Cut It Out! Recognizing Influential Black Women During Black History Month

Assata Shakur

(January 16, 1947 - )

Assata Shakur (aka JoAnne Deborah Byron Chesimard) is a political activist and former member of the Black Panther Party and Black Liberation Army; who, after being convicted of the murder of NJ State Trooper, Werner Foerster, escaped from a NJ prison and is now living in exile in Cuba.

Here is Assata's story, 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 "greatest threat to the internal security of the country" and vowed to destroy it and its leaders and activists.

Political Prisoner to Exiled
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 Forester 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 Forester 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." (more)

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Cut It Out! Recognizing Influential Black Women During Black History Month

Angela Davis

(January 26, 1944 - )

Angela Yvonne Davis was born in Birmingham, Alabama in 1944. She's an American socialist, political activist, and retired professor of the University of California, Santa Cruz - History of Consciousness Department. She also served as the director of school's Feminist Studies department. Her particular research interests include feminism, African American studies and social consciousness.

Angela attended the Elizabeth Irwin High School in Greenwich Village. While there she researched solutions to poverty and racism and becomes intrigued with the Communist Manifesto and communism. (source) She also became a, "vocal activist during the Civil Rights Movement and [she's] a former Black Panther."

"In the 1970s she was a target of COINTELPRO, tried and acquitted of suspected involvement in the Soledad brothers' August 1970 abduction and murder of Judge Harold Haley in Marin County, CA. She was twice a candidate for Vice President on the Communist Party USA ticket during the Reagan era.

Since moving in the early 1990s from communism to reformism she has identified herself as a democratic socialist. [She] is also the founder of Critical Resistance, an organization working to abolish what it calls the prison-industrial complex."

Here are some other important facts about Angela Davis(source):

• September 16, 1963: A church bombing in Birmingham, Alabama kills four girls who Davis knew from her childhood. This greatly impacts Davis and she feels it is the product of a racist, violent society and not just the act of a few angry individuals.
• April, 1968: King is assassinated, which has a large effect on Davis and the organizations in which she is participating. Although King's philosophy differs from Davis', she is devastated by his death and the negative impact is felt throughout the Black community.
• 1969: Davis travels to Cuba which she feels has been completely misrepresented by American propaganda. This affirms her position that the only way to eradicate racism in the United States is to take a socialist route.
• October, 1995: Angela Davis shows her disgust with the exclusion of women in the Million Man March, as she believes it encourages chauvinism in Black activism and the Black community.
• October, 1996: Davis goes to UCLA to speak out in protest against Proposition 209, which would ban affirmative action in University of California schools.
• January 2006: Angela Davis is currently on sabbatical at UC Santa Cruz and continues to tour the world to protest oppression.

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