Louis, a good deal of this article is sheared off at the right margins. Wythe
> On August 14, 2020 at 8:04 AM Louis Proyect <[email protected]> wrote: > > The Douglass Republic > > > How today's protests are struggling to reclaim the vision of > the great abolitionist leader > > > The New Republic > Jabari Asim > https://newrepublic.com/authors/jabari-asim / August 14, 2020 > > > > ILLUSTRATION BY IAN WRIGHT > > > > > > > > > As our country grapples with a deadly > pandemic, responds to still more outbreaks of police brutality, and bears > astonished witness to street after street filled with fed-up citizens calling > for change, I find myself thinking of Frederick Douglass. The former slave, > orator, political organizer, and self-taught man of letters in many ways > speaks to the present moment of civic and racial fracture almost as > powerfully as when he scourged the conscience of white America in the > mid-nineteenth century. > > > > Indeed, it’s no exaggeration to say that > Douglass’s legacy—and indeed his very image—continues to haunt the urgent > quest for real and enduring racial justice in twenty-first–century America. > After Douglass found a wider audience in 1842 as the well-spoken protégé of > William Lloyd Garrison’s > http://www.oberlinheritagecenter.org/blog/2013/06/william-lloyd-garrison-and-frederick-douglass-debate-in-oberlin/ > Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society, he went on to become—alongside his many > other celebrated accomplishments—the most photographed > https://www.nbcnews.com/news/nbcblk/frederick-douglass-always-ready-his-close-n517391 > American of the nineteenth century. His image has remained a steady > presence in our time as well, and not just on film. According to the Douglass > scholar John Stauffer, in addition to 168 photographic portraits, the great > man’s face graces “the walls of fifty neighborhoods; seventeen schools or > universities; seven libraries or historical societies; seven community > centers; five public housing projects; five government buildings; five > churches; three stores; three playgrounds and parks; two prisons; two > underpasses; one fire station; one newspaper building; one publishing house; > and one subway station.” This vast roll call of Douglass mural sites and > building names neatly distills the aspirations and deferred promises that > continue to define so much of black experience two centuries after his birth. > > > > Douglass almost never smiled while > posing. In presenting himself as sober, dignified, confident, he refuted > prevailing stereotypes > https://www.wbur.org/artery/2016/07/21/picturing-frederick-douglass that > cruelly caricatured African Americans as carelessly content with bondage, > while also furnishing vivid and unassailable evidence of black equality. He > hoped his white viewers would see him and his kinsmen as, well, kin. “Whether > we read Shakespeare or look at Hogarth’s pictures, we commune alike with > nature and have human beings for society,” Douglass wrote in a lecture called > “Pictures and Progress.” “They are of the earth and speak to us in a known > tongue. They are neither angels nor demons, but in their possibilities both. > We see in them not only men and women, but ourselves.” Douglass anticipated > the evocative power of recorded images a century before photos of police dogs > attacking civilians helped tame the Klan in Birmingham, and even longer > before cell phones captured police killings > https://newrepublic.com/article/137533/protecting-right-record-police-brutality > of Eric Garner, Walter Scott, George Floyd, and so many others. > > > > He also knew that countering the > narrative of delusional white supremacy was a double-edged sword; too much > information aimed at exposing its brutalities could bring new and unintended > forms of harm. He bristled at other authors of slave narratives who included > a surplus of details surrounding their escape from bondage. It was best, he > argued, to leave some edges blurred. Here, too, Douglass’s cautions echo down > through today’s agitations for racial justice: Some protesters demonstrating > in response to George Floyd’s murder asked their supporters to stop sharing > their photos > https://www.vox.com/recode/2020/6/11/21281028/before-sharing-images-police-brutality-protest-george-floyd-ahmaud-arbery-facebook-instagram-twitter > on social media. We serial tweeters may believe we’re acting in the spirit > of Douglass when he observed, “It is evident that the great cheapness and > universality of pictures must exert a powerful, though silent, influence upon > the ideas and sentiment of present and future generations.” In