WEBVTT - The Shakurs 0:00:02.480 --> 0:00:06.000 You're listening, waiting on reparations production of our Heart radio. 0:00:06.680 --> 0:00:13.160 Uh huh uh huh check check yeah, I love you all, man, 0:00:13.200 --> 0:00:16.160 I'm lying. I smoke a ball while the planet is dying. 0:00:16.480 --> 0:00:19.680 Man of buying with a flow that expand horizons if 0:00:19.680 --> 0:00:22.040 you lame them, we beef like the vamis and likings. 0:00:22.200 --> 0:00:24.800 It's the feeling with somebody swear you bottom lip, fight 0:00:24.880 --> 0:00:27.240 for freedom. So you gotta dip like a side of dip. 0:00:27.400 --> 0:00:30.680 Waiting on reparations that hip hop politics and my homie 0:00:30.720 --> 0:00:33.040 Joela is on the mix. That's a hot assist. They 0:00:33.080 --> 0:00:35.040 call me dope because when I spent that you gotta 0:00:35.120 --> 0:00:38.200 fix since the psychedelics and legal now that I gotta trip, 0:00:39.880 --> 0:00:44.519 what's the side? Is this a lot messed up? All right? 0:00:47.159 --> 0:00:52.760 What's going on? What's good? People? Dope knife? We are 0:00:52.880 --> 0:00:58.760 waiting on reparations. Hurry it up. So today we have 0:00:59.040 --> 0:01:01.800 a statue for you another one. We are going to 0:01:01.920 --> 0:01:06.920 be talking about civil rights activists Assada Shakur, getting to 0:01:07.000 --> 0:01:10.679 her activism, her story if you haven't heard it, and 0:01:10.720 --> 0:01:12.759 we're also going to talk about her connection to hip 0:01:12.840 --> 0:01:16.160 hop and the legendary Tupac Shakur of whom she's the 0:01:16.280 --> 0:01:22.000 godmother too. Interestingly, very little can we found online about 0:01:22.040 --> 0:01:26.480 the relationship of Tupac to his step on and godmother Asada, 0:01:26.640 --> 0:01:30.559 but um she was very much um a part of 0:01:30.640 --> 0:01:34.200 just like black revolutionary struggle in the nineteen sixties and 0:01:34.280 --> 0:01:39.480 nineteen seventies. As we're Afenni Shakur, Mutula Shakur um Tupac's parents, 0:01:39.480 --> 0:01:42.360 we're gonna talk about how this sort of permeated the 0:01:42.440 --> 0:01:44.680 life of Tupac and sort of set him up for 0:01:44.720 --> 0:01:47.520 the person that he was. In addition to detailing, you know, 0:01:47.880 --> 0:01:51.320 in specifics a lot about whose Asada was as this 0:01:51.400 --> 0:01:55.400 notorious figure that today is still being persecuted by the 0:01:55.480 --> 0:01:58.640 United States government. When did you first like become aware 0:01:58.680 --> 0:02:01.800 of Assata Shakur in your activism. I think around the 0:02:01.840 --> 0:02:04.600 time I started studying like abolition, Like when I first 0:02:04.600 --> 0:02:08.200 started like reading the work of ANGELA Davis and like realized, 0:02:08.600 --> 0:02:11.120 you know, like we in school get this very sanitized 0:02:11.200 --> 0:02:12.919 version of what the civil rights movement was. We don't 0:02:13.000 --> 0:02:15.240 learn about the Black Panthers. You don't learn about people 0:02:15.240 --> 0:02:17.680 like angel Davis because they were doing crimes like they 0:02:17.680 --> 0:02:21.040 were they were breaking people out of jail, they were 0:02:21.320 --> 0:02:24.359 robbing Briggs trucks and like Pilofolice office and like crazy 0:02:24.440 --> 0:02:31.200 ship that you know, as like like genuine, genuine revolutionary activity. 0:02:31.639 --> 0:02:33.639 And so around that time is what, you know, what 0:02:33.760 --> 0:02:37.120 I learned about Angela Davis and her advocacy for UM 0:02:37.360 --> 0:02:39.560 political prisoners. And that's what I learned about Asata and 0:02:39.600 --> 0:02:42.679 her advocacy for Asada. When Asada was imprisoned for a 0:02:42.720 --> 0:02:46.280 killing cholice officer. I think I first became aware of 0:02:46.320 --> 0:02:50.000 Assata Shakur, probably with the common song. I mean, we're 0:02:50.040 --> 0:02:52.359 gonna get into that later on in the episode, but 0:02:52.400 --> 0:02:54.519 I would have to say it was a common song 0:02:54.639 --> 0:02:58.120 for as Sata. I think I was watching a hip 0:02:58.160 --> 0:03:01.480 hop documentary years ago and then I saw come and 0:03:01.720 --> 0:03:05.200 make note of it, and then I was remembered, Oh, yeah, 0:03:05.280 --> 0:03:08.079 that song was on that like Water for Chocolate album. 