They refused to let him examine me unless a white doctor, hired by the state, was present, and for the report to the judge, the white doctor had to e… - Assata Shakur

How much we had all gone through. Our fight had started on a slave ship years before we were born. Venceremos, my favorite word in Spanish, crossed my mind. Ten million people had stood up to the monster. Ten million people only ninety miles away. We were here together in their land, my small little family, holding each other after so long. There was no doubt about it, our people would one day be free. The cowboys and bandits didn't own the world.

"Most of us felt that taking control of our neighborhoods was the first step toward liberation...First, we would take control of the schools; then we would take control of the hospitals; then we would take control of the colleges, the housing, etc., etc. We would have community controlled employment, welfare centers, and city, state, and federal agencies.

'Hold on for a minute,' somebody said. 'Where are y'all gonna get the money to run all that stuff?'

'We'll take community control of the banks,' someone answered.

'You'd better take community control of the army, too, because those banks aren't gonna just let you take their money lying down."

'We'll take control of the political institutions in our community. Then we'll take control of the congressional seats, the senate seats, the city council seats, the mayor's office, and every other office you can take control of. We'll take control of the political offices so we can allocate money to the people who need it.'

'Y'all just wishing and hoping,' someone said. 'You can control the social institutions and the political institutions, but unless you control the economic and military institutions, you can only go so far.

Any community seriously concerned with its own freedom has to be concerned about other peoples’ freedom as well.