Assata Shakur is JoAnne Chesimard, the Black Panther leader who
escaped from a New Jersey prison in 1979 and within the past month
has resurfaced in Cuba. Her brief autobiography is propagandistic
and notable for its omissions, but there are passages of poignant,
effective writing. There was a time during the 70's when
law-enforcement officials considered Shakur the "soul" of the Black
Panther movement, and prosecuted her accordingly: between 1973 and
1977 she was brought to trial three times on bank robbery and
kidnapping charges, and each time acquitted. However, in 1977 she
was convicted of the murder of a New Jersey state trooper and
sentenced to life; two years later she broke out in a dramatically
successful escape and apparently lived the underground life before
finding a haven in Havana. No matter what your politics, this
sounds like a pretty unusual life, but you wouldn't know it from
Shakur's memoir. It is so marred by authorial suppressions about
her adult life as a Black Panther - focusing only on her various
trials, and not on what led up to them - that much of the narration
seems to reside in a vacuum. There is much talk of "pigs" and
"Rokafeller" and "amerika," but little in the way of hard facts.
And Shakur's current rosy view of Cuba as a worker's paradise is
either naivete or expediency. In direct contrast, however, are the
early, evocative portions of the book focusing on Shakur's
childhood in Queens and Wilmington, N.C. There are compelling
scenes of her growing up in the 50's (raised in part by strict
bourgeois grandparents), running away from home to work in seamy
Greenwich Village bars, and finally becoming radicalized at
Manhattan Community College during the mid-60's. These evocative
passages make up only a small portion of Shakur's story,
unfortunately; the rest is largely a tract in which next to nothing
is revealed. (Kirkus Reviews)
On May 2, 1973, Black Panther Assata Shakur (aka JoAnne Chesimard)
lay in a hospital, close to death, handcuffed to her bed, while
local, state, and federal police attempted to question her about
the shootout on the New Jersey Turnpike that had claimed the life
of a white state trooper. Long a target of J. Edgar Hoover's
campaign to defame, infiltrate, and criminalize Black nationalist
organizations and their leaders, Shakur was incarcerated for four
years prior to her conviction on flimsy evidence in 1977 as an
accomplice to murder. This intensely personal and political
autobiography belies the fearsome image of JoAnne Chesimard long
projected by the media and the state. With wit and candor, Assata
Shakur recounts the experiences that led her to a life of activism
and portrays the strengths, weaknesses, and eventual demise of
Black and White revolutionary groups at the hand of government
officials. The result is a signal contribution to the literature
about growing up Black in America that has already taken its place
alongside The Autobiography of Malcolm X and the works of Maya
Angelou. Two years after her conviction, Assata Shakur escaped from
prison. She was given political asylum by Cuba, where she now
resides.
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