KeJia Sista
Jun 20th, 2005, 03:52 PM
Bit of History
Assata Shakur
Black American writer and folk hero Assata Olugbala Shakur was born JoAnee
Deborah Byron in New York on July 14, 1947. For most of her early life,
Shakur resided with maternal grandparents Lula and Frank Hill, first in
Jamaica, New York, then in Wilmington, North Carolina, where her
grandparents opened a business on their beachfront property. Shakur acquired
a love of the written word from her grandfather. In addition to working in
her grandparents' restaurant, she spent a great deal of time reading.
Shakur returned to New York to live with her mother and stepfather in
Queens. It is there that her political education began as she confronted the
issues of racism and discrimination. A troubled teen, Shakur ran away from
home shortly after her parents' divorce. While she returned, Shakur
eventually dropped out of school at seventeen and left her mother's house.
A product of the turbulent 1960's, Shakur joined the Black Panther Party and
became a Black Liberation Army (BLA) leader in the early 1970s. With these
associations, her political problems began in earnest, and Shakur became a
target of the FBI's Counter Intelligence Program. Code-named COINTELPRO,
this FBI operation sought to discredit, kill or other neutralize those
affiliated with the black liberation struggle. Labeled terrorists and
criminals, black activists faced trumped up charges that tied them up in
courts for long periods and ended in incarceration whenever possible.
Shakur was no exception. Indicted ten times and tried for bank robbery,
kidnapping and attempted murder, she was acquitted of all charges or they
were dismissed for a lack of evidence. This changed with a May 2, 1973
"driving while black" incident. Shakur and two companions, Malik Zayad
Shakur, no relation, and Sundiata Acoli, were stopped on the New Jersey
State Turnpike for a broken headlight. The vehicle's occupants appeared
"suspicious" because the car had a Vermont license plate. Shots were fired.
State Trooper Werner Foerster and Malik Shakur were killed.
Assata Shakur, seriously injured in the melee, and Sundiata Acoli were
arrested, tortured and charged with the trooper's death. An all white jury
in 1977 found Shakur guilty, even though forensic evidence showed she had
not fired a weapon and the state's star witness perjured himself. Sentenced
to life plus 33 years in prison, Shakur gave birth to her daughter Kakuya
during two years of solitary confinement. In 1979, after nearly six years in
prison, she escaped from the Clinton Correctional Facility for Women.
Shakur fled the USA, applied for and received asylum in Cuba. She has
continued her education and remains active in the equal rights struggle. In
1987, she published Assata Shakur: An Autobiography, which tells her side of
events before, during, and after the 1973 incident. She also writes on
global issues facing women, youth, and people of color. The subject of
books, movies, music and poetry, Shakur is a freedom fighter whose name
means "she who struggles." (Sources: www.aaregistry.com,
www.assatashakur.org and www.afrocubaweb.com)
Ke Jia
Assata Shakur
Black American writer and folk hero Assata Olugbala Shakur was born JoAnee
Deborah Byron in New York on July 14, 1947. For most of her early life,
Shakur resided with maternal grandparents Lula and Frank Hill, first in
Jamaica, New York, then in Wilmington, North Carolina, where her
grandparents opened a business on their beachfront property. Shakur acquired
a love of the written word from her grandfather. In addition to working in
her grandparents' restaurant, she spent a great deal of time reading.
Shakur returned to New York to live with her mother and stepfather in
Queens. It is there that her political education began as she confronted the
issues of racism and discrimination. A troubled teen, Shakur ran away from
home shortly after her parents' divorce. While she returned, Shakur
eventually dropped out of school at seventeen and left her mother's house.
A product of the turbulent 1960's, Shakur joined the Black Panther Party and
became a Black Liberation Army (BLA) leader in the early 1970s. With these
associations, her political problems began in earnest, and Shakur became a
target of the FBI's Counter Intelligence Program. Code-named COINTELPRO,
this FBI operation sought to discredit, kill or other neutralize those
affiliated with the black liberation struggle. Labeled terrorists and
criminals, black activists faced trumped up charges that tied them up in
courts for long periods and ended in incarceration whenever possible.
Shakur was no exception. Indicted ten times and tried for bank robbery,
kidnapping and attempted murder, she was acquitted of all charges or they
were dismissed for a lack of evidence. This changed with a May 2, 1973
"driving while black" incident. Shakur and two companions, Malik Zayad
Shakur, no relation, and Sundiata Acoli, were stopped on the New Jersey
State Turnpike for a broken headlight. The vehicle's occupants appeared
"suspicious" because the car had a Vermont license plate. Shots were fired.
State Trooper Werner Foerster and Malik Shakur were killed.
Assata Shakur, seriously injured in the melee, and Sundiata Acoli were
arrested, tortured and charged with the trooper's death. An all white jury
in 1977 found Shakur guilty, even though forensic evidence showed she had
not fired a weapon and the state's star witness perjured himself. Sentenced
to life plus 33 years in prison, Shakur gave birth to her daughter Kakuya
during two years of solitary confinement. In 1979, after nearly six years in
prison, she escaped from the Clinton Correctional Facility for Women.
Shakur fled the USA, applied for and received asylum in Cuba. She has
continued her education and remains active in the equal rights struggle. In
1987, she published Assata Shakur: An Autobiography, which tells her side of
events before, during, and after the 1973 incident. She also writes on
global issues facing women, youth, and people of color. The subject of
books, movies, music and poetry, Shakur is a freedom fighter whose name
means "she who struggles." (Sources: www.aaregistry.com,
www.assatashakur.org and www.afrocubaweb.com)
Ke Jia