lawsuit. The ruling isnt final. The judge will hear from both sides one more time and could reverse himself.

Six officers sued the city saying they were harassed and discriminated against by the city, which commissioned a Black Lives Matter mural that depicted Assata Shakur. Shakur is a civil rights activist turned fugitive after she was convicted of killing a New Jersey state trooper in 1973.

The mural was painted on Hamilton Avenue just a month after demonstrations swept the country in response to the death of George Floyd in 2020. The lawsuit complained that a portion of the mural included part of the logo for the New Black Panthers, which has been identified by the Southern Poverty Law Center as a hate group.

Matthew McNicholas, a lawyer for the six officers, wrote in a Feb. 17 filing that the city sponsored hate speech, and it seriously affected the officers psychological wellbeing.

Was it a hostile work environment?

McNicholas argued that the mural created a hostile work environment.

But Judge Manoukian said that in order to come down on the side of the officers, they must show that the city took some sort of action against the officers, like demoting them. Simply annoying them doesnt count.

Manoukian then cited McRae v. Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, a 2006 state case, in which the court said workplaces are rarely idyllic retreats, and the mere fact that an employee is displeased by an employers act or omission does not elevate that.

The mural, Manoukian, doesnt reach the threshold of creating a hostile workplace.

The officers also argued that the mural was an attack on their race, ethnicity or national origin.

Plaintiffs are racially diverse

The officers initially claim in their lawsuit that they are protected based on race, ethnicity, and/or national origin. But, Judge Manoukian points out that officers Michael Foley, Chris Moore and Julie Tannock are Caucasian. Eric Figueroa is Filipino and Caucasian. David Ferreira is Caucasian and Pacific Islander/ Asian and Robert Parham is Hispanic.

Since the officers are not all one race or ethnicity, Manoukian agreed with the citys argument that the only thing common to all the plaintiffs if that they are all police officers, but being a police officer is not a protected class.

Manoukian said that if the officers had pointed out in their lawsuit that the New Black Panthers are a hate group targeting all non-African Americans, then he may have been included to agree that at least a portion of the mural was offensive.

However, the officers made that claim in their objection to the citys request to throw out the lawsuit, not their lawsuit.

There is nothing to suggest that the mural and its iconography was created in favor of one (protected) group over another, Manoukian wrote.

The judge goes on to state that the citys refusal to remove the mural was not based on plaintiffs race, ethnicity or some other protected classification.

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Judge tentatively rules against police in lawsuit over Black Lives... - The Daily Post

The last time Angela Davis was in Birmingham, Alabama, she caught up with childhood friends and her Sunday school teacher. While many of us would reminisce about favourite classes and first kisses, they discussed bombs.

We talked about what it was like to grow up in a city where there were bombings all the time, she says. Most notoriously, in September 1963, the Ku Klux Klan bombed the 16th Street Baptist church, killing four girls. It wasnt a one-off, says the legendary radical feminist, communist and former Black Panther. Peoples homes were bombed, synagogues were bombed, other churches were bombed. People think of that as a single event, but it was more indicative of the pervasive terror at that time in Birmingham.

When the girls were killed, Davis was 19, a brilliant young scholar travelling through Europe. She read about the attack in newspapers. It was one of the most devastating experiences of my life. My sister was very close with one of the girls, Carole Robertson. I just recently spent time with Caroles sister, Diane, who was one of my close friends growing up. When Davis managed to phone her family from France, her mother told her she had driven Caroles mother to the church after the bombing. And, of course, she received the terrible, terrible news ... She trails off.

The back yard of one of the other girls almost abutted ours. We were neighbours and friends. And my mother taught yet another of the girls. So we had connections with three of the four girls who were killed on that day. By 1965, the FBI had the names of the bombers, but there were no prosecutions until 1977.

Is this what turned her into a revolutionary? I experienced it as a deeply personal assault, and it was a little while before I could stand back and think about the larger impact of it; the way it represented an effort to wipe out the resistance of youth. I think it was probably one of the moments that helped me find that path.

Does she think Birmingham shaped her politics? Absolutely. I do. I do, she says in her low-pitched, mellifluous voice. So if she had grown up in New York she would have become a different Angela Davis? She grins. Well, I went to high school in New York and it was at high school that I first read The Communist Manifesto! So we would have had the same Angela Davis either way? Exactly. Exactly.

Back in the 1970s, Angela Yvonne Davis had one thing on her mind: revolution. She was public enemy number one to some, a beacon of hope to others. When she went on the run from the law charged with the murder of a judge and five counts of kidnapping, newspapers splashed her face across their front pages, naming her one of the FBIs 10 most-wanted criminals. A few months later, her face was on the T-shirts of young radicals across the world, fighting for her release.

