“When we engage in electoral politics, it can’t be just because a particular individual is running for office, it is to enlarge the terrain of mass struggle, to guarantee a space for the trade union movement to win victories, for the women’s movement to win victories, for people of color to win victories, for working and poor people to win victories.” — Angela Davis

Angela Davis is certainly correct in speaking these words. They are an important reminder of how we must view and relate to the electoral process. But unfortunately, she followed those remarks with highly questionable assertions which put at risk all that she says she seeks to achieve.

Davis has a habit of engaging in some very grave contradictions, which we have analyzed over the years here at Black Agenda Report. In 2012 Angela Davis felt compelled to give fulsome praise to Barack Obama, including claiming that his rise to the presidency showed a connection with the Black radical tradition. The false statement was quite alarming, as Davis ignored the obvious, that the Obama campaign was a creation of the neo-liberal and imperialist elites who needed a more attractive face in a moment of crisis. Our late comrade Glen Ford observed that, “The ‘delusional effect’........

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