Assata Shakur: a victorious symbol of resistance

It’s not surprising that Assata Shakur is not one of the most well-known names in U.S. history – even though she should be.

That is par for the course when it comes to Black heroes, so we must make sure that this Black woman and her relevance to our movement remain visible.

As Assata said in an open letter to our movement:

“Like most poor and oppressed people in the United States, I do not have a voice. Black people, poor people in the U.S. have no real freedom of speech, no real freedom of expression and very little freedom of the press. The Black press and the progressive media have historically played an essential role in the struggle for social justice. We need to continue and to expand that tradition. We need to create media outlets that help to educate our people and our children and not annihilate their minds.”

The 1960s and ‘70s saw frequent frame-ups and assassinations of Black leaders in the liberation movements by the FBI, especially targeting the Black Panther Party, like the assassination of Fred Hampton in Chicago in 1969.

As a Black Panther Party and Black Liberation Army member – frequently threatened by the police — what happened on May 2, 1973, was due to come.

Zayd Malik Shakur and Sundiata Acoli and Assata were pulled over by troopers on the New Jersey Turnpike, supposedly for a “faulty tail-light.”

Assata was told to put her hands up and was then shot in the front and back. In defending Sudiata and Assata, Zayd was killed. One of the troopers, Werner Foester, was dead, and Assata was sentenced to life in prison after being charged with murder and attempted murder, even after medical evidence showed that she was shot with her hands up.

But in 1979, her comrades successfully helped her escape from prison and by 1984, it was known that she was given asylum by the Cuban people. Their representative, President Fidel Castro, had a history of defending the right of self-defense and self-determination for African people in Angola, with continued solidarity with Black liberation leaders in the U.S.

Assata was able to live her life honored by the Cuban people and remained there as an educational teacher.

After learning of the asylum, the New Jersey police were so upset that they asked Pope John Paul II, who was visiting Cuba, to help get her extradited to the United States. When Assata heard about this, she wrote a letter to the Pope to give the other side.

“Police brutality is a daily occurrence in our communities. The police have a virtual license to kill, and they do kill: children, grandmothers, anyone they perceive to be the enemy. They shoot first and ask questions later. Inside the jails and prisons, there is at least as much brutality as there was on slave plantations. An ever-increasing number of prisoners are found hanging in their cells.

“The United States is becoming a land more hostile to Black people and other people of Color. Racism is running rampant and xenophobia is on the rise. This has been especially true in the sphere of domestic policy. Politicians are attempting to blame social problems on Black people and other people of Color. There have been attacks on essentially all affirmative action programs designed to help correct the accumulated results of hundreds of years of slavery and discrimination. In addition, the government seems determined to eliminate all social programs that provide assistance to the poor, resulting in a situation where millions of people do not have access to basic health care, decent housing or quality education.”

Yes, history does repeat itself, the Trump Administration makes that clear. It’s also clear that the push toward fascism and genocide didn’t start with Trump.

Clinton Correctional Facility is where Assata was spending her life sentence. Although it wasn’t named after Bill Clinton, the name fits. His administration collaborated in putting political prisoners behind bars, and targeting them with assassinations, while joining the club of Democrats pitching the ball for Republicans like Trump. Assata’s time in prison also included torture, abuse and solitary confinement.

In 1979, Jimmy Carter’s administration created the bounty against Assata. Bill Clinton increased that bounty to $1 million. And it was Barack Obama’s administration in 2013 that doubled that bounty, with the FBI declaring her the first woman to receive the designation of Most Wanted Terrorist – making the $2 million bounty to “capture” – a more likely unofficial “capture and kill” directive. But she fought and she won!

Assata has been and remains an inspiration in our fight against genocide from Los Angeles to Chicago to Gaza and Palestine. In her autobiography, published in 1988, she teaches us the necessity of self-defense and self-determination. She writes about what is most necessary in building a united working class, which especially inspires people of color with her appreciation and study of Ho Chi Minh, Kim Il Sung, Che, Fidel, and Huey Newton, enriching her understanding of Marxism-Leninism.

In 1996 in Cuba Assata Shakur stated: “The liberation of oppressed people in the United States, has to do, not with climbing of some ladder to success, not for asking to be just like Rockefeller or just like DuPont or just like Ford, because that would only continue the oppression and exploitation of oppressed people in the United States and specifically African people, born and raised in the United States.

“Socialism is an integral part of building social justice on this planet. The condition of my people, my history, was very much connected with other oppressed people. And I began to see that the same foot that was on the necks of the Vietnamese people was on the necks of all oppressed. …and so I began to understand that imperialism has to go. It is a poison that is killing people all over this world. The priority of this planet has to be completely changed. …that’s what my basic political commitment is at this moment.

And Assata, who knew Cuba would have an effect on the Pope, ended her letter:

“On this day, the birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr., I am reminded of all those who gave their lives for freedom. Most of the people who live on this planet are still not free. I ask only that you continue to work and pray to end oppression and political repression. It is my heartfelt belief that all the people on this earth deserve justice: social justice, political justice, and economic justice. I believe it is the only way that we will ever achieve peace and prosperity on earth. I hope that you enjoy your visit to Cuba. This is not a country that is rich in material wealth, but it is a country that is rich in human wealth, spiritual wealth and moral wealth.”