What Assata Taught Us
Comrades, we and the entire revolutionary world received news of Comrade Elder Assata Shakur’s transition to the ancestors on September 25 at 1:15 PM in Cuba.
Comrade Shakur’s life was lived for the people. Her entire adult life was dedicated to the service and freedom of the New Afrikan people, those who were brought to this country in chains, stripped of their Afrikan nationalities and languages, brutalized, tortured, and forced to build their own prison for free, on land stolen from our Indigenous comrades-in-arms. She did not seek wealth, fame, or fortune; as a matter of fact, she publicly scorned these things. She turned her back on the gilded cage prepared for the Black petit-bourgeoisie and sought refuge among the working class, the lumpen/proletariat, and the broad masses who were cast out of the American nightmare-called-dream. As a teenager, she rebelled against the brainwashing imposed on all Black youth, which worshiped whiteness and scorned her own Blackness. As a cadre of the Black Panther Party, she struggled against patriarchy, racism, and the entire fascist apparatus, being a leading organizer of the famous Free Breakfast for Children program and the People’s Free Clinic Program in Harlem. She demonstrated the first requirement of a Communist cadre: she served the people.
Her service to the people eventually led to her taking up arms as a soldier of the BLA. In this capacity, she was wounded on many occasions. She was wounded and captured for the last time on May 2, 1973, by the fascists on the New Jersey Turnpike after they attempted to murder her and successfully murdered comrade Zayd Malik Shakur. Comrade Sundiata Acoli was captured after a slavery style manhunt. In the hospital, she was subject to medical neglect and torture at the hands of the fascists. She was then subject to even more torture in jail and prison after being found guilty of 2 murder charges and six assault charges by an all white, racist jury. Assata was pardoned by the revolutionary movement on November 2, 1979, being released from prison by the Black Liberation Army cadres and May 19th Communist Organization.
She sought and was granted refuge in Cuba, which served as a rear base for the free peoples of the world since the revolution in 1959. Despite repeated threats, despite the massive bounty on her head, in the face of sanctions and harassment from the United States, Cuba continued to guard comrade Assata. For this, every revolutionary in the United States owes the Cuban people a debt of gratitude and solidarity. It is in Cuba that Comrade Assata transitioned, a maroon, a people’s warrior, and a stalwart, unyielding Communist.
Assata taught us where political power comes from, not from begging, negotiating with the enemy, or talking with the enemy at all. Throughout her trial, she refused to entertain the fascist farce. She remained firm in her belief, rooted in her people, and secure in the invincibility of the people’s movement. New Afrika shall be free, workers shall be free, all people of the world ground under the fascist heel will be free, through their own efforts.
It is this spirit and this life that we honor. May we be worthy. Rest in Power, Comrade.
- Liberation Caucus
