Mama Assata Shakur:
The Personification of African womanhood
She took three bullets to the chest for you yet you really don’t know whom she is. Her name is Assata Shakur or Mama Assata as we affectionately call her. Assata is living in Cuba under what is called political asylum. Political asylum is the condition under which one is granted sanctuary from a “foreign” government after fleeing the government in which they were born. She needed sanctuary because of trumped up charges against her, aimed at crushing the black liberation struggle, through a program called COINTELPRO or the counter intelligence program. From April 1971-May 1973 she was charged with 7 felonies including murder, attempted murder, bank robbery, armed robbery and kidnapping.
On May 2, 1973 Assata along with Baba Sundiata Acoli and ancestor Zayd Shakur (rest in uhuru) was racially profiled, and ambushed by New Jersey State Troopers on the New Jersey turnpike. Zayd was murdered and a pig was killed in an act of revolutionary self -defense. All charges against Assata were filed after her arrest and all except the turnpike case were thrown out or she was found not guilty. Even still she spent 4 years in New York and New Jersey prisons including the Middlesex County all male prison in the basement, where no other woman had ever been imprisoned. Now that is real Amerikkkan affirmative action. She was kept under surveillance for 24 hours under heavy guard. She escaped prison, defeated her captures and now is an intricate part of African folklore.
Assata entered a war naïve about her stance with the government. But as time went on she would understand the reality of the war she entered as well as the enemy: “We were not prepared for what we experienced in the 60’s. Black people need to know what happened and what the role of the government was. It wasn’t just a matter of the Black Panther Party disappearing, it was destroyed, it was attacked by the government, it was divided, it. It was destroyed. We need to study that time so we don’t make the same mistakes.” Speaking on her beginnings in the struggle she said, “My life wasn’t beautiful and creative before I became politically active. My life was totally changed when I began to struggle. We had to learn that we’re beautiful. We had to relearn something that was forcefully taken away from us. We had to learn about Black Power. People have power if we unite. We learned the importance of coming together and being creative. That fueled me.”
“We knew what a token was then. Today young people don’t see Condoleezza Rice or Colin Powell as tokens. That’s a problem.” She also had a realistic view of her struggle as a global African struggle. “I realized that I was connected to Africa. I wasn’t just a colored girl. I was part of a whole world that wanted a better life. I am part of a majority not a minority. My life has been a life of growth. If your not growing, you’re not going to understand real love. If your not reaching out to help others then you’re sinking. My life has been active. I’m not a spectator. I think the greatest betrayal a revolutionary can participate in is to become like your oppressors. I think that is a betrayal and a sin.
I found some consolation in the fact that she even addressed the idea of “you can’t beat the government”. On these type of statements Assata would say, “I think the one problem that exist in the U.S. and many other places in the world is that people don’t believe that they can make a difference. So a lot of times we’re defeated before we even start. We’ve become consumer’s of a world vision, of Kentucky Fried Chicken, of McDonald’s…and we’ve also consumed the idea of powerlessness, of the idea that “you can’t fight city hall”, “you can’t win against a powerful establishment” of “you can’t change things, the government is strong, that’s just the way things are”.
In closing I would like to share some thoughts of Assatas concerning the struggle as well as lessons for young brother’s and sister’s in the struggle: “I think the movement has done more for me as a human being than I will ever be able to do for the movement. I felt that what happened in the 60’s with the Black Liberation movement can be useful today because in many situations it’s bad or even worse. We are oppressed people in the U.S. and don’t even know it. We have fewer opportunities to be doctors and lawyers as tuition increases. Our problem is that we want to belong to a society that wants to oppress us. We want to be the plantation owner. In Cuba, we want to change the plantation into a collective farm. What I’m dealing with is difficult. Our people, not just black people, people all over the world has dealt with oppression and are dealing with it and are struggling and that you know (long pause) either we want a better world or we don’t, and either we gon’ fight for it, struggle for it, work for it or we aint! But I think it’s worth it, I think it’s worth it!