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Daviss became the public face of resistance, pinned to myriad badges, placards and posters. Her great natural afro became the hairstyle of revolution. In the past she has said it is humbling and humiliating ... to be remembered as a hairdo. Anybody who was anybody in the world of culture supported her. When Nina Simone visited Davis in prison, she was overwhelmed by all the books in her cell and decided she needed to learn more about social justice. Aretha Franklin offered to pay her bail. James Baldwin wrote her a letter saying, We must fight for your life as though it were our own which it is and render impassable with our bodies the corridor to the gas chamber. For, if they take you in the morning, they will be coming for us that night. This provided the title for If They Come in the Morning , an anthology of prison writings edited by Davis and published in 1971 when she was in jail.

At 78 and today talking to me on a video call from sunny Oakland, California, Davis has become an elder stateswoman of the civil rights fight, but her radical spirit shines as bright as ever. Her hair is now a grey corkscrew bob in its own ways every bit as distinguished as the iconic afro of yesteryear. She has just reissued her classic memoir, with a new foreword. Angela Y Davis: An Autobiography was first published in 1974, edited by the great Toni Morrison, two years after Davis was acquitted of murder, kidnap and criminal conspiracy. When Morrison first talked to her about writing a book, she wasnt interested she thought that at 26 she was too young to say anything significant, and didnt want to write something that focused on personal trajectory. In the new foreword, she says Morrison convinced her to do it by insisting on the importance of a political biography in which she not only told the story of her life but also the history of the movement she had become involved with.

She says revisiting her younger self for the new edition has both shocked and comforted her. When I reread the autobiography, I was disturbed by my language and by what I did not know then, but I was also impressed by the continuity the fact that we are still addressing issues that we were trying to address at that time. The dissonance I experienced, particularly in terms of the language, helped me to measure our progress, and how far wed come.

Davis speaks in beautifully measured sentences, but sometimes you have to dig for the details. I ask if she is talking about her attitude to gay culture in prison, which seems surprisingly judgmental not least because she has been in a relationship with a woman for the past 20 years. Exactly! she says, laughing. I cringed.

In the memoir, she describes how women would replicate traditional family structures, marrying other women and referring to them as husbands. Davis didnt get it. Why ape the patriarchy? In jail she couldnt bring herself to refer to a woman as a husband or father. Now she says she was narrow-minded. At the time, we werent even using the word gay. We used homosexual. And reading that made me cringe, too, because now we have developed a really capacious vocabulary to talk about both intimate and political experiences. Shes being tough on herself. The remarkable thing about her autobiography is how relevant it still feels.

In the 1960s and 70s, Davis says, everything was rigidly defined not simply in terms of sexuality, but also revolutionary activity. I didnt regard those [prison marriage] practices as resistance practices. I had an intransigent notion as to what counts as resistance. Everything was about belonging to a party and toeing that party line. Now I see we are where we are today precisely because of large acts of resistance and small acts of resistance I believe we need organised resistance and the forms of resistance that become practices in our daily lives.

While many people become more insular as they get older, she has become ever more outward-looking. Perhaps its this that distinguishes the older Davis from the twentysomething Black Panther who found herself in prison facing a possible death sentence 50 years ago. Today, she has an extraordinary capacity to absorb and juggle ideas, many seemingly at odds with each other.

Davis is talking to me from a room lined with books in the home she shares with her civil partner, Gina Dent, a fellow professor at the University of California, Santa Cruz. The two women have a lot in common. They have just written Abolition. Feminism. Now. together with two other authors (Erica R Meiners and Beth E Richie). At the heart of the book is the demand to defund the police, demilitarise the army and halt prison construction. The authors argue that all three perpetuate violence, inequality and structural racism. Daviss politics are expressed not merely in what she writes, but how she writes. Although there are four authors, the book is written in one voice. Its form reflects her belief in collective action.

When she wrote her memoir, the concept of intersectionality was not widely known, though many women of colour had been struggling with the ways they were discriminated against because of both their sex and their race, and how they impacted on each other. Although Davis was already a famous radical feminist, she says she often felt isolated, and questioned her place within the movement.

There was a backwardness in the early days of certain elements of feminism that refused to recognise the degree to which gender is historically and socially constructed. This is why I refused to consider myself a feminist for a while the insistence that all of your loyalty has to be to women, and that tended to mean white women. I can remember being asked, Are you Black or are you a woman?

What?

She laughs. Yes. I was asked that. Even when we had no precedents for intersectional notions I made it very clear, and Im not the only one, that for many Black women the issues were intertwined. We could not separate one from the other.