0:03:08.200 --> 0:03:11.800 So that was my introduction into her. I mean, like 0:03:11.880 --> 0:03:15.560 a lot of other you know people, I guess I 0:03:15.639 --> 0:03:17.880 kind of just assumed, oh, a side of Shakur, that's 0:03:17.880 --> 0:03:20.680 Tupac's mom, you know. So I kind of just had 0:03:20.680 --> 0:03:22.440 that idea in my head and ran with it until 0:03:22.440 --> 0:03:25.600 I found out more about who she was. So yeah, 0:03:25.680 --> 0:03:27.920 We're gonna get get into that, but before we do, 0:03:28.000 --> 0:03:31.200 How's how's your week been? You know, she has been crazy. 0:03:32.040 --> 0:03:36.840 We've had like five, I guess now six shootings here 0:03:36.880 --> 0:03:40.360 in the last week or so. Last Saturday, like all 0:03:40.360 --> 0:03:43.440 police shootings or just shooting. Oh, just people just killing 0:03:43.480 --> 0:03:46.800 each other, Just people just killing each other. We had 0:03:46.840 --> 0:03:51.560 a twenty year old kid shot and killed last Saturday. 0:03:51.720 --> 0:03:55.120 This Saturday, there was a man who lost his life. 0:03:55.160 --> 0:03:58.960 The suspect in that shooting was fifteen years old. And uh, 0:03:59.120 --> 0:04:01.480 surprisingly a few leaders are speaking out about it. I 0:04:01.520 --> 0:04:04.480 think because many folks kind of take it for granted, 0:04:04.520 --> 0:04:06.440 this assume that this is what life can be. But 0:04:06.560 --> 0:04:08.680 like in the last couple of days, I've been very 0:04:08.720 --> 0:04:10.280 involved in like reaching out to the families and the 0:04:10.360 --> 0:04:13.320 victims of the shootings. Um. I attended the funeral of 0:04:13.400 --> 0:04:17.000 the of E. B. Montana, who was killed last Saturday, 0:04:17.120 --> 0:04:20.880 twenty year old rapper in town. And uh, it's interesting 0:04:20.920 --> 0:04:23.279 to me and speaking with these families what they think 0:04:23.320 --> 0:04:26.039 the solutions are. Like I gathered with them, I like 0:04:26.080 --> 0:04:29.200 helped you know, of Montana's family organized a candelie vigil 0:04:29.520 --> 0:04:32.200 and one of our community centers on Friday and speaking 0:04:32.200 --> 0:04:33.880 with people out there, they were like, we need to 0:04:33.880 --> 0:04:36.480 be investing in these young people. We need to be 0:04:36.520 --> 0:04:38.560 you know, these people don't internal jobs, ain't got no 0:04:38.680 --> 0:04:41.560 programs to be involved in. And so it's interesting, like 0:04:41.800 --> 0:04:47.120 I think that like people in this discourse around policing recently, 0:04:47.240 --> 0:04:50.840 people like who aren't involved, who aren't impacted, who aren't 0:04:51.080 --> 0:04:54.880 who never lost anyone, are prescribing all these solutions like, oh, 0:04:54.920 --> 0:04:58.479 we need you know, uh more policing, We need all 0:04:58.480 --> 0:05:00.360 these things. You go talk to the people who lose 0:05:00.400 --> 0:05:02.760 family members that that's not even something that comes to 0:05:02.839 --> 0:05:04.760 their mind. That's not even something that's a part of 0:05:04.760 --> 0:05:07.120 the conversation for them, And no one is and I 0:05:07.160 --> 0:05:09.200 don't think anyone is asking them what their opinion is. 0:05:09.240 --> 0:05:12.400 And so it's just been like as we also approached 0:05:12.400 --> 0:05:14.240 like budget season, you know, it was like this time 0:05:14.320 --> 0:05:16.240 last year that like the fund, the police became a 0:05:16.279 --> 0:05:20.000 thing just thinking about just trying to show up for 0:05:20.080 --> 0:05:21.800 these families that are in a lot of pain right 0:05:21.800 --> 0:05:24.320 now and also think about like centering them and how 0:05:24.360 --> 0:05:29.320 we go about creating policy, but particularly for you know, Montana, 0:05:29.440 --> 0:05:33.680 Rest in peace, um beloved Young Rapper um here in 0:05:33.760 --> 0:05:38.120 Athens um who you know himself, had came out had 0:05:38.200 --> 0:05:41.800 some gun charges and had warned out for his arrests, 0:05:41.800 --> 0:05:44.440 and so there's you know, in the media like kind 0:05:44.440 --> 0:05:47.080 of painting him as like, well he was no angel. 