Barbara Smith: The U.S. "Functions with White Supremacy as Its Engine." ...

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Barbara Smith: The U.S. "Functions with White Supremacy as Its Engine." Here's How We Dismantle It

Sep 11, 2020

Democracy Now!

Since the police killing of George Floyd in May sparked a nationwide uprising against police brutality, armed white supremacists have taken to the streets of U.S. cities in response to Black Lives Matter protests. Organizing against systemic racism has been met with apparent attempts by the Trump administration to cover up white supremacist violence. We speak to legendary Black feminist scholar Barbara Smith, founder of the Combahee River Collective, about her proposal for an antiracist program called the Hamer-Baker Plan — named for Fannie Lou Hamer and Ella Baker — to eradicate white supremacy in the U.S. "I'm not just talking about white supremacist groups or organized white supremacy," Smith says. "What I'm talking about is a system that actually dictates and shapes every aspect of life in the U.S."