Assata Olugbala Shakur
Assata Olugbala Shakur, born JoAnne Deborah Byron in 1947, is a notable figure in American political history, recognized for her involvement in the Black Panther Party and the Black Liberation Army during the civil rights movement. After a tumultuous early life, she became politically active in the late 1960s, advocating for racial justice. Her criminal career escalated following a notorious incident on May 2, 1973, during which a confrontation with New Jersey state troopers resulted in the deaths of two individuals, including a police officer. Although Shakur was later convicted of murder in 1977, her supporters argue that the trial was flawed, citing a lack of physical evidence and eyewitness inconsistencies.
Following her conviction, Shakur escaped from prison in 1979 and ultimately sought asylum in Cuba, where she has lived ever since. In 2013, the FBI placed her on its Most Wanted Terrorists list, marking her as the first woman to receive this designation. The U.S. government has made numerous attempts for her extradition, but Cuba has consistently defended her asylum, viewing her case as politically motivated. Over the years, Shakur has become a symbol in the struggle for the rights of political prisoners, with ongoing support from various activist groups who maintain her innocence and advocate for her legacy.
Assata Olugbala Shakur
- Born: July 16, 1947
- Place of Birth: New York, New York
CONVICTED MURDERER AND POLITICAL EXILE
MAJOR OFFENSE: Murder
ACTIVE: May 2, 1973
SENTENCE: Life in prison plus twenty-six to thirty-three years; escaped after two years
Early Life
Assata Olugbala Shakur was born JoAnne Deborah Byron in New York, New York, in 1947 and lived with her mother, aunt, and grandparents. In 1950, she moved with her grandparents to Wilmington, North Carolina, where she worked at their restaurant, attended a segregated school, and acquired a strong sense of pride from her entrepreneurial elders. Before entering the third grade, Shakur moved back to New York to live with her mother and new stepfather. At age seventeen, after her mother’s second divorce, Shakur dropped out of high school and left home. In the late 1960s, after attending community college, she became politically active, married, and became involved in the Black Panther Party (BPP) and the Black Liberation Army (BLA).
Criminal Career
Shakur became one of the many political activists who were watched by the counterintelligence unit of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). From 1971 to 1973, she was charged with robbery, kidnapping, murder, and attempted murder and became a fugitive. On May 2, 1973, she and two of her close friends, Sundiata Acoli and Zayd Malik Shakur, were stopped on the New Jersey Turnpike. State Trooper James Harper cited a broken taillight as grounds for their detention and called in troopers Robert Palenchar and Werner Foerster for backup. During roadside questioning, a gunfight began. Malik Shakur and Officer Foerster were killed, while Assata Shakur and Harper were wounded. Assata Shakur was shot once in the left shoulder and once in the back, leaving her with a shattered clavicle and a bullet lodged near her heart. Although the events of that evening would remain in dispute, Shakur said that Harper shot her while she held her hands in the air, and that she was thus too incapacitated to return fire.
Legal Action and Outcome
Before her conviction in 1977, all the earlier charges against Shakur either were dismissed or resulted in acquittals. After giving birth to her daughter, Kakuya, Shakur was convicted as an accomplice in the murder of State Trooper Foerster and was sentenced to life in prison plus twenty-six to thirty-three years.
There was no hard evidence to support her conviction. Her fingers were clean of gun residue, and her prints were not found on the murder weapons. Star witness Harper admitted to perjury in his grand jury testimony that had cited Shakur as one of the shooters. Nonetheless, an all-white jury convicted Shakur of murder. In 1979, she escaped from Clinton Correctional Facility in New York and remained in hiding until 1984, when she appeared in Cuba, having been granted political asylum by Fidel Castro. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) added her to its Most Wanted Terrorists list in 2013; Shakur was the first woman to be included on the list of top terrorists. The FBI claimed that while in Cuba, she had continued to "promote her terrorist ideology." In 2022, Acoli was granted parole.
Impact
In 1998, the US House of Representatives passed Resolution 254, which called for the immediate extradition of Shakur from Cuba to “normalize” Cuban-American relations. On May 2, 2005, the state of New Jersey offered a $1 million reward for the capture of Shakur, while the federal government increased its pressure on Castro for extradition. Political activist groups orchestrated several campaigns to protect Shakur’s right to asylum, and many of her supporters maintain that she was framed for the murder of Foerster. She became a key voice in the global fight to free political prisoners.
With then President Barack Obama's restoration of relations between the United States and Cuba in late 2014, speculations arose that a transfer of political prisoners may be more likely. However, when President Donald Trump made a speech about this very relationship in June 2017, arguing that terms needed to be renegotiated, he also called on the Cuban government to return any American fugitives who had been granted asylum in the country, including Shakur. In response, Cuba's foreign minister, Bruno Rodriguez, stated that the United States did not have any legal right to require the return of any fugitives and that the proposal was not even being considered; this reaction corresponded with the idea conveyed over the years that officials in the Cuban government considered Shakur's case to be politically motivated and her conviction questionable.
Bibliography
Bendix, Aria. "Cuba Won't Negotiate Trump's New Policy." The Atlantic, 19 June 2017, www.theatlantic.com/news/archive/2017/06/cuba-wont-negotiate-trumps-new-policy/530847/. Accessed 26 Oct. 2017.
Obejas, Achy. "Why Cuba Will Never Send Assata Shakur to the U.S." Chicago Tribune, 29 Dec. 2014, www.chicagotribune.com/2014/12/29/why-cuba-will-never-send-assata-shakur-to-the-us/. Accessed 26 Oct. 2017.
Porter, David. "Assata Shakur Accomplice Gets Parole in Trooper's 1973 Death." Associated Press, 10 May 2022, apnews.com/article/cuba-crime-new-jersey-fidel-castro-supreme-court-c6dc08d755f73e24ebd229f07adfa7f4. Accessed 30 Aug. 2024.
Shakur, Assata. Assata: An Autobiography. 1987. L. Hill Books, 2001.
Shakur, Assata. “Assata Shakur: Profiled and on the Run.” The New Crisis, vol. 107, no. 6, 2000. Interview by Ida E. Lewis.
Shakur, Assata. “Prisoner in Paradise.” Essence, vol. 28, no. 2, 1997, pp. 72–76. Interview by Evelyn C. White.
Tenorio, Sam C. "Assata's Escape as Disincarceral Practice." Cultural Dynamics, vol. 33, no. 1-2, 2021, pp. 65-81, doi.org/10.1177/0921374020935137. Accessed 30 Aug. 2024.