reality, > though, such images now possess an ominous underside—and present a new > opportunity for the racial surveillance state: By trafficking in cheap, > universal images of today’s uprisings, we may just be thoughtlessly exposing > our friends to facial-recognition technology. Discovery in Douglass’s time > could mean a return to slavery or a violent death. For modern protesters, it > can also result in death (as it may have > https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/puzzling-number-men-tied-ferguson-protests-have-died-n984261 > for six Ferguson activists after 2014) or having their names and addresses > publicly released over Facebook Live—as St. Louis Mayor Lyda Krewson did in > June. Krewson’s actions helped spur a demonstration > https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/29/us/st-louis-mayor-police-reform/index.html > demanding her resignation, which in turn yielded an iconic image of an > affluent white St. Louis couple brandishing firearms at the peaceful > demonstrators marching past their downtown mansion. In the long-standing > American tradition of evasion and violent eruption around the foundational > wounds of race, the image of black demands for justice and accountability > once more had seamlessly been translated into the charged register of white > existential rage. And that, in turn, produced heightened black vulnerability, > in a fraught dynamic Douglass mapped out in striking depth a century and a > half ago. > > > > The legacy stretching alongside that of > Douglass’s image is, of course, his singular literary voice. Douglass’s three > autobiographies resound with the sort of moral indignation and impatience > with the folklores and cant of established powers that we associate with the > prophets of the Hebrew Bible. In addition to his courage and ferocious > intellect, his candor sears through every sentence. At no point in his long, > public career did he suffer fools gladly. He “rejected empty politeness,” as > his recent biographer David W. Blight put it. Benjamin Quarles, an African > American and author of a landmark earlier study of Douglass’s life, noted > that his subject, shaped by the bludgeoning invective of his mentors, > “developed no sense of the precise shadings of the nouns and adjectives he > used in reprobating his opponents.” Maybe. I like to think of Douglass as > fully aware of the properties of shade-throwing—that he was a “firespitter,” > to borrow a phrase from the poet Jayne Cortez, steeped in thunder and > lyricism. > > > > > > > > A mimic of cruel and legendary accuracy, > Douglass mixed wit, pathos, and a fondness for intellectual brawling to > become a storyteller who kept listeners riveted to their seats. Because he > understood the power of narrative so well, he emerged as a relentless foe of > American hypocrisy and the critic most capable of using the language of > American exceptionalism to expose the nation’s ludicrous and deadly > pretenses. Every civilization depends on myths and stories to shore up its > foundational creeds, and to stabilize its emotional and philosophical > infrastructure. America’s myths stand out because they don’t just insist that > the United States is as noble and powerful and wealthy and wise as any other > civilization before it—but also that the American nation is greater at all of > these things and will forever endure > https://foreignpolicy.com/2011/10/11/the-myth-of-american-exceptionalism/ as > the standard-bearer of a birthright so magnificent as to be holy. Even as new > forms of entertainment and technology introduce key variations to this > animating myth, they are sustained at bottom on language—the living, > serpentine text that slithers through, and lends definition to, every > American epoch. Douglass readily recognized the primal force of the language > of civic rebuke and redemption, and adapted the American reliance on fable > and text to suit not only his ends but also those of his enslaved and abused > brethren. In one speech delivered near the end of his life, called “The > Lessons of the Hour > https://iowaculture.gov/sites/default/files/history-education-pss-areconstruction-douglass-transcription.pdf > ,” Douglass leveraged the idea of America’s exalted status on the world > stage to call out the enormities of white supremacy by their true names. > > > > “We claim to be a Christian country and a > highly civilized nation, yet, I fearlessly affirm that there is nothing in > the history of savages to surpass the blood chilling horrors and fiendish > excesses perpetrated against the colored people by the so-called enlightened > and Christian people of the South,” he thundered. “It