Her name, Assata Shakur, has become an iconic symbol of Black revolutionary resistance to the white nation and American empire. Shot, beaten and threatened with death, Assata lived up to the meaning of her name: “She who struggles.” Born Joanne Deborah Byron on July 16, 1947, in Queens, N.Y., she came of age during the tumultuous 1960s, when young Black people joined movements and organizations devoted to Black liberation. She joined the Black Panther Party and later, the Black Liberation Army [BLA], and emerged as one of its best-known and best-loved members.
When three young Panthers were driving south on the New Jersey Turnpike, they were ambushed by state troopers, and a shoot-out ensued. One Panther, Zayd Malik Shakur and a state trooper, were shot and killed. Assata was also shot, under her arm. The third Panther, Sundiata Acoli, also survived the ambush. Both survivors were charged withe murder. Assata endured some 10 trials or so, winning acquittal after acquittal after acquittal. She was convicted once, and the state threatened her with another conviction for killing of Zayd.
A BLA squad went to her jail and set her free. Shortly thereafter, she made it to Cuba, which granted her political asylum. She began teaching in Cuba, wrote riveting poetry, and prayed for social change in America, and of course, freedom for the Black Nation. She served her people and freedom’s cause with bravery, beauty and brilliance. She represented her generation as Harriet Tubman represented hers.
In her poem “Affirmations” Assata wrote the following:
I believe in living.
I believe in the spectrum
Of Beta days and Gamma people.
I believe in sunshine.
In windmills, in waterfalls,
Tricycles, and rocking chairs.
And I believe that seeds grow into sprouts.
And sprouts grow into trees.
I believe in the magic of the hands.
And in the wisdom of the eyes.
I believe in rain and tears.
And in the blood of infinity.
I believe in life.
And I have seen the death parade
March through the torso of the Earth,
Sculpting mud bodies in its path.
I have seen the destruction of daylight;
And seen bloodthirsty maggots
Prayed to and saluted.
I have seen the kind become the blind
And the blind become the bind
In one easy lesson.
I have walked on cut glass.
I have eaten crow and blunder bread
And breathed the stench of indifference.
I have been locked by the lawless.
Handcuffed by the haters.
Gagged by the greedy.
And, if I know anything at all,
It’s that a wall is just a wall
And nothing more at all.
It can be broken down.
I believe in living.
I believe in birth.
I believe in the sweat of love
And in the fire of truth.
And I believe that a lost ship,
Steered by tired, seasick sailors,
Can still be guided home
To port.
“Affirmations” by Assata Olugbala Shakur. A Black revolutionary, returns to her ancestors after 78 springtime’s. A salute to Cuba for being that “port”. With love not fear, this is Mumia-Abu Jamal.
These commentaries are recorded by Prison Radio,