Who asked this? Oh, some of those white feminists I did not like. She smiles. No names. What did you say? I said its a ridiculous question. This is the power of racism, that they could not recognise, for example, that in struggling against gender violence directed against women, one also had to take up the racist use of the rape charge, and they were part and parcel of the same battle. Of course, the intransigent white bourgeois feminists could not accept that.

Davis is no stranger to splits on the radical left or factional feminism. She has seen it all her life, and regretted it all her life. She doesnt understand why some feminists today see trans women as a threat. There are some feminist formations that are very opposed to the trans presence, and that is so backwards. Those of us who are more flexible argue that if you want to get rid of violence directed against individuals in the world, whether its racist violence or gender violence, you have to support Black trans women who are the target of more violence than any other group of people. And if we make advances in our struggle to defend Black trans women, those victories can be felt by all communities that suffer violence.

She says this fight reminds her of the days when she was asked to choose between being a woman and being Black. In her autobiography, she describes how many of the Black male revolutionaries regarded their activism as an assertion of their masculinity and believed women had no leadership role to play. Even so, she says, back then she didnt fully appreciate how she had been shaped as much by gender as by race. In the intervening half-century, she has realised how the two are umbilically linked in the fight for a better world.

Davis inherited her revolutionary spirit from her mother, Sallye, a schoolteacher and activist who was involved in the Southern Negro Youth Congress, organised by Black communists. Sallye was part of the successful campaign to release the Scottsboro Boys (nine Black teenagers falsely accused of raping two white women) a case seen as a milestone in the emergence of a national civil rights movement. Daviss father, Frank, was also a teacher and an Episcopalian lay minister. He was not as outspoken as my mother, but he made his contributions in a quieter way. Both her parents grew up dirt poor and only managed to become teachers because they were financially supported her mother by the principal of her high school, her father by the Episcopalian church. Her father gave up teaching and bought a service station and parking lot to enable him to better support Angela and her three siblings.

Davis grew up with a burning sense of justice and injustice. She received a good education at her segregated school, where she was taught about Black history, and endowed with pride. The teachers felt the need to cultivate a generation who would be capable of resisting the ideological racism surrounding us. Her mother told young Angela that the world they were living in was not the world of the future. She always said: never forget that that world is not organised in the way it should be and that things will change, and that we will be a part of that change.

In her late teens, Davis worked part-time to earn enough money to travel to France and Switzerland, and to attend the eighth World Festival of Youth and Students in Helsinki. When she returned home in 1963, the FBI interviewed her about her attendance at the Soviet-sponsored festival. After a year studying literature in France, she enrolled on Herbert Marcuses philosophy course at the University of Frankfurt. Davis later said: Marcuse taught me that it was possible to be an academic, an activist, a scholar and a revolutionary.

In 1969, aged 25, she was hired as an assistant professor of philosophy at UCLA. A campaign spearheaded by California governor Ronald Reagan resulted in her sacking for being a member of the Communist party USA. By then she was also known as a radical feminist and affiliate of the LA chapter of the Black Panther party. When a court ruled she could not be fired solely because of her affiliation with the Communist party, she resumed her post, only to be fired again in June 1970 for inflammatory language used in four speeches, including repeatedly referring to the police as pigs.

By this time her mentor was the Black Panther George Jackson, who had been convicted of armed robbery in 1961. In January 1970, Jackson and two others were charged with murdering a prison officer in Soledad prison, California. The three men became known as the Soledad Brothers and Davis campaigned for their release. Davis came to love Jackson and befriended his younger brother, 17-year-old Jonathan, who accompanied her on public appearances as an informal bodyguard.

On 7 August 1970, Jonathan Jackson used guns registered in Daviss name (she was regularly receiving death threats from white supremacists at this point) to hold up a courtroom at Marin county courthouse. He took superior court judge Harold Haley and four others hostage to secure the freedom of the Soledad Brothers. As he attempted to drive away, police opened fire, and Jonathan Jackson, Judge Haley and two prisoners were killed. The siege was headline news. As was the fact that the guns Jackson used were owned by Davis.

On 14 August, Davis was charged with aggravated kidnapping and first-degree murder in the death of Judge Harold Haley, and a warrant was issued for her arrest. By then, Davis had gone on the run. Four days later, FBI director J Edgar Hoover put Davis on the FBIs 10 most-wanted fugitives list; she was only the third woman to be listed. On 13 October 1970, FBI agents found her in New York.

