"Nobody in the world, nobody in history, has ever gotten their freedom by appealing to the moral sense of the people who were oppressing them."Assata Shakur interviewed by Pastors For Peace (2000) (Recorded in Cuba.)
"We¡¯re taught at such an early age to be against the communists, yet most of us don¡¯t have the faintest idea what communism is. Only a fool lets somebody else tell him who his enemy is. [¡] It¡¯s got to be one of the most basic principles of living: always decide who your enemies are for yourself, and never let your enemies choose your enemies for you."
There are 11 million people on this island who have an incredibly optimistic vision of the world. My mother put it into words most clearly when she said: ¡°If these people had not won, had not taken power, everybody would think they were insane!¡± [laughs]. People would think the whole revolutionary process was totally insane. How dare these 11 million people on this little island think they can change the way that this planet is going? How dare they think they can stand up against the United States, that they can have their own system? But that is the kind of magic of Cuba ¡ª that people have this optimism, this pride, this belief ¡ª not only in themselves but in other people.
That to me has been one of the psychic vitamins that has fed me since I¡¯ve been here and that has taught me the power of people. I was a member of the Black Panther Party, and we used to say ¡°Power to the People,¡± but here in Cuba is where I¡¯ve seen that put into practice, where I¡¯ve seen that internalized by people in such a way that people feel empowered to build this planet and to change it. And to contribute and feel privileged to do that, to feel that when they go to sleep at night that all is not in vain. There is some sense in living on this planet. That there is some beauty in constructing something better and giving to other people. And work is a source of pride, not ¡°Oh, I¡¯ve gotta go to work in the morning.¡± It¡¯s another way of looking at the world and another way of living on this planet.
On 2 May 1973, a state trooper, James Harper, pulled over a car she was in for a failed rear light, with another trooper, Werner Foerster, in a second patrol car. Following a gunfire exchange, the Black Liberation Army member Zayd Malik Shakur and Foerster died. Shakur was convicted of murdering Foerster in 1977 and sentenced to life in prison. Two years later, BLA members disguised as visitors helped her break out of Clinton Correctional Facility for Women in New Jersey. She later appeared in Cuba, where Fidel Castro¡¯s government granted her asylum.posted by Nelson at 2:49 PM on September 26 [11 favorites]
My name is Assata Shakur, and I am a 20th century escaped slave. Because of government persecution, I was left with no other choice than to flee from the political repression, racism and violence that dominate the U.S. government¡¯s policy toward people of color. I am an ex-political prisoner, and I have been living in exile in Cuba since 1984.
I have been a political activist most of my life, and although the U.S. government has done everything in its power to criminalize me, I am not a criminal, nor have I ever been one. In the 1960s, I participated in various struggles: the Black Liberation Movement, the student rights movement and the movement to end the war in Vietnam. I joined the Black Panther Party...
...On May 2, 1973, I along with Zayd Malik Shakur and Sundiata Acoli were stopped on the New Jersey Turnpike, supposedly for a ¡°faulty tail-light.¡± Sundiata Acoli got out of the car to determine why we were stopped. Zayd and I remained in the car. State trooper [James] Harper then came to the car, opened the door and began to question us.
Because we were Black and riding in a car with Vermont license plates, he claimed he became ¡°suspicious.¡± He then drew his gun, pointed it at us and told us to put our hands up in the air, in front of us, where he could see them. I complied, and in a split second, there was a sound that came from outside the car; there was a sudden movement, and I was shot once with my arms held up in the air and then once again from the back.
Zayd Malik Shakur was later killed; trooper Werner Foerster was killed; and even though trooper Harper admitted that he shot and killed Zayd Malik Shakur, under the New Jersey felony murder law, I was charged with killing both Zayd Malik Shakur, who was my closest friend and comrade, and charged in the death of trooper Foerster. Never in my life have I felt such grief. Zayd had vowed to protect me and to help me to get to a safe place, and it was clear that he had lost his life trying to protect both me and Sundiata.
Although he was also unarmed, and the gun that killed trooper Foerster was found under Zayd¡¯s leg, Sundiata Acoli, who was captured later, was also charged with both deaths. Neither Sundiata Acoli nor I ever received a fair trial. We were both convicted in the news media way before our trials. No news media were ever permitted to interview us, although the New Jersey police and the FBI fed stories to the press on a daily basis.
In 1977, I was convicted by an all-white jury and sentenced to life plus 33 years in prison. In 1979, fearing that I would be murdered in prison, and knowing that I would never receive any justice, I was liberated from prison, aided by committed comrades who understood the depths of the injustices in my case and who were also extremely fearful for my life.
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posted by Jon_Evil at 1:54 PM on September 26