0:05:48.080 --> 0:05:50.760 But it's like, what do you do you think these 0:05:50.800 --> 0:05:52.800 kids are gonna do if you don't give them anything 0:05:52.839 --> 0:05:56.200 to believe in in this world? And so that's just 0:05:56.279 --> 0:05:58.479 been my world for the last like week or so. 0:05:58.839 --> 0:06:01.640 But then there's crazy ship happening everywhere. I mean, I mean, 0:06:01.839 --> 0:06:06.719 i've gun violences. I don't know for certain that it's 0:06:06.760 --> 0:06:09.600 like on any sort of record pace, but it seems 0:06:09.680 --> 0:06:12.960 like shit is getting out of control. I mean, it's 0:06:13.000 --> 0:06:16.040 not just the mass shooting statistics, but like you have 0:06:16.360 --> 0:06:21.520 you know, individual every day like of occurrences of of 0:06:21.760 --> 0:06:27.000 gun violence that doesn't even get national coverage because not 0:06:27.120 --> 0:06:30.360 only is it just like part of the like ubiquitous cycle, 0:06:30.560 --> 0:06:32.840 but then it's like only two people died, so it's 0:06:32.880 --> 0:06:35.679 not a big story, or it's only a person here, 0:06:35.839 --> 0:06:38.760 or just somebody got injured. All the all the shootings 0:06:38.760 --> 0:06:40.880 that happened, when people get injured that you never hear of. 0:06:41.440 --> 0:06:45.080 Remember the rapper Pop Smoke who died last year. Recently, 0:06:45.560 --> 0:06:48.640 it came out that the killer of him was a 0:06:48.680 --> 0:06:52.880 fifteen year old who saw him on Instagram and tried 0:06:52.920 --> 0:06:56.000 to get his watch and it's not And it's like, oh, 0:06:56.040 --> 0:06:58.560 you know, uh, like if we don't right, I think 0:06:59.640 --> 0:07:02.400 maybe a Frederick Douglas quote like it's easier to build 0:07:02.839 --> 0:07:07.120 strong children than repair broken men. But like it's I mean, 0:07:07.240 --> 0:07:10.800 we're like the children are broken. Yeah, Like it's not 0:07:10.840 --> 0:07:13.080 even like oh and then they grow up and become 0:07:13.120 --> 0:07:15.840 adults and started doing crazy like the kids, and you 0:07:15.880 --> 0:07:18.400 fail to invest in them. That return in the lack 0:07:18.440 --> 0:07:23.360 of investment manifestly. It's just like these times that we 0:07:23.400 --> 0:07:28.800 live in, everything is just accelerated as well. So you know, well, 0:07:30.520 --> 0:07:35.120 we're gonna we're gonna switch, We're gonna switch gears, and 0:07:35.200 --> 0:07:38.440 we're gonna get into this whole thing with a Sada 0:07:38.480 --> 0:07:43.640 Shakur and the amazing at times story of her life 0:07:43.960 --> 0:07:46.120 will be back with all of that and more after 0:07:46.160 --> 0:07:59.400 the jump. Let's talk a little bit about what I 0:07:59.440 --> 0:08:03.320 saw him was from her early life. Sada Aliba Shakur 0:08:03.520 --> 0:08:06.440 was born Joanne Debara Byron and Queens, New York in 0:08:06.520 --> 0:08:10.560 nineteen and grew up in Walmington North Carolina UM. She 0:08:10.680 --> 0:08:14.240 began her involvement in political activism while attending Manhattan Community 0:08:14.280 --> 0:08:17.280 College and City College of New York UM and she 0:08:17.360 --> 0:08:20.600 recalled a conversation about communism with the African students at 0:08:20.640 --> 0:08:23.480 the spark of some of her revolutionary leanings. She said, 0:08:23.680 --> 0:08:26.960 I never forget. I've never forgot that day. We were 0:08:27.000 --> 0:08:30.040 taught at such an early age to be against communists, 0:08:30.080 --> 0:08:31.960 yet most of us don't have the famous idea of 0:08:31.960 --> 0:08:35.000 what communism is, only a pool at somebody else tell 0:08:35.040 --> 0:08:38.480 them who his enemy, And I think it's a good point. 0:08:38.800 --> 0:08:40.719 She of course spent a short period of time with 0:08:40.840 --> 0:08:45.599 the Black Panther Party, organizing protests and community education programs. 