Davis has always said she had no prior knowledge of Jacksons plans, and was shocked by the incident and the death of her young friend. How does she look back at her time in prison? Its complex, she says. In one way, it was terrifying; in another, she got a better education than any university could provide. She saw for herself how much easier it was to end up in prison if you were working class and a person of colour, and how much harder it was to get out. Many women she met were locked up for petty crimes but couldnt afford the $500 bail, so were stuck in the system. She discovered that, although slavery had been abolished in 1865, it was thriving in US jails thanks to the 13th amendment making a special allowance for penal labour. Davis realised she had to synthesise race, class and gender in her analysis. It was a time of learning. Deep learning. That period defined the trajectory of the rest of my life.

Was there a time when she thought she would be executed? Yes, there was. There was. There was. She repeats it gently, like a mantra. I felt terrified that I might end up in the gas chamber in San Quentin prison. Ronald Reagan wanted to see that, Richard Nixon wanted to see that, J Edgar Hoover. So many people were convinced that despite my innocence of the actual charges I would be like Sacco and Vanzetti, the Rosenbergs, or any of the other political figures who have been put to death. And, yeah, it was terrifying. I had nightmares.

But on the outside, the fight for her release grew bigger and bigger. It is this, she says, that gave her hope. You know, I received over a million letters from schoolchildren in East Germany alone. One million, I repeat, trying to picture that many letters. Yes! A million postcards. Schoolchildren were supposed to send me a rose for my birthday, so they drew roses on postcards. It was called 1 Million Roses for Angela Davis. At first they started to come in big mailbags. They are at Stanford University now, in the archives.

There were campaigns worldwide. Eventually the terror was displaced. I realised that even if I ended up being put to death I would not be alone; that they would all be walking with me. And that is what gave me courage. I learned about the value of mass movements and collective struggle; that lesson has remained with me.

It seems to me she has always been an optimist. Well, you know, we need hope. We cant do anything without optimism. My friend Mariame Kaba, who is part of the prison abolitionist movement, says hope is a discipline. Our job is to cultivate hope, and that is what I always try to do.

The campaign made her feel less isolated but she found the attention embarrassing; shaming, even. There were so many women in jail with nobody for support, and here she was with her million postcards. She was thankful, but she had never wanted to be a pin-up. I feel best when Im working in the background teaching and organising is the work I love doing. I was very disturbed in jail because I saw so many women who got such a bad deal. It was not right for me to be the focus of so much attention when I already had a network of people.

Davis was released from prison after 16 months and acquitted four months later, in June 1972. Again, she was lucky. While she was jailed, the death sentence was abolished in California, allowing her to be bailed. At her trial, the prosecution argued that she was not a political prisoner; that she had provided the gun simply because of her love for George Jackson. It was an easy argument to refute. There was so much evidence of a life of political struggle and that she had campaigned vigorously for all three Soledad Brothers.

By the time she was released, George Jackson was dead, killed while trying to escape prison. Does she think they would have married if he had lived? That may have been a possibility, but I cant say for sure because I do know that feelings are intensified under the pressure of incarceration, and people change. As far as men go, was he the love of her life? For once, her speech becomes broken. Erm, well, that may ... you may express it that way. Erm, yeah. She quickly gathers herself. At the same time, I want to emphasise how deep that political relationship was. I spent the majority of my time with George communicating with him about radical issues, and also with other partners that Ive had, male and female.

With Dent, who is in her late 50s, she says its been the same. We got to know each other because I was making a contribution to a book she was editing, so we were working together intellectually long before we came together. She takes a sip from her mug. I ask what she is drinking. Green tea and ginger. Thats another big change. She lives a healthier life now. Is it true you used to smoke four packets of cigarettes a day? Yeah, I was a terrible smoker. I smoked Gauloises. Now I try to exercise and eat vegan. As she talks, Im looking at her perfectly painted black nails. I painted them myself! she says proudly. She looks youthful and stylish dressed all in black, except for satin-blue streaks in her scarf.

It was only when she came out of prison she discovered what her family had done for her and what it had taken out of them. My mother would tell me about people who she thought were her friends who severed connection with her because they did not want to be associated with somebody who had a communist daughter.

I bet there were times she wished you werent a communist and hadnt got yourself in so much trouble, I say. Oh yeah! Im sure. Im sure! She laughs. I thought about that myself sometimes. But both my mother and father were really proud of the work that I did and the support that came from my siblings. My sister Fania travelled all over the world when I was in jail. My brother Ben, who was a football player in the NFL, suffered as a result they put him on the bench. Nevertheless, his wife organised the largest political rally in Cleveland around the demand for my freedom. Why did they bench him? Because he called out the journalists and asked them: why are you not asking me about my sister, who is in jail? We see the NFL at the centre of many waves of resistance now, but there was a nascent politicisation at that time and my brother was a part of it.

