Summary
On September 16, 1963, four young girls were killed in a church bombing in Birmingham, Alabama. This incident inspired Angela Davis, a Birmingham native attending university in Boston, to continue to grow into an activist. When the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was passed, civil rights leaders such as Davis and Malcolm X were rightfully worried that white America would see racial discrimination as “solved.” This was a gross misconception, since many white Northerners continued to support de facto segregation.
Black antiracist activists were devastated when Malcolm X was assassinated in 1965. President Johnson passed the Voting Rights Act in 1965, which the authors hail as the “most effective piece of antiracist legislation ever passed by Congress.” When Angela Davis attended graduate school in Germany, she began to realize how negative connotations surrounding Blackness were embedded in the English language. Bronx-raised activist Stokely Carmichael coined the phrase “Black Power,” which is defined as “Black people owning and controlling their own neighborhoods and futures, free of white supremacy.”
While the Black Power movement was gaining momentum, another movement was founded in Oakland, California. This organization was called the Black Panther Party for Self Defense, and they had a ten-point platform. This platform included education, employment, and housing rights, while also calling to end police brutality and for representation in the United Nations. Angela Davis returned to the United States in 1967, and she contributed to the Black Power movement.
Once again, white Americans feared black-led activism. They worried that their country was being torn apart by the civil rights movement, the Vietnam War, and by class-based conflicts. This political climate inspired a pop-cultural reaction, and a film entitled Planet of the Apes was released. The authors draw parallels between Planet of the Apes and Tarzan, as both were influential in shaping the nation's overall racist attitudes. Soon after the film’s release, MLK was assassinated. After the assassinations of MLK in 1968 and of Malcolm X in 1965, the Black Power movement gained momentum to counter American white supremacy. Angela Davis, a Black woman studying at Brandeis University in Boston, emerged as a prominent leader in this movement. As time progressed, Davis struggled to find her place within the Black Power movement. As a queer Marxist woman, she found it difficult to work within an organization that was run entirely by men. Davis's experience in the Black Power movement influenced her later work as a scholar, organizer, and educator. Davis has published a large body of work arguing that racism, sexism, capitalism, and heterosexism work together to compound our oppression. In her writing and organizing, Davis advocates for community-based, collective action to eradicate these interrelated systems of oppression.
In 1970, Angela Davis was arrested and charged for a crime that she did not commit. She was imprisoned, primarily in solitary confinement, for over a year. During her trial, she represented herself and won. Following her release, Davis committed herself to advocating for the incarcerated and disenfranchised. Throughout her career, Davis has written about the prison-industrial complex and the gender-based violence that occurs within prisons. Davis returned to teaching, but in 1980, she faced yet another challenge. Her long-time political opponent, Ronald Reagan, the former governor of California, was running for president.
Ronald Reagan ramped up the “War on Drugs” begun by Richard Nixon, which specifically targeted the poor and Black populations. Although white and Black people were selling and using drugs at similar rates, various laws made it so that Black people were disproportionately incarcerated and policed. Following Reagan’s presidential term, the growth of hip hop in the United States set the tone for a year of antiracist political organizing. In 1991, a videotape of the LAPD beating Rodney King was broadcast on the news, highlighting the extent of police brutality and outraging the Black community.
In the 2000s, scientific evidence demonstrated that all races share 99.9% of their genes. Racists were shocked by this finding, as it proved that race is a social construct without any biological basis. In 2001, Angela Davis fought to end the prison-industrial complex. The 9/11 attacks in 2001 prompted an increased nationalist sentiment, and all those critical of the United States were deemed particularly “threatening." Thus, the years following 9/11 marked a setback for antiracist organizers. In 2004, Barack Obama gained traction as a well-known and “respectable” Black politician. He later ran for president and was elected in 2008. Obama symbolized change and hope, but he also symbolized assimilation. In 2013, as a response to the ever-growing rate of police brutality, Alicia Garza, Patrisse Cullors, and Opal Tometi founded the #BlackLivesMatter movement. These leaders have reiterated that antiracism includes combatting sexism, homophobia, colorism, nativism, cultural prejudice, and class bias. Today, local BLM groups exist in communities across the nation, advocating for all Black lives.
Analysis
Section V takes readers from the post-WWII era to today. The section focuses on organizer Angela Davis, who today continues to champion intersectionality in all aspects of her work. Throughout her career, Davis had a difficult time finding her place within activist organizational structures. As a queer Black woman and Marxist, she often felt like it was hard to fit into organizations that favored one issue over the other. This prompted Davis to forge her own activist path and highlight the interrelatedness of racial, gender, and class struggles.
The motif of fear reappeared in the post-war era. The authors highlight how much of the resistance to the Black Power movement was rooted in white fear of Black-led organizations. The pattern of fear followed by oppression reappears during this time. Because white society was deeply worried about racial tensions “dividing” America, racist sentiment flourished. The release of the Planet of the Apes was an important example of this fear.
Yet again, the authors reiterate how storytelling deeply affects American politics during times of unrest. Planet of the Apes was very similar to Tarzan in its depiction of innocent whiteness and the “inherent evil” of Blackness. The reader is able to trace this representation back to the 17th century during Cotton Mather’s influence in Massachusetts. Even as recently as forty years ago, Black people have been depicted in the media as savage and animalistic. This connection prompts readers to evaluate today’s media landscape and examine their own attitudes.
In addition, Stamped highlights the manipulative tactics of career politicians. It is easy to draw parallels between the era of Jefferson and Lincoln and that of Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton. Though each of these presidents claimed to advocate for equality, they all passed legislation that purposefully intended to oppress and control Black people. For example, the “War on Drugs” was a targeted way to infiltrate Black communities and incarcerate Black men. In this way, the reader is able to draw connections between past events and how they continually affect national perception and legislature.
The election of President Barack Obama in 2008 prompted many people to feel as if America had finally entered a “post-racial” society. However, increased reports of police brutality have demonstrated that racism is far from being “over.” Stamped uses history to convey that racism is a foundational element that permeates all American structures. In order to combat racism, we must first recognize that the fight is never over. Rather, we must work together and use our privilege to advocate for the creation of an equal, just society.