0:08:45.800 --> 0:08:49.160 She even was leading the Black Panther Party chapter in 0:08:49.240 --> 0:08:52.680 Harlem for a while, coordinating with the free breakfast program 0:08:52.760 --> 0:08:57.480 for children, free clinics, community outreach. She would eventually join 0:08:57.600 --> 0:09:00.320 the Black Liberation Army due to some dissolution and meant 0:09:00.360 --> 0:09:01.960 with what was going on in the Black Panther Party 0:09:01.960 --> 0:09:05.640 at the time, she said, with a few exceptions, be 0:09:05.960 --> 0:09:08.959 political education classes for party members turned out to be 0:09:09.080 --> 0:09:11.840 just the opposite. The basic problem stemmed from the fact 0:09:11.920 --> 0:09:15.679 that BPP had no systematic approach to political education. They 0:09:15.760 --> 0:09:17.920 were reading from the Red Book, where they didn't know 0:09:18.120 --> 0:09:21.559 who Harry Tupman, Marcus Garvey or not Turner work. A 0:09:21.679 --> 0:09:24.760 whole lot of them barely understood any kind of history Black, 0:09:24.880 --> 0:09:29.600 African or otherwise. So that's something that I never really 0:09:29.720 --> 0:09:36.080 thought about in detail much. Is like that not everybody 0:09:36.640 --> 0:09:40.400 was on the same page with everything. Yeah, I mean 0:09:40.520 --> 0:09:45.839 looking at the modern left like and like it, it's 0:09:45.880 --> 0:09:48.640 almost heartening to know that there were these schisms always 0:09:49.160 --> 0:09:52.520 of like people who found the organization's lacking and would 0:09:52.559 --> 0:09:55.640 move on to others. Or you know that there were 0:09:55.720 --> 0:09:59.120 these like like like even these figures and even these 0:09:59.160 --> 0:10:04.199 institutions that our memorialized so notoriously. It's just like just 0:10:04.520 --> 0:10:07.000 mind blowing legendary work that they did. Like it, We're 0:10:07.080 --> 0:10:10.760 not perfect, and that it's almost it's almost hardening. It's like, oh, nope, 0:10:11.200 --> 0:10:13.160 you can make a lasting impact in history even if 0:10:13.200 --> 0:10:15.079 you don't have your ship. Tell me together some other 0:10:15.120 --> 0:10:18.120 stuff that I kind of found about this, but I 0:10:18.240 --> 0:10:21.760 never I didn't really find anything that she says specifically, 0:10:21.920 --> 0:10:26.000 but um, apparently there was some feeling on her part 0:10:26.320 --> 0:10:28.880 that there was a lot of macho ship going on 0:10:29.160 --> 0:10:32.400 in the Black Panther Party at the time. Yeah. So 0:10:32.559 --> 0:10:35.599 then so she joined the Black Liberation Army or b 0:10:35.760 --> 0:10:39.440 l A, which was an underground revolutionary organization from nineteen seventy. 0:10:41.360 --> 0:10:43.400 It was kind of like the Black Panthers. It's composed 0:10:43.440 --> 0:10:46.640 to former members and also former members of another organization, 0:10:47.000 --> 0:10:50.720 the Republic of New Africa. But the group's mission statement 0:10:51.040 --> 0:10:53.080 was to take up arms for the liberation and self 0:10:53.120 --> 0:10:56.600 determination of black people in the United States, not fucking around. 0:10:57.120 --> 0:10:59.600 So they had some principles that they kind of went by. 0:10:59.720 --> 0:11:05.640 So one that we are anti capitalist, anti imperialist, anti racist, 0:11:05.760 --> 0:11:10.480 and anti sexists too, that we must of necessity strive 0:11:10.559 --> 0:11:13.680 for the abolishment of these systems and for the institution 0:11:13.760 --> 0:11:17.160 of socialistic relationships in which black people have total and 0:11:17.200 --> 0:11:20.599 absolute control over their own destiny as a people. And 0:11:20.679 --> 0:11:24.480 then three that in order to abolish our systems of oppression, 0:11:24.760 --> 0:11:28.240 we must utilize the science of class struggle, develop the 0:11:28.360 --> 0:11:33.040 science as it relates to our unique national condition. In 0:11:33.120 --> 0:11:36.839 our opening statement in court in nineteen SATA would say, 0:11:36.880 --> 0:11:39.200 the Black Liberation Army is not an organization. It goes 0:11:39.280 --> 0:11:42.760 beyond that. It is a concept, a people's movement and idea. 0:11:44.120 --> 0:11:46.280 The concept of the b l A arose because of 0:11:46.360 --> 0:11:49.120 the political, social, and economic oppression of black people in 0:11:49.200 --> 0:11:52.319 this country, and where there is oppression, there will be resistance. 