She talks about an image she loves that symbolises the way her family fought for her. There is footage of my mother speaking at a rally where shes holding my sisters baby girl in one arm, with the other arm outstretched in a fist and calling for my freedom. I said: Wow! I am my mothers daughter.

After her release, Davis continued where she had left off with her career and her activism. She became a professor of ethnic studies, and is now professor emerita of history of consciousness and feminist studies at UC Santa Cruz. She ran twice as vice-president for the Communist party USA, and dedicated much of her life to fighting for fellow activists who remained in jail and for the abolition of the prison system. Her ideas on abolitionism have evolved over decades, and are now championed by sections of the Black Lives Matter movement and feature prominently in Ava DuVernays documentary on the subject, 13th.

Its funny, she says so many people tell her it must be depressing fighting for the same things she was fighting for 60 years ago. But shes not having any of it. So much has changed; she cites the fact that America elected Barack Obama twice. How does she think he did? He could have done a lot more, and Im angry that Guantnamo is still there, because he was going to shut Guantnamo, right? But at the same time, it was a world historical moment, and I treasure that moment and that it was enabled by young people who refused to believe it was impossible to elect a Black person.

She says you cant simply blame Obama for any disappointments. Again, we cant project all of our power as a collective of human beings on to a single individual. So my critique is also a self-critique; there should have been mass demonstrations forcing him to move in a more radical direction. At the same time, I dont think Black Lives Matter would have emerged except within the context that was created by the election of Obama. The fact that there is now a mass mainstream anti-racist movement, involving white people as well as people of colour, is true progress, she says.

As for President Biden, Davis believes his conservatism is a historical inevitability post-Trump. When there are moments of upheaval, the recovery period always tends to emphasise the conservative. But she says she has never focused on the dominant parties. I think its important to think more capaciously about the meaning of politics. The millions of people who poured on to the streets in the aftermath of George Floyds lynching constituted a force that was so much more powerful than any political party. And if there is a new moment of trying to recognise structural racism that occurred as a result of those demonstrations, then I would say those people are the motors of history. Its not about who the president was or is. She had witnessed deaths in police custody throughout her life. The difference now was that mass protest (and digital technology) ensured officers could no longer go unpunished. Last June, Floyds killer Derek Chauvin was sentenced to 22 years and six months for second-degree murder.

Good comes out of bad, Davis says. The pandemic highlighted structural racism in both the US and the UK. In May 2020, research from the non-partisan APM Research Lab revealed Black Americans were three times more likely than white Americans to die of Covid. In the same month, the Office for National Statistics revealed that Black people were four times more likely to die of Covid than white people in England and Wales. Not only is the research being done to prove the existence of structural racism, Davis says, but people now are shouting about it. There are young activists and scholars who are so much better at explaining what we tried so hard to figure out. Now they just take it for granted, and I love that.

You seem so content, I say. Well, at this particular moment I really am happy to be alive and healthy and to be able to link what is happening at this moment to past histories. Again, she says how lucky she is. I treasure this time, because it means I get to see that the work that was done 50 and 60 years ago really mattered, even though there were moments when all of us felt it was in vain. So many of the people in her life didnt live to see the progress that has been made her parents; George and Jonathan Jackson; the four girls murdered at the Birmingham church. I feel that Im a witness for those who did not make it this far.

An Autobiography by Angela Y Davis is published by Penguin (20). To support the Guardian and Observer, order your copy at guardianbookshop.com. Delivery charges may apply. Abolition. Feminism. Now. is published by Penguin (14.99); order your copy here. Angela Davis wears (main image) coat by Theory, top by Eileen Fisher and trousers by Zero + Maria Cornejo. Above: shirt by Christopher John Rogers.

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Angela Davis on the power of protest: 'We can't do anything without optimism' - The Guardian

Shortly after Alabamas state board of education passed a resolution last August to ban public schools from teaching or purchasing materials that impute fault, blame, or cause students to feel guilt or anguish about the legacy of slavery or ongoing racial injustice, members of the Birmingham, Alabama, school board pushed back by passing a resolution of their own.

The sharply worded statement, A Resolution to Advance Equity for All Students, emphasized that city educators will continue to be proactive in dismantling the pillars of unequal justice, bigotry and oppression and affirmed that the city of Birmingham will provide resources and professional development to educators who teach about, celebrate, uphold, and affirm the lives of all races and that support critical dialogue among students, staff and community members about the impact of bias and racism both within and outside of school house doors.

Terri Michal, a member of Birminghams school board from 2017 to 2021, told Truthout that the resolution makes clear that Birmingham will do what is right to give all children what they need to excel. Were working to ensure that equity is not a dirty word, she says.