And so do I Mama Assata…Ase!
Quotes from Assata and those who support her
Sister Nisa Muhammad- “Assata Shakur is a Black American folk hero. She is a freedom fighter that escaped the chains of oppression. She made it to the other side. She is a sister that defied the definitions of expected behavior by a Black woman.”
Assata’s Mother- “If these people (the Cubans) had not taken power, had not won, everybody would think they were insane.”
Assata’s quotes- “It’s moods like this that make me aware of how glad I am to be a revolutionary. I know who our enemy is, and I know that me-and these swine cannot live peacefully on the same planet. I am part of a family of field niggas and that is something very precious.”
- “A revolutionary woman can’t have no reactionary man. If he’s not about struggle, if he ain’t about building a strong black nation then he ain’t about nothing. We must celebrate African womanhood”
- “Black people will never be free unless black women participate in every aspect of our struggle, on every level of our struggle. We don’t have time to play around!”
Lennox Hinds (Former member of the National Conference of Black Lawyers)- “ The State conceded at the trial of her co defendant that it was impossible for her to pull the trigger (shattered clavicle, paralyzed hand, three bullet wounds) so she was convicted of aiding and abetting in the murder which carried the same penalty as the person who actually pulled the trigger.”
Assata, Al and Betrayal
According to documentation as well as personal testimonies, the Reverend Al Sharpton worked as a federal informant and made several attempts to set up Assata for her capture. Ahmed Obafemi and Kwame Braithwaite said Sharpton requested a meeting with Assata in 1893. Al Sharpton approached the two men about Assatas whereabouts. Sharpton has admitted assisting the government, as was the case on “Meet the Press” in 2003 I believe. The same interview in which Sharpton was videotaped agreeing with undercover agents on drug deals in the community at that time in his life. Though there is documentation and more than reliable testimony, it has yet to be undeniably proven that his aim was to set Assata up. With respect to Reverend Sharpton, if you did play a part in this endeavor there is still time for repentance. You can take a stand, with the evidence provided, against the bounty and extradition of Assata from Cuba. You don’t work for the feds anymore and you have nothing to lose right?
The Beauty, The Beast and the Bounty
In 1997, the New Jersey State Troopers wrote the Pope asking for the Pontiff’s help in having Assata extradited. Former New Jersey Governor Christine Todd-Whitman issued a $100,000 enticement for anyone to assist in the return of Assata Shakur. Congress issued H.R. 254 calling on Cuba to send her back, which was supported by most Black congresspersons. I believe it is our duty and service to the struggle as well as Assata to find out which of our distinguished congresspersons needs some village justice!
The reward for Assata’s capture has ballooned to $1,000,000. During a press conference of the 32nd anniversary of the Trooper Werner Foerster, Bounty hunter Louis Faccone was quoted as saying, “I’m going to jump on it.” He also stated that he has a 2-man team in Mexico waiting for a signal from Cuba that she’s been spotted. “My guy’s can get in there in the middle of the night by boat from the Florida Keys”, “if we can get within a 3 mile radius of where she is, I feel confident we can get in, grab her, get on a boat and get her out.” State Police Superintendent Col. Rick Fuentes was quoted, “The goal is to bring a fully functional, no assembly required fugitive back home to New Jersey so she can finish out her term of imprisonment.” The money of the bounty for Assata was approved by Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez and came from your United Sates Justice Department. Assata has also recently been added to the F.B.I.’s wanted list of domestic terrorism suspects.
For more information: handoffassata.org or assatashakur.org
References
From exile with love; Nisa Islam Muhammad, Final Call 11-6-02
Sharpton tried to set up Chesimard, activist say; Oct. 21, 1988, Newsday; Ron Howell and Robert E. Kessler
Sharpton denies Chesimard plot; Oct. 22, 1988 Newsday; Anthony M. DeStefano
B.E.T. interview with Penny Micklebury
1M reward for Chesimard get’s bounty hunter’s attention; Wayne Parry-The Associated Press.
