Some voices, the state strives to bury twice: first through violence, then through silence. Assata Shakur was, and remains, one such voice. Embodying a history of radical and militant struggles, she continually finds her way back into the present, inspiring contemporary political discourse and action. In an era when racism, state repression, class warfare, and patriarchy are being reproduced and armed with new tools, remembering her keeps alive the thread of historical oppression—and, above all, of resistance.
Assata Shakur wrote to name the enemy, defend the lives of the oppressed, keep the memory of struggles alive, and reject the normalization of the violence the state inflicts on Black people, the poor, women, prisoners, and all those in power deem expendable. Her writings leave no room for detachment; instead, they reflect a profound understanding that freedom is not granted but won collectively, through conflict, defeat, perseverance, organizing, preserving historical memory, and accepting the responsibility to carry on the struggle.
All of this tells the story of Assata’s personal journey while also referring to her, yet it belongs to the history of the oppressed who spoke out, resisted, were persecuted, and refused to repent. It belongs to the great tradition of Black revolutionary thought, anti-imperialist struggle, women’s defiance, and resistance to every mechanism of control. Her writings speak powerfully to the present. They show that oppression, racism, punitive treatment, imprisonment, torture, and racial and gender discrimination have not gone away. They are all still here. And all we can do is speak about them, struggle against them, and cry out so that our Black brothers and sisters, and all peoples fighting for justice in every corner of the world, will hear us.
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