0:11:52.920 --> 0:11:55.240 The b l A is part of that resistance movement. 0:11:55.679 --> 0:11:58.240 The Black Liberation Army stands for freedom and justice for 0:11:58.400 --> 0:12:03.640 all people. In nineteen seventy, she was a doctor's assistant 0:12:03.720 --> 0:12:07.000 volunteering at Alcatraz Prison. At the time, there was a 0:12:07.400 --> 0:12:10.600 protest going on with some Native Americans about broken treaties 0:12:10.679 --> 0:12:13.520 and expectation by the U. S. Government. She went on 0:12:13.640 --> 0:12:16.800 to say, I will never forget the quiet confidence as 0:12:16.840 --> 0:12:19.679 they went about their lives calmly, even though they were 0:12:19.800 --> 0:12:23.640 under the constant threat of invasion by the FBI in U. S. Military. 0:12:24.120 --> 0:12:27.040 They had many of the same problems we had, and 0:12:27.559 --> 0:12:30.200 for damn sure the same enemy. They were doing as 0:12:30.240 --> 0:12:33.880 bad as we were, if not worse. I didn't save 0:12:33.880 --> 0:12:36.160 any one was when she changed her name to Asada 0:12:36.480 --> 0:12:40.240 ballow skor. Asada is a West African name derived from 0:12:40.280 --> 0:12:43.559 the Arabic name Aisha said to me and he she 0:12:43.679 --> 0:12:47.800 who struggles Alshakerman thankful one in Arabic, all the following 0:12:47.960 --> 0:12:52.080 savior and your bum She said, the name Joanne began 0:12:52.120 --> 0:12:55.679 to irk my nerves in her autobiography, had changed a 0:12:55.760 --> 0:12:57.640 lot and moved to a different beat. I didn't feel 0:12:57.640 --> 0:13:01.120 like no Joanne or no Negro in norma. I felt 0:13:01.120 --> 0:13:03.560 like an African woman my mind, heart, and soul. I'd 0:13:03.600 --> 0:13:05.600 gone back to Africa, but my name was still stranded 0:13:05.920 --> 0:13:09.040 in Europe somewhere, which then prompted her change. Over the 0:13:09.160 --> 0:13:11.120 next few years, she would be charged with a slew 0:13:11.160 --> 0:13:14.839 of crimes, including two bank robberies in New York, the 0:13:15.000 --> 0:13:18.160 kidnap and murder of a drug dealer, an armed robbery 0:13:18.280 --> 0:13:21.199 during which she was shot in the attempted murder of 0:13:21.280 --> 0:13:24.439 a police officer in an ambush she was convicted of. 0:13:24.600 --> 0:13:28.000 None of these is all either acquittals or case dismissals, 0:13:28.880 --> 0:13:33.559 which is interesting because that she is. But like the 0:13:33.679 --> 0:13:37.880 memory of her being charged with these crimes outlives the 0:13:38.120 --> 0:13:40.680 reality of her acquittals or case dismissals, like we will 0:13:40.720 --> 0:13:44.080 remember her. It's just like bad as like fucking crazy, 0:13:44.679 --> 0:13:49.000 you know, doing crimes. Yeah, like outlaw, but like most 0:13:49.000 --> 0:13:51.199 of the ships she was you know, got dismissed, so 0:13:51.360 --> 0:13:53.959 she was acquitted for but anyway, and then also it's 0:13:54.000 --> 0:13:56.240 like the other thing too, is just like you know, 0:13:56.320 --> 0:14:00.640 if you just do a casual just casual little research, 0:14:00.720 --> 0:14:02.679 if you're like, you know, wanting to know who she is, 0:14:02.840 --> 0:14:04.880 that you know, most of what you're gonna find is 0:14:04.960 --> 0:14:08.400 about like this sort of stuff, you know what I mean. 0:14:08.880 --> 0:14:10.599 She was involved in this, and she was involved in that. 0:14:10.720 --> 0:14:12.280 There was a shootout with this, and a shoot out 0:14:12.320 --> 0:14:14.760 with that, and it's like you have to dig like 0:14:14.880 --> 0:14:19.160 a lot harder to like actually find what it was. 0:14:19.320 --> 0:14:22.560 Obviously most of her life, you know, which was activism 0:14:22.760 --> 0:14:25.360 in in you know, I