A review by juliette_dunn
Assata: An Autobiography by Assata Shakur

5.0

Assata Shakur, an antiracist activist and member of the Black Liberation Army, was one of the many activists targeted by the US government’s COINTELPRO. Charged with the murder of a police officer, she was held in prison under conditions classifiable as torture, and became the FBI’s most wanted female “terrorist.”

In this autobiography, she flips between her experiences growing up and her experiences in the US justice system. She believed the anti blackness US culture ingrained in her, but as she grew up she learned about Black history and embraced her African heritage.

The COINTELPRO’s targeting of Black activists is a little talked about part of US history. Trials for members of the Black Panthers and other radical groups were nothing but a sham, with no hope of justice. Despite the 8th amendment, the US tortured and assaulted its prisoners and withheld medical care.

The civil rights movement is incredibly sugar coated, but the truth is it wasn’t just MLK and Rosa Parks doing some peaceful sit-ins until they earned rights. The movement was massive, with all kinds of different tactics, and the opposition by the US were the acts of an authoritarian government.

This is an essential book for learning about US history, and I wish it were taught in schools.