Hip-Hop N' Politics: The Anniversary Of Black Panther Assata Shakur Escaping Prison And Fleeing To Cuba [Video]

» by Hip-Hop Wired November 2, 2011, 14:09pm

Assata Shakur Liberated From Prison 32 Years Ago Today

One of the boldest and most successful, though rarely publicized, reactions against oppression in recent times occurred a little over 3 decades ago when Tupac's godmother - Queen Mother Assata Olugbala Shakur - was freed from being held captive in a United Snakes concentration camp, on November 2nd 1979.

During the earlier part of that decade, as an active member of the progressive Black Panther Party and its paramilitary arm – the B.L.A. (Black Liberation Army), the woman formerly known as JoAnn Byron-Chesimard, assisted in clothing, educational and food drives within many dilapidated communities, in efforts to help empower the everyday people.

As a result, she was targeted by the F.B.I.'s ‘COINTELPRO' agenda and accused of committing a slew of violent acts, including… armed robbery, bank heist, kidnapping, attempted murder and murder. Shakur was tagged by investigators as being ‘the revolutionary mother hen' and ‘the soul of the B.L.A.'; alleging that she was responsible for a ‘series of cold-blooded murders of New York City police officers', which subjected the warrioress to a multi-state search for her capture.

Assatta Shakur Live From Cuba

On May 2nd 1973; Assata, along with B.L.A. comrades Sundiata Acoli and Zayd Shakur (no relation, who was driving) were pulled over by state trooper, James Harper on the NJ Turnpike, near exit 9 in East Brunswick, for supposedly speeding and having a broken taillight. Upon the arrival of backup trooper Werner Foerster, Assata was shot as she held her arms high in surrender, whereupon she retaliated.

In the aftermath, Zayd & Foerster were both killed while Assata and Harper were wounded, and taken to local hospitals.

According to NJ state police superintendent, David Kelly: “As we put it together, the girl fired from within the car, Harper retreated, there was a firefight, and all people involved were shooting.”

Acoli escaped the scene, only to eventually be captured 2 days later. He was convicted for Foester's death in 1974, and sentenced to life. And after a mistrial the same year, Assata was finally convicted 3 years later - by an all-Caucasian jury - as an accomplice to the cop's killing; assault, attempted-murder and possession of a weapon; then sentenced to life plus 33 years.

Then, on November 2nd 1979, 3 B.L.A. comrades facilitated Assata's freedom from NJ's Clinton Correctional Facility for Women by seizing the visiting area, brandishing previously concealed 45 caliber pistols, taking 2 C.O.s hostage, and hijacking a prison van to escape the premises, then switching vehicles at an undisclosed area & fleeing further.

Tupac's step-father, Mutulu Shakur, and fellow B.L.A. member Sekou Odinga along with Silvia Baraldini and Marilyn Buck were charged and eventually convicted for aiding Shakur's courageous escape.

After flying under the radar for a number of years, the political-fugitive surfaced in Cuba in 1984, where she was granted political asylum by El Presidente Fidel Castro, where she remains til this very day. Assata continues to speak out against the exploitive system of capitalism and other social ills.

Assata: In her own words

My name is Assata (“She who struggles”) Shakur (“the thankful one”), 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, “the greatest threat to the internal security of the country”, and vowed to destroy it and its leaders and activists.”

LONG LIVE ASSATA!