mean community service and stuff 0:14:25.360 --> 0:14:27.520 like that. Yeah, which then recalls for me, I mean, 0:14:27.600 --> 0:14:30.560 like I was talking about at the top the recent um, 0:14:31.280 --> 0:14:34.680 you know tragedy with this kid Montana where uh he 0:14:35.200 --> 0:14:38.440 you know, was allegedly involved in a shootout like a 0:14:38.520 --> 0:14:41.640 week prior. He may have been in the car the car, 0:14:42.120 --> 0:14:45.080 may have been shooting in self defense in any regard, 0:14:45.280 --> 0:14:48.119 like he had warrants out because they thought he'd suspected 0:14:48.240 --> 0:14:52.480 his involvement. And so the front page of the newspaper 0:14:52.720 --> 0:14:56.400 on Sunday was you know, like slay and Rapper had 0:14:56.520 --> 0:14:59.520 Gonne warrant and you know charges warrant out for gun 0:14:59.640 --> 0:15:03.240 charges is um, despite the fact that, like it's not 0:15:03.400 --> 0:15:05.880 clear if he was involved in the crime. He may 0:15:06.120 --> 0:15:07.800 even if he was in the car. He when i've 0:15:07.800 --> 0:15:10.000 been personal shooting, even in the person in the car 0:15:10.000 --> 0:15:12.240 had been shooting, it may have been self defense. But 0:15:12.600 --> 0:15:14.760 the story that gets told is that he had warrants 0:15:14.800 --> 0:15:17.720 out for his arrest, which is very much un contrasted 0:15:17.760 --> 0:15:19.360 when we speak to his family or like when I 0:15:19.400 --> 0:15:22.880 attended his service yesterday, people talking about how he made 0:15:22.960 --> 0:15:26.720 TikTok challenges for kids, and he you know, would take 0:15:26.760 --> 0:15:29.120 out his neighbor's trash, and he would waived all the 0:15:29.160 --> 0:15:31.480 city bus drivers and all of these other things that 0:15:31.640 --> 0:15:34.880 like aren't his splashy and so don't get picked up, 0:15:34.960 --> 0:15:38.280 and like the are collected, you know, and imprinted in 0:15:38.320 --> 0:15:40.360 our collective memory of who these people are. And then 0:15:40.440 --> 0:15:43.400 when those things do come to light, they don't really 0:15:43.480 --> 0:15:46.600 have to go back and correct both headlines because and 0:15:46.680 --> 0:15:49.640 then yeah, and then like yeah, nothing ever happens, and 0:15:49.760 --> 0:15:53.600 that's just like that what the memory remains. The FBI 0:15:53.680 --> 0:15:57.120 has Joint Terrorism Task Force was issuing nearly daily briefing 0:15:57.200 --> 0:16:01.080 sashakur status and allegations against her. Years later, some police 0:16:01.120 --> 0:16:03.520 officers argued that her importance in the deal that had 0:16:03.560 --> 0:16:06.280 been exaggerated by the police, with one saying that they 0:16:06.360 --> 0:16:09.000 themselves had created a myth to DEMONI Schaker because she 0:16:09.120 --> 0:16:16.080 was educated, young, and pretty. Doc documentary evidence suggests that 0:16:16.120 --> 0:16:21.320 Shakur was targeted by the investigation named Chez Rob, which 0:16:21.520 --> 0:16:25.760 was attempted to hook Asada Shakur to virtually every bank 0:16:25.920 --> 0:16:28.760 robbery or violent crime involving a black woman on the 0:16:28.800 --> 0:16:34.800 East Coast God Damn. Although named after Shakur, Chez Rob, 0:16:35.240 --> 0:16:38.960 like its predecessor Nu Kill, was not limited to her. 0:16:40.840 --> 0:16:44.360 So they were just like just coming for her regardless. 0:16:44.520 --> 0:16:47.760 I mean, it's almost like a parody of what you 0:16:47.880 --> 0:16:50.240 would have, you know what I mean, Like it almost 0:16:50.280 --> 0:16:53.720 like if somebody just told you it, it would sound like, no, 0:16:53.880 --> 0:16:55.920 that's like a movie, you know, But it's like, no, 0:16:56.280 --> 0:16:58.680 that sounds like some conspiracytion. I mean, a lot of 0:16:58.720 --> 0:17:02.200 the stuff of the FBI do that is true, Like 0:17:02.280 --> 0:17:05.200 when in hindsight, like a lot of that Jagger Hoover 0:17:05.480 --> 0:17:09.159 FBI stuff is literally the plots of movies that have 0:17:09.320 --> 0:17:15.800 been made. So then came the infamous shootout at the 0:17:15.840 --> 