is commonly thought > that only the lowest and most disgusting birds and beasts, such as buzzards, > vultures and hyenas, will gloat over and prey upon dead bodies, but the > Southern mob in its rage feeds its vengeance by shooting, stabbing and > burning when their victims are dead.” > > > > Place of reckoning: a mural of George Floyd at the site of his killing in > Minneapolis > ALYSSA SCHUKAR/REDUX > > --------------------------------------------- > > > > It’s important to grasp Douglass’s vision > as a literary one, steeped in the broad currents of American myth, as opposed > to a narrower exercise in political exhortation. Like the Garrisonians and > evangelical revivalists who raised him up in abolitionism, Douglass was > initially suspicious, even disdainful, of the political process > https://www.aaihs.org/frederick-douglass-and-the-united-states-constitution/ > —the assemblage of institutional compromises that had rationalized and > extended American slavery. He saw the Constitution as fundamentally flawed, > what the author Marilynne Robinson recently described > https://harpers.org/archive/2019/06/is-poverty-necessary-marilynne-robinson/ > as “a compact among a few rich men.” This meant that the conduct of politics > in the American constitutional order was inherently corrupt. The task before > him and other serious apostles of radical reform was to change hearts and > minds, not laws. > > > > This unstinting view became tempered, > however, the longer Douglass himself sought to advance substantive change on > the American political scene. Over time, Douglass came to see the futility of > moral suasion and the usefulness of turning the professed ideals of the > Constitution to his purposes. That document was limited, yes, and embodied an > intolerable effort to shun ugly truths in its failure to mention slavery > apart from the tortured language of the three-fifths compromise. But even at > its flimsiest, Douglass conceded, the founding document offered more > potential for summoning the forces of justice than an outright, fastidious > rejection of policy and legislation. At the annual meeting of the > anti-slavery society in Syracuse in May 1851, Douglass declared his view > https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part4/4p1539.html#:~:text=In%201851%20Douglass%20announced%20at,federal%20government%20had%20exclusive%20jurisdiction. > that the Constitution should be “wielded in behalf of emancipation.” In a > column in his newspaper The North Star, he reaffirmed this position > https://rbscp.lib.rochester.edu/4389 . His change of opinion, he wrote, “has > not been hastily arrived at.” > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > This realization marked a turning point > in Douglass’s public career—one that he stolidly adhered to until his death > in 1895. In his last major speeches, he was still challenging his white > countrymen to “have loyalty enough, honor enough, patriotism enough, to live > up to their own Constitution.” In choosing the American Constitution over the > American conscience (such as it was), Douglass outstripped the righteous > despair of his mentors. (William Garrison notoriously burned > https://www.masshist.org/object-of-the-month/objects/a-covenant-with-death-and-an-agreement-with-hell-2005-07-01 > a copy of the U.S. Constitution, denouncing it as a satanic compact for its > role in formalizing the political reign of the Southern slave power.) In the > process, Douglass also came to serve as a uniquely American role model—an > exemplar of uppity Negroes everywhere. Garrison and the Massachusetts > Anti-Slavery Society had helped Douglass rise from a laborer’s life of > uncertainty by hiring him as a lecturer and providing him with a salary. They > paid him to move audiences with his first-person tale of suffering under the > lash and to express gratitude for their generous intervention; they didn’t > pay him to think. But Douglass’s independence wasn’t for sale; never again > would he be owned. > > > > Douglass may have been a standard-bearer > of uppitiness, but he was far from its only apostle. Against improbable odds, > self-assured colored people were popping up everywhere. James McCune Smith, > John Mercer Langston, Charles Lenox Remond, Harriet Tubman—all of them free > and determined to free others. Most showed no tolerance for colonization or > other schemes designed to sidestep the problem of slavery rather than > confront it head-on. As with today’s protesters bent on undoing centuries of > corrupt law enforcement > https://newrepublic.com/article/158365/policing-doesnt-protect-women , they > found the difference-trimming mantra of “reform” to be insufficient; it was > abolition or nothing. Just as Douglass came to abandon moral suasion, he also > gave up relying solely on debate and peaceful protesting. Douglass scoffed at > the suggestion that he should gradually and politely wait for his oppressors > to come around to his way of thinking. Finding common ground with his > sometime rival Henry Highland Garnet, in August 1863 he conceded, “It really > seems that nothing of justice, liberty, or humanity can come to us except > through tears and blood.” Five months earlier, he had published his famous > recruiting broadside, “Men of Color to Arms > https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/1863-frederick-douglass-men-color-arms/#:~:text=Barely%20three%20months%20after%20Lincoln's,Proclamation%20only%20promised%E2%80%94complete%20freedom > !” In urging black men to fight for the Union, he envisioned a nation > stripped of its crippling prejudices and rebuilt from scratch, on genuine > republican principles of equality and justice. > > > > It was hardly a novel notion. The > original Framers had similar thoughts when they declared themselves > independent; “we have it in our power to begin the world over again,” as > Thomas Paine declaimed in Common Sense. Lincoln, too, had extolled the sacred > right of the people “to rise up and shake off the existing government, and > form a new one that suits them better.” Not for nothing was the period > following the Civil War called Reconstruction, after all. It ultimately > failed—with long, tragic consequences > https://time.com/5256940/reconstruction-failure-excerpt/ for African > Americans. W.E.B. Du Bois described its overthrow as “a determined effort to > reduce black labor as nearly as possible to a condition of unlimited > exploitation and build a new class of capitalists on this foundation.” A far > cry, in other words, from what Douglass and the abolitionists had in mind. > Nonetheless, the opportunity to tear up the country and begin again from the > ground up has continued to tantalize activist imaginations at key junctures > in the struggle to advance the cause of racial equity. During the civil > rights movement’s “Second Reconstruction” over the 1950s and ’60s, Martin > Luther King Jr. dreamed boldly https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=smEqnnklfYs > of little black boys and girls holding hands with little white boys and > girls—an image of another, better America that remains maddeningly elusive > more than half a century on. Even over the brief span between the death of > George Floyd https://newrepublic.com/tags/george-floyd?page=1 and today, > we’ve likewise already glimpsed the promise of a thorough overhaul of the > American ideal, as protesters give greater context to police brutality by > addressing other systemic inequities such as the lack of universal health > care, substandard schools, and the need for a minimum basic income. They’ve > pointed out that civilian review boards, bias training, and body cams won’t > even fix law enforcement, let alone the far deeper ills of a profoundly > broken society. > > > > And at the outset of this renewed > agitation for what might be a Third Reconstruction in the making, it’s > crucial to again engage the question that remains at the core of this > country’s racial despair: Dare we try once more to make good on Frederick > Douglass’s prophecy of a genuinely new American order of the ages? Can > African Americans hope any longer that such a thing is feasible, or would the > embrace of such a radical possibility simply set ourselves up for massive > disappointment, yet again? Most discussions of this nature drift toward talk > of managing expectations, and segue into the sober counsel to steer clear of > pessimism and reclaim a hard-won faith in things still unseen—the “stone of > hope > https://www.nps.gov/mlkm/learn/building-the-memorial.htm#:~:text=This%20references%20a%20line%20in,reflective%20thought%2C%20determined%20and%20resolute. > ,” as King memorably phrased it. But as we wait to see what sort of movement > emerges out of the present popular mobilizations against racist police > violence, I worry that the search for silver linings or cosmic meaning is an > unhelpful distraction. Sure, some of us need to see hopeful portents when > cops kneel in sympathy and kids gratefully accept ice cream cones from kindly > patrol officers. But how audacious is hope, really? Is it any more useful > than robust skepticism? A certain wariness of hope doesn’t automatically > translate into self-indulgent despair—despair being, as James Baldwin noted, > a luxury only white men can afford. > > > > > > > > Rather, a