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A review by books_ergo_sum
Assata: An Autobiography by Assata Shakur
reflective
5.0
This memoir was multi-faceted amazing-ness. Assata Shakur is just so dang cool. Her reflections on activism were considered so dangerous by the US government that they bugged her apartment, framed her for bank robbery and murder in 1979, and sentenced her to life in prison. Except she immediately escaped and fled to Cuba. And she was first woman placed on the FBI’s Most Wanted List, in 2013. It was a lot!
And one of those “super dangerous” thoughts on activism she talks about? Education. Encouraging critical thinking, giving marginalized communities a fighting chance in the classroom (with things like breakfast programs), and resisting the silo-ification of education. Because:
“It is exactly this kind of education that produces people who don’t have the ability to think for themselves and who are easily manipulated.”
It’s a shame that I knew more about Noam Chomsky than Assata Shakur before this—because they’re so similar. Except Assata is way better.
This memoir was such a unique book. It was dual timeline—part personal history, part true crime courtroom drama—and so well written that it would periodically burst into poetry. And ofc, this memoir felt super relevant to this moment. Assata didn’t begin life as a politically engaged activist. Instead, she was radicalized by this exchange about the Vietnam War:
✨ “Someone asked me what i thought. I didn’t have the faintest idea... I said, “It’s all right, i guess.” All of a sudden there was complete silence. “Would you mind explaining, sister, what you mean by ‘it’s all right, i guess’?” The brother’s voice was mocking. I said something like “You know, the war we’re fighting over there, you know, for democracy.” It was clear, from the expressions around me, that i had said the wrong thing.”
The moment was giving ‘they have a right to defend themselves’ and watching her grow from there was so compelling.
And one of those “super dangerous” thoughts on activism she talks about? Education. Encouraging critical thinking, giving marginalized communities a fighting chance in the classroom (with things like breakfast programs), and resisting the silo-ification of education. Because:
“It is exactly this kind of education that produces people who don’t have the ability to think for themselves and who are easily manipulated.”
It’s a shame that I knew more about Noam Chomsky than Assata Shakur before this—because they’re so similar. Except Assata is way better.
This memoir was such a unique book. It was dual timeline—part personal history, part true crime courtroom drama—and so well written that it would periodically burst into poetry. And ofc, this memoir felt super relevant to this moment. Assata didn’t begin life as a politically engaged activist. Instead, she was radicalized by this exchange about the Vietnam War:
✨ “Someone asked me what i thought. I didn’t have the faintest idea... I said, “It’s all right, i guess.” All of a sudden there was complete silence. “Would you mind explaining, sister, what you mean by ‘it’s all right, i guess’?” The brother’s voice was mocking. I said something like “You know, the war we’re fighting over there, you know, for democracy.” It was clear, from the expressions around me, that i had said the wrong thing.”
The moment was giving ‘they have a right to defend themselves’ and watching her grow from there was so compelling.