0:17:18.800 New Jersey Terrified. According to the official New Jersey Police 0:17:19.400 --> 0:17:23.000 UH spokespersonan Asada was on our way to a new 0:17:23.119 --> 0:17:27.800 hideout in Philadelphia and heading ultimately for Washington, and a 0:17:27.880 --> 0:17:30.440 book in the vehicle contained a list of potential b 0:17:30.600 --> 0:17:33.040 l A targets. She testified the heading to Maryland for 0:17:33.040 --> 0:17:35.879 a waitress drop skor and her two associates were stopped 0:17:35.920 --> 0:17:39.000 by state trooper for a broken tail light. Haven't we 0:17:39.080 --> 0:17:42.760 heard that before many many times? And the result was 0:17:42.840 --> 0:17:47.159 a shooting that left the trooper, Werner Forster, dead and 0:17:47.280 --> 0:17:50.720 one of the men that Asada was with, Zaid Malik Shakore. 0:17:51.359 --> 0:17:53.520 He was killed and inside of herself was shot in 0:17:53.640 --> 0:17:58.760 both arms and her shoulder. For The Guardian, it was 0:17:58.840 --> 0:18:01.639 in hospital that she first met Letics Hines, the National 0:18:01.760 --> 0:18:04.840 director of the National Conference of Black Lawyers. In the 0:18:04.920 --> 0:18:08.560 history of New Jersey, no woman, pretrial, detainee or prisoner 0:18:08.920 --> 0:18:11.879 has ever been treated as she was continuously confined in 0:18:12.040 --> 0:18:16.399 men's prison under twenty four hour surveillance, without adequate medical 0:18:16.400 --> 0:18:20.240 attention and exercise, he said. Cursed Defense team filed a 0:18:20.280 --> 0:18:23.560 civil suit against the state, charging that her condition for 0:18:23.640 --> 0:18:26.320 cruel and inhumane. She was held for more than a 0:18:26.480 --> 0:18:29.359 year in solitary confinement in the basement of Middlesex County 0:18:29.400 --> 0:18:33.560 stale that they held there. In the men's present, oh yeah, 0:18:33.800 --> 0:18:36.760 oh oh yeah, oh yeah, she ascribed to all her 0:18:36.760 --> 0:18:41.040 conditions a unifying fame. Oh god, the smell. I don't 0:18:41.080 --> 0:18:42.840 care what jail had been in. They all stink. They 0:18:42.920 --> 0:18:44.760 all have a smell on like any smell on earth, 0:18:44.880 --> 0:18:48.119 like blood and sweat and feet and open sores. And 0:18:48.359 --> 0:18:54.040 if misery had a smell like she was in carded 0:18:54.040 --> 0:18:56.439 into nine seven when she finally got to have her 0:18:56.560 --> 0:19:00.080 case in court for The Guardian, there's much evidence to 0:19:00.160 --> 0:19:04.240 suggest the trial wasn't fair. Transcripts in the jury selection 0:19:04.280 --> 0:19:07.399 show that at least two jurors expressed prejudice before the 0:19:07.440 --> 0:19:10.440 start of the trial. There's evidence of the offices of 0:19:10.480 --> 0:19:13.440 the defense team were being bugged, and materials relating to 0:19:13.520 --> 0:19:16.320 her case went missing from the home of the lawyer 0:19:16.440 --> 0:19:20.040 Stanley Cohen, were later found with New York City police. 0:19:20.880 --> 0:19:23.320 They're not even like they weren't even trying, you know. 0:19:23.560 --> 0:19:28.879 Ship um Hines called the trial allegal lynching in a 0:19:29.000 --> 0:19:32.479 kangaroo court. The defense could not get an expert witness 0:19:32.560 --> 0:19:36.040 to testify. The Core noted it was obvious I didn't 0:19:36.080 --> 0:19:38.520 have one chance in a million of receiving any kind 0:19:38.560 --> 0:19:42.520 of justice. She testified, holding onto a photo of her daughter, 0:19:42.920 --> 0:19:46.280 conceived with fellow b l A member Kamayu Sadiki while 0:19:46.320 --> 0:19:49.280 they were both in jail and born in nineteen seventy four. 0:19:50.040 --> 0:19:52.439 The jury reached a verdict out of twenty four hours. 0:19:52.600 --> 0:19:56.880 She was found guilty on all seven counts. As Haines explained, 0:19:57.000 --> 0:19:59.440 under New Jersey law, if a person's presence at the 0:19:59.480 --> 0:20:01.760 scene of a crime can be construed as aiding or 0:20:01.840 --> 0:20:04.359 betting the crime, that person can be convicted of the 0:20:04.400 --> 0:20:08.560 substantive crime itself. Shakur was handed a mandatory life sentence. 