Assata Shakur And The Endless War Against Black Liberation
Op-Ed: Assata Shakur And The Endless War Against Black Liberation
It’s 2:10 a.m. Central Time. I am sitting on bae’s beanbag, looking at photos and scrolling through TikToks of Assata Shakur, when the frustration of Black Movement work hit me.
The United States of America still has Assata Shakur on the FBI’s Most Wanted List and New Jersey’s Most Wanted List at the age of 78 years young. So I wanted to take this Black August to end my food fast, show what I’ve studied, walk with confidence from my training and actively engage in the fight for her removal from these lists once and for all.
For those who don’t know, the revolutionary Black Panther Leader, proud member of the Black Liberation Army, and the mother of one of the greatest rappers of all time was born in the birthplace of the late great Gwen Ifill and the resting place of the inventor, Lewis Latimer, on July 16 1947, into a beautiful Black family in a highly organized Black neighborhood.
It was relatively easy for Shakur to join the Black Liberation Movement in her teens, during the mid-1960s. When you Google her name, you’re going to see a naturally styled woman who exudes wisdom and courage when she’s not even speaking in her melodic but serious tone.
The young Black leather-wearing woman with the pick in her afro is now a fiery elder, surpassing 80 before the decade ends, somewhere in Cuba, presumably, from what the internet tells me.
In that exact Google search, charges and a conviction will appear, but I want you to review the “evidence” and decide for yourself as well.
What could make her so dangerous at this age and why in the world would the New Jersey State Police announce in May of 2025 that Assata Shakur still sits at the top of their most wanted list?
Like many political prisoners, her audacity to escape torture post-kidnapping at the hands of some racist law enforcement—prosecutors and judges is probably why her name remains on most wanted lists, because the evidence of her even firing a gun, let alone shooting a state trooper, is about as credible as the testimony of Carolyn Bryant Donham.
Auntie Assata’s crimes were advancing education, healthcare access and communal economics for her people through breakfast programs, free clinics and many other strategic goals in the BLA for Black freedom.
After becoming a respected leader from Oakland to New York in the movement, the state of New Jersey couldn’t have a Black woman in the 1970s being seen as a leader or defender of her people.
One night while cruising with her comrades, Sundiata Acoli and Zayd Malik Shakur (Rest In Power) on an organizing trip, she was wounded by two white officers on a New Jersey turnpike.
Acquitted three years later, Shakur was then framed for murder, slapped with trumped-up kidnapping charges, and accused of other various crimes, ultimately becoming a prisoner of war at Clinton Correctional Facility from 1977 to 1979.
She later escaped from prison, only to appear in Cuba in 1984 as a special guest of El Comandante Fidel Castro and the Cuban people’s revolution.
After being placed on the FBI’s Most Wanted list, Shakur is under a $1,000,000 bounty for her capture, which is quite significant. To make matters worse, in 2013, an additional $1 million was allocated under the Obama Administration, bringing the total bounty to $2,000,000. This makes her a target for mercenaries or individuals with overly zealous tendencies. However, I must point out that none of the attempts to capture her over the past five decades have been successful.
Some outlets at the time asked the ridiculous but now more apropos question of Will Obama Demand Cuba Hand Over Fugitive Cop-Killer? I can’t wait until the day I ask the former President why he was so wrong on so many major Black issues throughout his entire presidency, from start to finish.
No president or sitting governor of New Jersey has attempted to pardon Assata Shakur.
What reignited the fight for me was teacher and organizer Obi Egbuna Jr, the External Relations Officer for the Zimbabwe Cuba Friendship Association, in the monthly teach-in on the “Dragon” George Jackson and why Black August was created in the first place. The class ended with a challenge to all of us to fight like the original Black Panthers for all our people because “we aren’t free if we leave our people behind enemy lines or in exile away from their families,” says Egbuna Jr.
The Appeal for Assata has garnered support from many individuals across diverse backgrounds, including rappers like Common, Killer Mike, and Mumu Fresh. Additionally, actors and entertainers such as Dave Chappelle and Orlando Jones have shown their support and rallied others in Black Hollywood to join their cause for Assata. Much of this outreach would not be possible without Talib Kweli, who has connected these celebrities with campaign organizers.
The campaign calling for her removal from all lists and the elimination of the bounty against her has received endorsements from 150 organizations, three African governments, and over 10,000 global and community leaders across 60 countries.
The attempt to condemn figures like Assata and Mumia Abu Jamal only increased support for them and strengthened advocacy for many who have been unjustly targeted and punished. In this country, the real crime we face is being perceived as guilty until proven innocent simply for standing up and fighting for our freedom, rather than just demanding it.
Perhaps President Trump or New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy will attempt to garner the Black vote by pardoning and releasing Assata Shakur for Black August.
Perhaps President Ibrahim Traoré will bring her and all the other freedom fighters to Burkina Faso so they can live out their final days freely. A Black man can still dream, can’t he?
Regardless, the notion that 78-year-old Assata Shakur is considered the most significant threat to the United States is just nasty work. Or it could reveal something much more catastrophic, akin to witnessing the decline of Rome unfold in real time from within.
Signing off from where being Black has always been a crime—the United States of America.
Tory Russell is a Ferguson Uprising organizer, internationally recognized Black movement leader, speaker and political strategist.
Peace.
SEE ALSO:
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