Comments on: Assata Shakur dies free at 78.

Assata Shakur dies free at 78.

Space Coyote — Fri, 26 Sep 2025 13:37:51 -0800

"No one is going to give you the education you need to overthrow them." On 25 September, Assata Shakur, a former member of the Black Liberation Army, died aged 78 in Havana, Cuba (Guardian) There's a great in-depth discussion of her legacy in this Millennials Are Killing Capitalism discussion stream. "Assata Shakur lived free, Assata Shakur left this earth a free woman. And the state couldn't get her - they couldn't defeat her. In the end Assata Shakur still won." Assata Shakur in her own words:

Excerpts from her autobiography

"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." "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."

Assata Shakur interviewed by Pastors For Peace (2000) (Recorded in Cuba.)

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 — that people have this optimism, this pride, this belief — 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.

By: Jon_Evil

Jon_Evil — Fri, 26 Sep 2025 13:54:58 -0800

✊

By: flamk

flamk — Fri, 26 Sep 2025 13:55:38 -0800

By: Token Meme

Token Meme — Fri, 26 Sep 2025 14:15:59 -0800

By: Didymus

Didymus — Fri, 26 Sep 2025 14:26:29 -0800

Thank you Space Coyote

By: Nelson

Nelson — Fri, 26 Sep 2025 14:49:23 -0800

This post is missing some important information

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.

By: JoeXIII007

JoeXIII007 — Fri, 26 Sep 2025 14:50:16 -0800

By: mittens

mittens — Fri, 26 Sep 2025 15:15:02 -0800

This post is missing some important information Welllll.... "Ms. Shakur's version was that she never held a gun on that 1973 morning and that her arms were in the air when she was shot. Her lawyers said she was mistreated in jail and given poor medical care. Doctors testified on her behalf that the wounds supported her claim that her arms had been raised. Nonetheless, prosecutors insisted that, when shot, she was in a crouch and firing at Trooper Harper. In the end, an all-white jury of seven women and five men believed them. Though there was no evidence that she had fired at the slain Trooper Foerster, everyone involved in the killing of a police officer was deemed equally responsible under New Jersey law."

By: lizard music

lizard music — Fri, 26 Sep 2025 15:16:22 -0800

Further, from https://hoodcommunist.org/2024/03/07/an-open-letter-from-assata-shakur/ (apologies that I can't figure out a better way to display the quote) 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.

By: nobody_truncates

nobody_truncates — Fri, 26 Sep 2025 15:27:53 -0800

✊

By: wicked_sassy

wicked_sassy — Fri, 26 Sep 2025 15:37:39 -0800

By: ocschwar

ocschwar — Fri, 26 Sep 2025 16:34:29 -0800

There are 11 million people on this island who have an incredibly optimistic vision of the world. There are 11 million people in Cuba who deserve not to be used like this while their own voices are stifled. It was true then, and it is true now.

By: jy4m

jy4m — Fri, 26 Sep 2025 16:40:55 -0800

Look, your impulse to act like an anticommunist crank is validated in every other sphere of your life, how about you refrain from it on an in memoriam for one of our most cherished? Go fight the Chinese bot farms on Reddit or something.

By: limeonaire

limeonaire — Fri, 26 Sep 2025 17:54:24 -0800

By: Space Coyote

Space Coyote — Fri, 26 Sep 2025 18:15:25 -0800

Watch the documentary Eyes of the Rainbow, about Shakur, written and directed by Cuban filmmaker Gloria Rolando, appeared in 1997.

By: humbug

humbug — Fri, 26 Sep 2025 19:13:18 -0800

By: adrienneleigh

adrienneleigh — Fri, 26 Sep 2025 19:24:03 -0800

Rest in power, Ms. Shakur. You were one of the best of us.

By: hap_hazard

hap_hazard — Fri, 26 Sep 2025 20:01:17 -0800

By: sickos haha yes dot jpg

sickos haha yes dot jpg — Fri, 26 Sep 2025 20:13:20 -0800

This post is missing some important information lol bet you felt cute doing this one

By: adamvasco

adamvasco — Fri, 26 Sep 2025 20:13:24 -0800

By: sickos haha yes dot jpg

sickos haha yes dot jpg — Fri, 26 Sep 2025 20:14:06 -0800

There are 11 million people in Cuba who deserve not to be used like this while their own voices are stifled. It was true then, and it is true now. how brave of you to truly speak for those 11 million people without fear or fa—

By: HearHere

HearHere — Sat, 27 Sep 2025 03:55:37 -0800

you are appreciated

By: MichaelJoelHall

MichaelJoelHall — Sat, 27 Sep 2025 04:25:18 -0800

By: The Great Big Mulp

The Great Big Mulp — Sat, 27 Sep 2025 13:02:29 -0800

By: Kattullus

Kattullus — Sat, 27 Sep 2025 13:59:23 -0800

By: kozad

kozad — Sat, 27 Sep 2025 20:13:09 -0800

By: tamarack

tamarack — Sat, 27 Sep 2025 21:24:53 -0800

By: eustatic

eustatic — Sun, 28 Sep 2025 12:36:01 -0800

. thanks for posting the song

By: eustatic

eustatic — Sun, 28 Sep 2025 16:01:24 -0800

here s common

By: filtergik

filtergik — Mon, 29 Sep 2025 10:11:12 -0800

By: eustatic

eustatic — Mon, 29 Sep 2025 14:21:46 -0800

Hear her open letter to Pope John Paul II on the history and nature of the collective punishments issued by the US and the NJ police against the Black Panther Party