Uprising & Abolition: Angela Davis on Movement Building, "Defund the Police" & Where We Go from Here

The uprising against police brutality and anti-Black racism continues to sweep across the United States and countries around the world, forcing a reckoning in the halls of power and on the streets. The mass protests following the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis on May 25 have dramatically shifted public opinion on policing and systemic racism, as defund the police" becomes a rallying cry of the movement. We discuss the historic moment with legendary scholar and activist Angela Davis. One never knows when conditions may give rise to a conjuncture such as the current one that rapidly shifts popular consciousness and suddenly allows us to move in the direction of radical change," she says. The intensity of these current demonstrations cannot be sustained over time, but we will have to be ready to shift gears and address these issues in different arenas."