Birmingham is not the only locale that is standing up to efforts to ban everything the right deems as critical race theory, as well as efforts to ban school-based diversity, equity and inclusion programs, which attempt to present to students an accurate history of the United States and contend with and change the many ways that racial and gender injustice have structured classrooms across the country.

Deborah Menkart, codirector of the Zinn Education Project (ZEP), a national organization working to inject accurate accounts of U.S. and world history into classrooms across the country, says that demand for ZEP materials has continually increased since the projects 2008 founding. The right wing would not be going on the attack if there was nothing to attack, she told Truthout.

Teachers download lessons from the ZEP website. These lessons, Menkart explains, go beyond what is found in traditional textbooks and examine all subjects art, history, literature, math, music, science with an eye toward omissions and distortions. Probing questions are asked: Who is included in the historical account? Who does the narrative benefit? Why are female mathematicians or scientists, or queer people or people of color so often left out of the accounts we read or hear discussed?

Students are not just learning facts, Menkart says. Theyre learning about the choices that are made in the telling of history. They also get a sense of the role they can play in shaping the future. In this way, were equipping youth with a sense of hope, giving them the tools to think strategically so that they can address the gravity of the situations were facing.

Demand for lessons, she continues, comes from every corner of the country, not just urban centers, and she quickly ticks off curricula requests from teachers in Taylor, South Carolina; Holland, Michigan; Oklahoma City, Oklahoma; and Columbia, Missouri. The most common requests, according to Menkart, are for materials covering the Reconstruction era, redlining, the environmental crisis and the color line that was imposed during the colonial era.

When children begin to think critically, they begin to understand that it is not that their parents and neighbors have not worked hard enough to get ahead, but that something systemic has held people of color, women, the poor and the disabled back, she says. The right wing says that this makes white, able-bodied children feel guilty, but when students learn that some white people have challenged injustice, it complicates the narrative and prompts them to question their assumptions.

Denisha Jones, coeditor of the book Black Lives Matter at School: An Uprising for Educational Justice, and a member of the steering committee of the National Black Lives Matter at School coalition, notes the importance of educational efforts that recognize resistance to the status quo and that support inclusive historical accounts. About 60 percent of the population will not go to college and they will probably never learn this information if it is not taught in middle and high school, she told Truthout. For many people, programs that promote diversity, equity and inclusion are their first encounter with material about race, class, gender, gender identity or ableism. This can spur them to a new place of understanding and inquiry.

Jones acknowledges that many school-based diversity, equity and inclusion programs initiatives are little more than window dressing, created to deflect criticism and give the visual appearance of racial, ethnic, gender and disability inclusivity. Still, she says, meaningful diversity, equity and inclusion programs are possible, especially if they are led by teachers and staff who are committed to helping children develop a positive racial identity.

Children need a solid foundation on which to build ideas about race, gender and self, Jones says. Helping kids feel good about themselves will enable them to function in a global world. If kids encounter silence about race, religion, disability or gender differences, this silence gets internalized and their identity formation can be negatively impacted.

One solution, Jones says, is for there to be mandatory Black and ethnic studies classes integrated into the curricula of every K-12 school. But this goes beyond curricula, she says. Other concrete changes in the ways schools operate are necessary to protect vulnerable students from feelings of inadequacy or ennui: ending zero-tolerance policies that suspend or expel students for misbehaving; increasing the number of available school counselors; and removing police officers from school buildings.

Jones also wants to address the racism at the heart of the attacks on school-based diversity, equity and inclusion programs and on anything deemed by the right to be Critical Race Theory. The idea that the right wing is promoting, that we have to bring in all sides of every issue, is funny to me, she says. What is the other side of Black Lives Matter? Is it that Black lives dont matter? We need to examine that.

Research backs up this assertion.

According to child psychologist Jacob Ham, It is hard for kids to learn when they feel unsafe or threatened, or feel as if they dont matter or fit in. But if they feel supported and connected, they enter into what Ham calls learning brain, a state in which they are open to new ideas and new information, are able to handle ambiguity, and feel confident enough to share concerns or ask for clarifications.

A Stanford University study confirms Hams conclusions and underscores the importance of diverse representation in curricular materials. According to the researchers who carried out the study, both students of color and white students benefited from taking even one ethnic studies course, finding that the class enhanced their sense of belonging, upped graduation rates and made them more likely to enroll in college.

Emily Ladau, author of Demystifying Disability: What to Know, What to Say, and How to be an Ally, agrees that kids need to see themselves in course materials. In addition, she says that they need to be encouraged to ask questions respectfully about people who are different from them, including those with genetic and acquired disabilities. Disability is not a niche issue, she told Truthout. There are more than 1 billion disabled people in the world. That means that schools have disabled students, disabled faculty and disabled staff and almost everyone has disabled family member. But you should not have to have a personal connection to disability to recognize that an inclusive environment benefits everyone.