disciplined aloofness from hope > is the chastened brand of knowledge forged in experience. Even a casual > student of history can detect the seesaw character of black struggle in the > United States, its motions calling to mind nothing so much to a pendulum > swinging back and forth just above our heads, often at an uncomfortably > perilous close remove. Emancipation, followed by sharecropping. > Reconstruction, followed by massive voter suppression, land theft > https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/20/opinion/sunday/reparations-hearing.html , > and convict leasing. The civil rights movement, followed by more residential > segregation, white flight, and urban renewal. Toxic waste and lead paint > pointing the way to for-profit policing, school-to-prison pipelines > https://www.motherjones.com/environment/2016/02/flint-lead-poisoning-america-toxic-crisis/ > , payday loans, and—lest we forget—greater black exposure and fatality > levels > https://www.brookings.edu/blog/up-front/2020/06/16/race-gaps-in-covid-19-deaths-are-even-bigger-than-they-appear/ > in the Covid-19 pandemic. Even now, with unprecedented numbers of white > Americans marching beside us in the streets, it still makes sense to look > over our shoulders for the coming reverse swing of the pendulum. > > > > > --------------------------------------------- > > > > Aside from his attendance at colored > conventions, as they were then called, Douglass conducted his public life > almost solely in the company of whites. And thanks to his pronounced distaste > for making nice, his relationships could be contentious. After he broke with > William Lloyd Garrison, they spent the rest of their lives ensuring that they > would not turn up at the same place at the same time. Douglass was proud to > be one of 32 men (and the only black person) at the historic Seneca Falls > convention > https://constitutioncenter.org/blog/on-this-day-the-seneca-falls-convention-begins#:~:text=Signed%20by%2068%20women%20and,the%20history%20of%20women's%20rights. > of 1848, where he signed the Declaration of Sentiments affirming the rights > of women. He was friends with Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, > but their bond unraveled > https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/speeches-african-american-history/1888-frederick-douglass-woman-suffrage/ > two decades later, when the Fifteenth Amendment promised to give the vote > to black men. Stanton, furious that women had been cast aside, derided black > men as “Sambos” and likely rapists. David W. Blight writes that both women > “denounced the Republicans and allied with white-supremacist Democrats” in > the wake of the dispute. > > > > Douglass’s struggles to maintain > friendships among the white allies of his day were likely equal parts > personal and political. But even so, they uncomfortably anticipated a host of > kindred questions arising from the immense demonstrations that erupted after > Floyd’s death. As one recent New York Times article has asked > https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/26/nyregion/black-lives-matter-white-people-protesters.html > , are whites protesting because they believe in the cause or because it’s > trendy? It was hard to tell with so much virtue signaling running amok in > those first few weeks of the George Floyd uprising, with white folks racing > to declare their support for Black Lives Matter and rushing to check on their > one black friend. (One oft-quoted study concluded > https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2014/08/25/three-quarters-of-whites-dont-have-any-non-white-friends/ > that 75 percent of whites don’t have even so much as one such friend.) > > > > Facebook timelines presented whirlwind > collages of contradiction: White expressions of support and > solidarity—including, in some places, lining up between police and people of > color—barely keeping pace with frantic footage of white people throwing > tantrums > https://www.nytimes.com/video/us/100000007159234/amy-cooper-dog-central-park-police-video.html > in parks, restaurants, and public spaces. In the background, we also saw > news of craven declarations from problematic companies (such as Starbucks’ > initial refusal—since reversed—to allow employees > https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/12/business/starbucks-blm-ban-reversed.html > to wear attire to work emblazoned with the Black Lives Matter slogan), > overdue removal of racist branding (Aunt Jemima > https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/aunt-jemima-brand-will-change-name-remove-image-quaker-says-n1231260 > ), and the flourishing of useless