ii-20 - angela davis (annotation by infamosa)

7/25/2019 II-20 - Angela Davis (Annotation by Infamosa)

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Peter Ablinger

Voices & Piano (1998-2007)

für Klavier und CD

Angela Davis

score annotated by A. Infamosa

Performance directions

Sixteenths and triplets: strong and clear, poco forte, maybe portato playing also for

sixteenths (a little bit like Keith Jarret when he plays jazz eighths - never legato!

Chords (all quarters, also single note quarters) : softer, mp, accompanying

Audio directions

Single, centered speaker in front of piano (“like the tenor of a Schubert song-cycle”)

with mono left channel only going to audience

Pianist plays with small earphone : right channel only (clicktrack + voice)



text transcription:

Before anything else, I am a black woman, and I’ve dedicated my life to the struggle for the

liberation of black people, my enslaved, imprisoned people.

I am a communist because I believe that the reason we have been forcibly compelled to eke

out an existence at the very lowest level of American society has to do with the nature of

capitalism. If we’re going to rise out of our oppression, our poverty; if we’re going to cease

being the target of lynch mob… of the lynch mob mentality, of racist policemen, we’ll have to

destroy the American capitalist system. We will have to obliterate a system in which a few

wealthy capitalists are guaranteed the privilege of becoming richer and richer; whereas the

people, who are forced to work for the rich – and especially black people – never take any

signify;cant step forward.

I am a communist because I believe that black people, with whose labor and blood this

country was built, have a right to a great deal of the wealth that has been hoarded in the

hands of the Hughes, the Rockefellers, the Kennedys, the Duponts : all those super powerful

white capitalists of America.

Further, I am a communist because I believe that black men should not be coerced into

fighting a racist, imperialist war in Southeast Asia, where the U.S. government is violently

denying a non-white people the right to control their own lives, just as they suppressed us for

hundreds of years.

I am in prison, but we should remember this: there will continue to be frame-ups such as

mine, and we will be continued to be forced to hide. Just because they caught me doesn’t

mean that every one of us will be captured. They set all their running dogs of me. This they

can afford to do only a few times over.

We must refuse to allow them to strike terror among us, for this was obviously the intent oftheir actions. Furthermore, because of the intensified repression we are experiencing, we’ll

have to begin to talk about creating a viable apparatus to allow freedom fighters, black

freedom fighters, to remain in this country and remain active in the black liberation

struggles.

First of all, I’m sure that J. Edgar Hoover, in collusion with Nixon and Reagan, decided to

make an example of me. The F.B.I. unleashed an enormous amount of manpower in this

search: much, much more than they could afford to use ordinarily.

…Anyone who believes such flagrant lies has been terribly deceived by the Nixon/Reagan

clique; for they’re the ones who devised such underhanded methods of questioning ourstruggle!

I am a communist, a black woman communist. Furthermore, through me, the government is

attempting to further attack and terrorize black people… as they have done in the case of

George Jackson, Huey Newton, Bobby Seal, Erica Huggins… and I could go on and on and

on. Therefore, black people need to talk about rising up, not only in the defense of political

prisoners, but in their own defense.

There is nothing, absolutely nothing which could deter me from continuing to fight with all

my energies for the freedom of my people. And, there’s no need for me to cry because I’ve

been captured! But, there’s all the more reason to be strong and keep fighting. During thetime I was participating in the efforts to free the Solidad brothers, I continually warned that

any one of us could be set up as the next target of the government’s policy of repression – of

the repression of black revolutionaries.



Be-fore

anything

else, I'm a black wo-man.

ca-ted my life

to the struggle for

the liberation ofblack people, my enslaved, emprisoned people.

and I've dedi-

I am a communist because I'm con-vinced that the reason we have been

forcibly

compelled to eke out an existence

at the very lowest

level of

American

so-ci-e-ty has to do with the nature

of capi- ta- li- sm. If we're going

to

rise out of our

oppression, our po-ver-ty;If we're going to cease being the

targets of lynch mob...

of the lynch-mob mentality,

of racist po-



-licemen, we'll have to destroy the American

capitalist system.

We will have

to

ob-

li-

ter- ate

a system

in which a few wealthy ca-pi-ta-lists are gua-ran-teed

the pri-vi-lege of be- co-ming

richer and

richer, where-as the peo-ple who are forced towork for the rich, and es-pe-cially black people, never

take any

sig-ni-fi-

cant step forward.

I am a communist, because I be-lieve that black people, with

whose labor and

blood this country was built

have a right

to a great deal of the

wealth that has been hoarded in the hands of the Hughes,

the Rocke-

fellers, the Kennedys, the Duponts... Allt ose

super-power u

white capi-

talistsof A-me-ri- ca.

Fur-



ther, I am

a

com-

mu-nist be-cause I believe

that

black men should not be coerced into

fighting a

racist, imperialist

war in Southeast A-

sia where the U. S. gov-ern- ment is vio-lent-ly denying a non-white people the right to control their own li-

ves, just asthey suppressed us for hundreds of years.

I am

in pri-son, but we should remember this:

there will con-

tinue to be

frame-ups such as minebe continued

and we'll

to be forced to hide.

Just because they caught

me doesn't

that every one of us will be cap-tured; They set all their... run-ning dogs on me.

This they can af-ford to do only a few times o-ver. We must re-fuse



to al-low them to strike terror among us for this

was obviously the intent of their actions.

Fur-ther-more

because of the intensified re- pres- sion we are experiencing

we'll haveto begin to talk a-

bout... cre-a-ting a viable apparatus to allow freedom

fighters, black freedom fighters sought

for by the police to remain in

this country

and remain active in the

black liberation strug-gles.

First of all, I'm sure that J. Edgar Hoover, in collusion

with

Nixon and Reagan, decided to make

an ex- am- ple of me.

The F. B. I. unleashed and enormous amount

of manpower



much, much more than they could

af-ford to

use or-di-na-ri-ly.

An-y-one who be-lieves

such

flagrant lies has been ter-ribly

deceived by the Nixon/Reagan clique for they're the ones who

devised such under-handed

methods of

question-ing our struggle.

I am a communist, a

black woman commu-nist. Furthermore,

through

me the government

is attempting to further at-tack

and terrorize black people as they.. bl uh as they have in the case of

George Jackson, Huey Newton, Bobby Seal, Erica Huggins... and I could go

on and on & on...

Therefore, black people... have to begin to



Talk about rising up, not only in the defense

of political prisoners, but in their own defense.

There is no-thing, absolute-ly nothing which could de-ter me from con- ti- nuing to

fight

with all my for the of my peo-ple.energies freedom

And there's I've cap-tured

no need for me to cry because been

But there's more to be strong and keep fighting.

all the reason

During the time I was participating in

the efforts to free the Solidad

brothers

I continually warned that An- y one of us could be set up as the next target of the

government's policy of re-pres-sion... of the repression of black re-vo-lu- tio-na-ries.

ii-20 - angela davis (annotation by infamosa)

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