Furthermore, Ladau argues, since disability cuts across all other identities, it should be incorporated into all aspects of learning, from pre-K classes to teacher training programs.

Many people, however, dont want this. Indeed, as the past year has shown, backlash against curricula that deal with diversity, inclusivity or equity is on the rise. There is pushback against any conversation about how we can be more inclusive because this requires us to admit that we have not been doing everything possible to be equitable and incorporate everyone, regardless of their gender, race, sexuality or disability, Ladau says. If we cant admit this, there cant be progress.

Jennifer Lima, a school board member in North Kingstown, Rhode Island, since 2020 and the founder of Toward an Anti-Racist Kingstown, has seen this phenomenon up close. Lima has been pushing the North Kingstown school board to approve an educational audit of the nine schools in the district. Basically, we need to know what we are doing well and what we are doing poorly when it comes to diversity, equity and inclusion, she told Truthout. How are we doing when it comes to retaining teachers and students of color? Is dress code enforcement done equally for all students? How about access to advanced placement classes? Which holidays are acknowledged? Do disabled, queer and trans students and staff face discrimination?

Lima believes that an honest reckoning will require outside auditors, with focus groups for everyone connected to public education in North Kingstown. Weve received two estimates from outside reviewers and know that a thorough investigation will take about six months. The local right wing sees this as unnecessary. They also argue that it can be done in-house, and they are really, really loud about this, she says. I disagree with them, and feel strongly that a neutral third party needs to come in. The administration cant interview people and expect truthful answers. Our goal as a school system should be to serve every student equitably and we cant formulate a strategy to improve what we do until we know exactly where we are.

The school board is expected to vote on hiring an outside auditor sometime this spring.

But even if the audit gets approved, educators in North Kingstown and in every other part of the U.S. will likely still face pushback from some parents and astroturf groups (organizations that are funded by deep-pocketed donors whose money enables the groups to maintain a visible presence despite having few actual grassroots supporters). Some prominent astroturf groups in this arena include Moms for Liberty, No Left Turn in Education and Parents Defending Education, which oppose school-based diversity, equity and inclusion programs. And while many educators will continue to reach out to the Zinn Education Project and other progressive educators, and will continue to teach materials that are culturally and historically accurate, their work will be made more difficult by people who oppose anti-racism initiatives and broader equity efforts.

This is where progressive can play a role.

Cassie Schwerner, executive director of the Morningside Center for Teaching Social Responsibility, a New York City organization that promotes school-based social and emotional learning, told Truthout that teachers and progressive educational groups need vocal supporters. We live in a global economy and a world that gets more and more interconnected every day, Schwerner says. We need to learn about each other. No one should grow up without a deep sense of curiosity or the ability to think critically, whether it is about Jim Crow, slavery, disability, or trans access to bathrooms or gym classes. As progressives, we have to defend the teaching of critical thinking and the promotion of classroom equity.

Schwerner then pivots and asks an important question: What do we want schools to be and who do we want them to serve? None of us know exactly how to fight the right wing, but we know that we need to stop pretending that racism, sexism, homophobia and ableism dont exist. We know we need to create a culture where we can have hard, even uncomfortable, conversations.

Furthermore, Schwerner says, we need to challenge the zero-sum mentality that says that if some kids have a positive racial identity, other kids will have a negative racial identity. I know this sounds Pollyanna-ish, but schools need to help students feel cherished because, in truth, we all benefit when children grow up feeling safe, secure and valued.

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Despite Right-Wing Backlash, Racial Justice Education Is Still on the Rise - Truthout

Don Letts knew what Jamaica sounded like before he knew what it looked like. The film director, DJ and musician was born in London to Jamaican parents in 1956 and grew up listening to reggae. We had our soundtrack, he told me over video call. But there was no visual accompaniment. When I was a child, the only thing youd ever see of Jamaica was a postcard with some dude riding a donkey on a beach in a straw hat, or somebody limbo dancing.

This lack of authentic cultural references affected how Letts understood himself. Im first-generation British-born black, a child of the Windrush generation, he said as he spoke from his studio, a shed in the garden of his home in Kensal Rise, north-west London. He wore a khaki sweatshirt, a rasta cap and a gold chain around his neck, and spoke as he does on his BBC Radio 6 Music show Culture Clash Radio with warmth and charisma. That British-born black rolls off the tongue now, but back then it was confusing. I described myself as being of a lost tribe, neither here nor there.

