It's no secret that the FBI targeted Angela Davis. Her work for the Black community landed her on their Most-Wanted list. Everything came to a head when she was imprisoned in 1970.
Aretha Franklin publicly offered to pay Davis' bond "whether it's $100,000 or $200,000." Franklin continued, "Angela Davis must go free. Black people will be free. I have the money; I got it from Black people—they've made me financially able to have it—and I want to use it in ways that will help our people." There's another critical layer to this story.
Aretha Franklin and Angela Davis didn’t even know each other. Franklin’s support for Davis and civil rights leaders landed her on the FBI watch list. She has a 270-page file. She risked her career for our community.
This story is bigger than Franklin and Davis, though. It's a reminder that we all we got, and the liberation struggle is a shared one. True solidarity is sharing resources to help one another.
Liberation requires us to lean on each other and exchange resources like money, food, or education. It won't be easy, but we already have everything we need to be free.