gestures (goodbye, master bedroom > https://www.chicagobusiness.com/crains-daily-gist/crains-daily-gist-podcast-say-goodbye-master-bedroom > !). An awkward spotlight was thrown on certain sports teams’ monikers (in > addition to the egregious example of the Washington NFL team’s name, a bevy > of familiar but still offensive names have come up for fresh debate—the > Chiefs, Indians, and Braves, to cite just the biggest-market offenders). > Meanwhile, Tina Fey, Jimmy Fallon, and other media eminences > https://www.cnn.com/2019/02/07/us/celebrities-in-blackface-list-trnd/index.html > scrambled to atone for and/or remove blackface performances from their > not-so-distant pasts. > > > > > > > > The best consequence of the frantic > ass-covering was its demonstration of how wispy and ill-considered white > Hollywood liberalism often is. (Or maybe not just Hollywood; I remember one > colleague forswearing Frappuccinos in April 2018, after black men were > arrested > https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/15/us/starbucks-philadelphia-black-men-arrest.html > in Philadelphia for failing to order lattes in a timely manner—a gesture of > anti-racist solidarity that lasted about a week, all told.) That said, I > acknowledge the value of having glamorous notables dip a toe in the waters of > social justice. Like images > https://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2013/08/29/hollywood_whos_who_marched_with_king_in_63__119762.html > of Marlon Brando and Paul Newman at the 1963 March on Washington, a > passionate tweet from Taylor Swift has the potential to move millions. > Recently on social media, I saw a post praising Betty White for her > leadership in helping integrate a ’50s-era TV show—followed almost > immediately by a post recalling her performing in blackface with the other > Golden Girls. > > > > Who’s woke? Who isn’t? Who’s canceled? > Who’s not? While we ponder these riddles, white people are lambasting > https://twitter.com/therealbradbabs/status/1275028923504525314 small, > black-owned bookstores for their slowness in supplying the anti-racism books > they’ve ordered in a not altogether seemly rush to be educated ASAP on the > bitter cultural legacies of white supremacy—a curriculum of self-reform > presented, mind you, in books written by white people expressing ideas that > black authors have been advancing for years. Amid the shredded remnants of > traitor flags and spray-painted monuments, the ironies and uncertainties > abound. Robert E. Lee’s stone-carved likeness might be lying face down in the > street, but the customs and beliefs he embodied are far sturdier. > > > > Could Douglass have been gazing into our > present when he observed that “the settled habits of a nation” are “mightier > than a statute”? It’s no wonder some of us regard our newfound allies with > jaundiced eyes > https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/white-antiracist-allyship-book-clubs/2020/06/11/9edcc766-abf5-11ea-94d2-d7bc43b26bf9_story.html > , half expecting them to pull a Susan B. Anthony and release their inner > Karens. Still, a movement requires a critical mass, with more numbers than > African Americans can muster by themselves. Polls show white attitudes toward > black lives may be improving, in a way that might produce real change. > Perhaps we can find comfort in that development the next time we’re watching > footage of white men in camouflage and hunting caps storming state Capitols > in protest, stroking their assault rifles as they shout. > > > > By 1893, Douglass was a lion in winter. > Battle-weary but still stouthearted, he eased from the role of righteous > firebrand into that of gracious mentor. Among the most influential figures he > shared his wisdom with was Ida B. Wells > https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/retropolis/wp/2018/04/26/fearless-ida-b-wells-honored-by-new-lynching-memorial-for-fighting-racial-terror/ > . A brilliant, intrepid journalist, she’d left Memphis just ahead of a lynch > mob that had destroyed her printing press. Another protégé was 21-year-old > poet Paul Laurence Dunbar, whose apparently immortal poem “We Wear the Mask > https://www.blackwomenradicals.com/blog-feed/we-wear-the-mask-the-ironies-of-black-life-and-death-during-the-covid-19-pandemic > ” has regained currency in this era of Covid containment. > > > > > > > > If not for the gender prejudices of her > time, Wells would likely have emerged as Douglass’s heir apparent. She still > became a productive and respected leader, a founding member of the NAACP, and > a valuable chronicler of racial violence. It’s easy to see Wells’s leadership > qualities in