All that changed with the release of The Harder They Come, the Jamaican crime film directed by Perry Henzell, which Letts saw upon its release in 1972. I remember walking out of the cinema having been taken by the power of a film to inform, inspire and entertain, he said. The film offered, for the first time, a visual representation of the country he was from, and that had influenced so much of his cultural life, but which he had never seen.

It also set Letts in pursuit of what would become his profession. Returning home from the cinema, he wondered whether he could be a filmmaker too. But in the Seventies, for a young black man, that was a ridiculous idea, he said. Film was an old white boys network. Fast-forward five years and, with the explosion of punk rock and its DIY sensibility, Letts saw his opportunity. My white mates are picking up guitars, man. I wanted to pick up something too. So I picked up a Super 8 camera.

At the time, Letts ran Acme Attractions, a clothing shop on Kings Road, London that was a hang-out spot for members of the Clash and the Sex Pistols, and artists such as Patti Smith, Chrissie Hynde and Bob Marley, who became a good friend. His filmography began with the Clash: he shot the music videos for tracks including White Riot and London Calling. He would go on to make videos for the British Jamaican group Musical Youth whose 1982 song Pass the Dutchie was a UK number one and sold over five million copies worldwide the Pretenders, Elvis Costello and Marley, and is renowned for spearheading music-video direction for black artists in the UK.

He now finds himself in front of the camera for the first time. Rebel Dread, which will be released in cinemas on 4 March, tells Lettss story through evocative archive footage, much of it his own. It details the threat of racism and police violence that he grew up with in Brixton, and tracks his career as a videographer, band manager and musician in the group Big Audio Dynamite. He alongside his brother Desmond Coy and contemporaries Norman Jay, Jeannette Lee, John Lydon and Mick Jones appear as talking heads.

Letts is often credited with marrying Londons punk and reggae scenes in the Seventies through his resident DJ sets at the Roxy in Covent Garden, London. White people from the suburbs would come to the nightclub expecting to hear punk, he said, and in between these raucous, punk-rock guitar live things theyd hear Don Letts playing dub reggae. During the course of our call he referred to himself in the third person several times, though never with arrogance. He remains aware of, but modest about, his place in the history books.

It was Trojan Records, the British ska, reggae and dub label launched in 1968 that sowed the seeds for the UKs love affair with Jamaican music, he said. People of my generation would have been hip to that stuff before Don Letts dropped a record on the deck. The people that I turned on to reggae in 1977 were all the white people that didnt interact with black people. Id like to take it on my shoulders, folks, but I never claimed it was all me.

Still, Letts in establishing the Roxys sound was at the heart of the culture clash. Thrilling archive footage in Rebel Dread shows the filmmaker and his rasta brethren dancing alongside punks who are in heavy eyeliner and bondage wear. Shane MacGowan is there, smoking by the bar. Letts remembers the Pogues frontman asking for a beer and two spliffs, which is, he said, the perfect example of cultural exchange.

Rebel Dread was finished more than two years ago, its release delayed because of the pandemic. With all thats happened in the interim, Letts feels as though he has changed since the film was made. Black Lives Matter made me examine what Ive been doing for the 66 years Ive been on this Earth, he said. I wanted to know if Id been tap dancing for the man or doing my bit. I quickly realised, whether it be in the films I made, or music videos or songs, the argument an underlying anti-racist message has never been far away.

But Don Letts doesnt spend his life on a soapbox. There is party music too. I just keep reminding people: you cant spend your life on the dance floor. Eventually the musics gonna stop and you have to go out and face reality. And guess what? There are some great tunes for that too.

[See also: The chaotic life and bruising songs of Mark Lanegan]

The co-existence of Londons punk and rasta movements was a testament to the power of culture to bring people together, Letts said. In both subcultures he sees a celebration of individuality and freedom, which, he observed, are themes the tabloids and the politicians are still determined to destroy. In the 21st century, he added, the only counter-culture is over-the-counter culture. The advent of technology has shifted many of these movements online, where they are less visible to outsiders.

Letts, who is a father, also wondered whether the rebelliousness of his generation had made things difficult for the next. Because of music, old aint what it used to be. I certainly havent become my parents, which is problematic for young people: how do you rebel against somebody like me? You cant out-tattoo, out-hairdo, out-style my generation. Ive got young kids and theyre trying to impress their dad and thats kinda cool, but We havent left a lot of stones unturned for them.

He is speaking partly in jest, because he realises, too, that todays young people have their own difficulties. Recently a friend asked him why teenagers today look so crap? And I said, because its more important that they get their heads together than their hair-dos. Its tough. I do empathise. Its hard to be a rebel when youre living with your mum.

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Don Letts: Black Lives Matter protests made me question if I'd been tap dancing for the man - The New Statesman