American activist and convicted felon who was a member of the Black Panther Party and Black Liberation Army
Assata Shakur (born JoAnne Deborah Byron, July 16, 1947) is an activist who was found guilty in the 1973 murder of New Jersey State Trooper Werner Foerster. Shakur was incarcerated in several prisons in the 70s. She escaped from U.S. prison in 1979 and has been living in Cuba in political asylum since 1984. Shakur is the step-aunt/godmother of the late Tupac Shakur.
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It sometimes seems that people in the states are so accustomed to watching death on “Eyewitness News,” watching people starve to death in Africa, being tortured to death in Latin America or shot down on Asian streets, that, somehow, for them, people across the ocean — people “up there” or “down there” or “over there” — are not real.
It was also clear to me that without a truly internationalist component nationalism was reactionary. There was nothing revolutionary about nationalism by itself — Hitler and Mussolini were nationalists. Any community seriously concerned with its own freedom has to be concerned about other peoples’ freedom as well. The victory of oppressed people anywhere in the world is a victory for Black people.
Judge Bachman's having a fit," Ray said. "I hear the FBI is going to conduct an investigation to determine how you got pregnant." "Well, they better not try to come 'round me asking no questions," i told them. "I'll tell them that this baby was sent by the Black creator to liberate Black people. I'll tell 'em that this is the new Black messiah, conceived in a holy way, come to lead our people to freedom and justice and to create a new black nation."
Manhattan Community College had not one course on Peurto Rican history. The Peurto Rican sisters and brothers who knew what was happening became our teachers... once you understand something about the history of a people, their heroes, their hardships, and their sacrifices, it's easier to struggle with them. To support their struggle. For a lot of peole in this country, people who live in other places have no faces. And this is the way the U.S. government wants it to be. They figure as long as the people have no faces and the country has no form, amerikans will not protest when they send in the marines to wipe them out.
I don’t want no abortion,” i cried out. “It’s probably the best course you could take now, and I’d recommend it. But that’s not what I was talking about. I said that there was a chance you could spontaneously abort, have a miscarriage.” “Oh no!” i moaned. “What are you going to do?” “Relax. It’s probably nothing serious. It’s nothing much to worry about.” “What do you mean, nothing much to worry about. I want this baby.” “Well, I can’t force you to do anything, but my advice is to have an abortion. It will be better for you and for everyone else.
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The whole thing boiled down to a simple equation: anything that has any kind of value is made, mined, grown, produced, and processed by working people. So why shouldn't working people collectively own that wealth? Why shouldn't working people own and control their own resources? Capitalism meant that rich business men owned the wealth, while socialism meant that the people who made the wealth owned it.
It was plain to me that we couldn't look to the kourts for freedom and justice anymore than we could expect to gain our liberation by participating in the u.s. political system, and it was pure fantasy to think we could gain them by begging. The only alternative left was to fight for them, and we are going to have to fight like any other people who have fought for liberation.