the women whose vision and strategy have shaped the movement for > black lives. It’s indeed impossible not to wonder if some of the criticism > they attracted during the early days of the Ferguson uprising stemmed as much > from their gender roles as from their position outside traditional civil > rights circles. What’s more, the decentralized structure of the new movement > confuses folks used to a top-down model of movement politics dependent on a > single, charismatic leader. One thing this new generation of movement > activists does not lack for is charisma. Alicia Garza, Patrisse Khan-Cullors, > and Opal Tometi, the three women > https://blacklivesmatter.com/our-co-founders/ behind BLM, are by this time > well known; the same is true of Bree Newsome Bass, a creative artist and > activist perhaps best known for removing the Confederate flag > https://www.vox.com/identities/2017/6/27/15880052/bree-newsome-south-carolinas-confederate-flag > from the South Carolina statehouse grounds. None seem much interested in > building a personal brand. The struggle continues to be top priority. > > > > “We have a lot of leaders,” Garza said in > an interview > https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jul/19/blacklivesmatter-birth-civil-rights-movement > with The Guardian, “just not where you might be looking for them. If you’re > only looking for the straight black man who is a preacher, you’re not going > to find it.” > > > > As Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor and others > have pointed out > https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/13/opinion/sunday/black-politicians-george-floyd-protests.html > , the groundwork for the current movement was laid by community leaders > unknown to many of us but with credibility to spare among their constituents. > And for those who complain about a lack of specifics, there are policy > proposals aplenty. Taylor writes, “Women like Mary Hooks from Southerners on > New Ground in Atlanta and Miski Noor and Kandace Montgomery of the Black > Vision Collective in Minneapolis have been at the center of articulating new > demands for redistributing resources away from policing, prisons and > billionaires, and back into public programs.” > > > > Some of their ideas mesh comfortably with > Douglass’s long-ago vision of a republic completely reinventing itself. > “People like me who want to abolish prisons and police, however, have a > vision of a different society, built on cooperation instead of individualism, > on mutual aid instead of self-preservation,” activist Mariame Kaba explained > https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/12/opinion/sunday/floyd-abolish-defund-police.html > in The New York Times. “What would the country look like if it had billions > of extra dollars to spend on housing, food and education for all? This change > in society wouldn’t happen immediately, but the protests show that many > people are ready to embrace a different vision of safety and justice.” > > > > > > > > There is, of course, a forbidding, > all-too-familiar litany of obstacles in the path of Kaba’s goals: an > underwhelming Democratic presidential nominee who has already responded > half-heartedly to calls for defunding the police; an unhinged, overtly racist > Republican incumbent incapable of minimal coherence; a stultifying Supreme > Court; obstinate police unions hindering the reform agendas of > progressive-minded prosecutors; spineless state legislators and corrupt > mayors. Just thinking about any one of those roadblocks is enough to put a > cramp in anyone’s optimism, despite the energy and intensity of our present > moment. Writing in 1870, Douglass warned > https://americanwritersmuseum.org/frederick-douglass-agitator-virtual/ his > black readers to avoid getting so mesmerized by a sense of possibility that > they could no longer determine which goals were realistic. He cautioned > against getting caught up in a “delirium of enthusiasm.” It’s a good > phrase—and still good advice. > > > > > > Credits: Photos in illustration: Getty > (X13); Oration, Delivered in Rochester by Frederick Douglass, July 5th, 1852 > (X3); William L. Clements Library, Rochester Ladies’ Anti-Slavery Society > Papers > > > > > > Jabari Asim > https://newrepublic.com/authors/jabari-asim @jabariasim > https://twitter.com/jabariasim > > > > Jabari Asim is the Elma Lewis > Distinguished Fellow in Social Justice at Emerson College. His books include > We Can’t Breathe and Stop and Frisk. > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Groups.io Links: You receive all messages sent to this group. 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