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 US government’s policy towards 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. By 1969 the Black Panther Party had become the number
one organization targeted by the FBI’s COINTELPRO program. Because the Black
Panther Party demanded the total liberation of black people, J. Edgar Hoover
called it “greatest threat to the internal security of the country” and vowed
to destroy it and its leaders and activists.
I was falsely accused in six
different “criminal cases” and in all six of these cases I was eventually
acquitted or the charges were dismissed. The fact that I was acquitted or that
the charges were dismissed, did not mean that I received justice in the courts,
that was certainly not the case. It only meant that the “evidence” presented
against me was so flimsy and false that my innocence became evident. This
political persecution was part and parcel of the government’s policy of
eliminating political opponents by charging them with crimes and arresting them
with no regard to the factual basis of such charges.
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
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 Forester. 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 was 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.
The U.S. Senate’s 1976 Church
Commission report on intelligence operations inside the USA, revealed that “The
FBI has attempted covertly to influence the public’s perception of persons and
organizations by disseminating derogatory information to the press, either
anonymously or through “friendly” news contacts.” This same policy is evidently
still very much in effect today.
On December 24, 1997, The New Jersey
State called a press conference to announce that New Jersey State Police had
written a letter to Pope John Paul II asking him to intervene on their behalf
and to aid in having me extradited back to New Jersey prisons. The New Jersey
State Police refused to make their letter public. Knowing that they had
probably totally distort the facts, and attempted to get the Pope to do the
devils work in the name of religion, I decided to write the Pope to inform him
about the reality of’ “justice” for black people in the State of New Jersey and
in the United States. (See attached Letter to the Pope).
In January of 1998, during the
pope’s visit to Cuba, I agreed to do an interview with NBC journalist Ralph
Penza around my letter to the Pope, about my experiences in New Jersey court
system, and about the changes I saw in the United States and it’s treatment of
Black people in the last 25 years. I agreed to do this interview because I saw
this secret letter to the Pope as a vicious, vulgar, publicity maneuver on the
part of the New Jersey State Police, and as a cynical attempt to manipulate
Pope John Paul II. I have lived in Cuba for many years, and was completely out
of touch with the sensationalist, dishonest, nature of the establishment media
today. It is worse today than it was 30 years ago. After years of being
victimized by the “establishment” media it was naive of me to hope that I might
finally get the opportunity to tell “my side of the story.” Instead of an
interview with me, what took place was a “staged media event” in three parts,
full of distortions, inaccuracies and outright lies. NBC purposely
misrepresented the facts. Not only did NBC spend thousands of dollars promoting
this “exclusive interview series” on NBC, they also spent a great deal of money
advertising this “exclusive interview” on black radio stations and also placed
notices in local newspapers.
Like most poor and oppressed people
in the United States, I do not have a voice. Black people, poor people in the
U.S. have no real freedom of speech, no real freedom of expression and very
little freedom of the press. The black press and the progressive media has
historically played an essential role in the struggle for social justice. We
need to continue and to expand that tradition. We need to create media outlets
that help to educate our people and our children, and not annihilate their
minds. I am only one woman. I own no TV stations, or Radio Stations or
Newspapers. But I feel that people need to be educated as to what is going on,
and to understand the connection between the news media and the instruments of
repression in Amerika. All I have is my voice, my spirit and the will to tell
the truth. But I sincerely ask, those of you in the Black media, those of you
in the progressive media, those of you who believe in truth freedom, To publish
this statement and to let people know what is happening. We have no voice, so
you must be the voice of the voiceless.
Free all Political Prisoners, I send
you Love and Revolutionary Greetings From Cuba, One of the Largest, Most
Resistant and Most Courageous Palenques (Maroon Camps) That has ever existed on
the Face of this Planet.
Assata Shakur Havana, Cuba
In 1978, my case was one of many
cases bought before the United Nations Organization in a petition filed by the
National Conference of Black Lawyers, the National Alliance Against Racist and
Political Repression, and the United Church of Christ Commission for Racial
Justice, exposing the existence of political prisoners in the United States, their
political persecution, and the cruel and inhuman treatment they receive in US
prisons. According to the report:
‘The FBI and the New York Police
Department in particular, charged and accused Assata Shakur of participating in
attacks on law enforcement personnel and widely circulated such charges and
accusations among police agencies and units. The FBI and the NYPD further
charged her as being a leader of the Black Liberation Army which the government
and its respective agencies described as an organization engaged in the
shooting of police officers. This description of the Black Liberation Army and
the accusation of Assata Shakur’s relationship to it was widely circulated by
government agents among police agencies and units. As a result of these activities
by the government, Ms. Shakur became a hunted person; posters in police
precincts and banks described her as being involved in serious criminal
activities; she was highlighted on the FBI’s most wanted list; and to police at
all levels she became a ‘shoot-to-kill’ target.”
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