[blind-democracy] I Am a 20th-Century Escaped Slave

  • From: Miriam Vieni <miriamvieni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • To: blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
  • Date: Sun, 01 Nov 2015 17:20:21 -0500


Published on Alternet (http://www.alternet.org)
Home > I Am a 20th-Century Escaped Slave
________________________________________
I Am a 20th-Century Escaped Slave
By Assata Shakur [1] / CounterPunch [2]
October 29, 2015
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.
In 1978, my case was one of many cases brought 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."
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 Foerster.
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, 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 distorted 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.
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 true 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.

Assata Shakur lives in Havana, Cuba.
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Report typos and corrections to 'corrections@xxxxxxxxxxxx'. [3]
[4]
________________________________________
Source URL:
http://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/i-am-20th-century-escaped-slave
Links:
[1] http://www.alternet.org/authors/assata-shakur
[2] http://www.counterpunch.org/
[3] mailto:corrections@xxxxxxxxxxxx?Subject=Typo on I Am a 20th-Century
Escaped Slave
[4] http://www.alternet.org/
[5] http://www.alternet.org/%2Bnew_src%2B

Published on Alternet (http://www.alternet.org)
Home > I Am a 20th-Century Escaped Slave

I Am a 20th-Century Escaped Slave
By Assata Shakur [1] / CounterPunch [2]
October 29, 2015
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.
In 1978, my case was one of many cases brought 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."
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 Foerster.
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, 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 distorted 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.
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 true 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.
Assata Shakur lives in Havana, Cuba.
Error! Hyperlink reference not valid.
Error! Hyperlink reference not valid.
Report typos and corrections to 'corrections@xxxxxxxxxxxx'. [3]
Error! Hyperlink reference not valid.[4]

Source URL:
http://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/i-am-20th-century-escaped-slave
Links:
[1] http://www.alternet.org/authors/assata-shakur
[2] http://www.counterpunch.org/
[3] mailto:corrections@xxxxxxxxxxxx?Subject=Typo on I Am a 20th-Century
Escaped Slave
[4] http://www.alternet.org/
[5] http://www.alternet.org/%2Bnew_src%2B


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