0:20:10.560 --> 0:20:14.760 So while in president Shakura was introduced liberation theology, which 0:20:14.800 --> 0:20:18.920 is a synthesis of Christian theology and socioeconomic analyzes that 0:20:19.000 --> 0:20:22.280 emphasize the social concern for the poor and political liberation 0:20:22.359 --> 0:20:27.120 for a press people's actual like Jesus type stuff. Yeah, 0:20:27.160 --> 0:20:30.680 it's like Jesus, but like real Jesus was like, yeah, 0:20:30.800 --> 0:20:34.240 Homie was hanging out with the homeless and prostitutes and 0:20:34.480 --> 0:20:37.360 was like murdered by the state, And like, what does 0:20:37.440 --> 0:20:39.280 this mean for us today in terms of how we 0:20:39.880 --> 0:20:43.840 enact you know, a good life as a Christian, to 0:20:44.880 --> 0:20:48.520 upend and disrupt oppression of various kinds. Here's something interesting 0:20:48.600 --> 0:20:51.880 I found on Wikipedia. Shakur was identified as a political 0:20:51.960 --> 0:20:56.000 prisoner as early as October eighth, nineteen seventy three, by 0:20:56.040 --> 0:20:59.480 Angela Davis and in April third, nineteen seventy seven the 0:20:59.520 --> 0:21:02.600 New York Times advertisement purchased by the Eastern Coalition of 0:21:02.680 --> 0:21:06.600 Human Rights. An international panel of seven jurist was invited 0:21:06.640 --> 0:21:09.000 by Hines to tour a number of US prisons and 0:21:09.080 --> 0:21:12.400 concluded in a report filed with the United Nations Commission 0:21:12.480 --> 0:21:15.679 for Human Rights that the conditions of her solitary confinement 0:21:15.760 --> 0:21:20.640 were totally unbefitting of any prisoner. Their investigation, which focused 0:21:20.680 --> 0:21:23.920 on alleged human rights abuses of political prisoners, sided Shakur 0:21:24.040 --> 0:21:27.639 is one of the worst cases of such abuses. So 0:21:27.760 --> 0:21:32.240 it's interesting that her particular predicament then led to this 0:21:32.480 --> 0:21:35.440 larger indictment of the prison system and the practice of 0:21:35.480 --> 0:21:38.920 solitary confronement in the United States, which is totally boring 0:21:39.040 --> 0:21:43.360 if you ask me, but so nineteen seventy nine, three 0:21:43.520 --> 0:21:47.000 members of the b l A walked into the Clinton 0:21:47.080 --> 0:21:50.400 Correctional Facility for women with guns and stick of dynamite, 0:21:50.680 --> 0:21:55.440 took two guards hostage, commandeered two vans, and broke Asada 0:21:55.440 --> 0:22:00.480 out of prison and what coopering? Well escape the guards. 0:22:00.960 --> 0:22:02.480 To be clear, we're left in the parking lot and 0:22:02.480 --> 0:22:06.520 no I was injured, but they just broke her ass out. 0:22:06.560 --> 0:22:08.520 They were like, y'all keeping my girl, and Saul say, 0:22:09.400 --> 0:22:12.720 pretty daring, you know what I think? Do you think 0:22:12.800 --> 0:22:17.400 that like with this um new surgeons of like black cinema, 0:22:17.440 --> 0:22:19.440 do you think we're gonna get like a definitive of 0:22:19.520 --> 0:22:22.840 Satisha core movie? Do we not have one yet? I 0:22:22.880 --> 0:22:25.400 don't think we do. I can't recall one at least 0:22:25.480 --> 0:22:29.000 nothing that's that you know that's like popping the mind 0:22:29.080 --> 0:22:31.200 that's like worth noting right now. I can't really think 0:22:31.240 --> 0:22:33.760 of one, but just just you know, getting to this 0:22:33.960 --> 0:22:36.240 part of the story, it's like, oh, yeah, now I 0:22:36.320 --> 0:22:38.440 need to see this filmed. Like what what was the 0:22:38.480 --> 0:22:42.240 stick of dynamite for? What? Do we Apparently there was 0:22:42.359 --> 0:22:49.359 a there was a documentary Joannes that came out and 0:22:51.560 --> 0:22:56.000 came out in two nine. Uh. I don't know a 0:22:56.040 --> 0:22:58.440 lot about it, but but I think more of what 0:22:58.520 --> 0:23:01.600 we're talking about in the line of like, yeah, exactly 0:23:01.720 --> 0:23:09.639 like or like you know, Denzel cast like you know, 0:23:10.880 --> 0:23:13.000 a little bit of a little bit of you know, 0:23:13.160 --> 0:23:15.199