Everywhere we look we see the encroaching shadow of the police state.

Young black men in America have an identity ascribed to them that is a direct legacy of slavery.

Getting ahead cannot be the only motive that motivates people. You have to imagine what a good life is.

Within neoliberal narratives, the message is clear: Buy/ sell/ or be punished.

I think, at some level, we see young people all over the country mobilizing around different issues, in which they're doing something that I haven't seen for a long time. And that is, they're linking issues together. You can't talk about police violence without talking about the militarization of society in general. You can't talk about the assault on public education unless you talk about the way in which capitalism defunds all public goods. You can't talk about the prison system without talking about widespread racism. You can't do that. They're making those connections.

Under neoliberalism, culture appears to have largely abandoned its role as a site of critique.

The prevailing move in American society to a permanent war status does more than promote a set of unifying symbols that embrace a survival of the fittest ethic, promoting conformity over dissent, the strong over the weak, and fear over responsibility, it also gives rise to what David Graeber has called a "language of command" in which violence becomes the most important element of power and mediating force in shaping social relationships.