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Assata Shakur Quotes
1947–2025 United States
Assata Shakur (born JoAnne Deborah Byron, July 16, 1947 – September 25, 2025) was an activist who was found guilty in the 1973 murder of New Jersey State Trooper Werner Foerster. Shakur was incarcerated in several prisons in the 70s.
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15 quotes
Nobody in the world, nobody in history, has ever gotten their freedom by appealing to the moral sense of the people who were oppressing them.
If every state had to pay workers to do the jobs prisoners are forced to do, the salaries would amount to billions.
My name is Assata ("she who struggles") Olugbala ( "for the people" ) Shakur ("the thankful one"), and I am a 20th century escaped slave.
Too many people in the u.s. support death and destruction without being aware of it. They indirectly support the killing of people without ever having to look at the corpses.
Any Black person in amerika, if they are honest with themselves, has got to come to the conclusion that they don't know what it feels like to be Free.
It is our duty to fight for our freedom.
To My People (1973)
I was getting tired of the streets. I was tired of being grown and i wanted to be a kid again.
We're taught at such an early age to be against the communists, yet most of us don't have the faintest idea what communism is. Only a fool lets somebody tell them who the enemy is.
He who runs when the sun is sleeping will stumble many times.
To My People (1973)
I have declared war on the rich who prosper on our poverty, the politicians who lie to us with smiling faces, and all the mindless, heart-less robots who protect them and their property.
To My People (1973)
There is, and always will be, until every Black man, woman, and child is free, a Black Liberation Army. The main function of the Black.
To My People (1973)
I am a Black revolutionary, and, as such, i am a victim of all the wrath, hatred, and slander that amerika is capable of. Like all other Black revolutionaries, amerika is trying to lynch me.
To My People (1973)
Anytime you're talking about a ladder, you're talking about a top and a bottom , an upper class and a lower class, a rich class and a poor class. As long as you've got a system with a top and a bottom, Black people are always going to wind up at the bottom, because we're the easiest to discriminate against.
They call us bandits, yet every time most Black people pick up our paychecks we are being robbed. Every time we walk into a store in our neighborhood we are being held up. And every time we pay our rent the landlord sticks a gun into our ribs.
To My People (1973)
Liberation Army at this time is to create good examples, to struggle for Black freedom, and to prepare for the future. We must defend ourselves and let no one disrespect us. We must gain our liberation by any means necessary.
To My People (1973)
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