War & Peace Quote by Angela Davis

Racism isn’t framed here as a personal flaw or a regrettable social “attitude,” but as infrastructure: an instrument with owners, incentives, and measurable returns. Angela Davis chooses the blunt mechanics of “weapon” and “profits” to strip the topic of comforting moral fog. The line forces a shift from etiquette to political economy, insisting that racial hierarchy is maintained not simply because people believe bad ideas, but because powerful institutions monetize those ideas.

The specific intent is corrective and strategic. Davis is warning that anti-racism that stops at interpersonal bias is easy to celebrate and easier to absorb without changing anything material. If racism functions to justify lower wages and worse working conditions for Black workers, then it also disciplines everyone else: it sets a floor for exploitation and a story that makes it feel deserved. The subtext is an indictment of “divide-and-conquer” labor politics, where resentment is cultivated horizontally (worker vs. worker) so the pressure never builds vertically (workers vs. owners).

Context matters: Davis emerged from the Black radical tradition of the 1960s and 70s, shaped by civil rights victories that didn’t automatically dismantle economic inequality, and by a broader left analysis of capitalism’s need for stratified labor. Her phrasing echoes that lineage: not pleading for recognition, but naming an arrangement. It’s persuasive because it refuses the sentimental shortcut and points to an uncomfortable implication - if racism is profitable, then it won’t be outgrown; it has to be unbuilt.