In Assata: An Autobiography African American activist and Blank Panther member Assata Shakur (1987) reveals her involvement with Black nationalist organizers and their leaders. Her experiences leading an activistÆs life demonstrates courage and determination, even though revolutionary groups like the Black Panthers and others were eventually undermined by government officials. In a period of five years during the mid-1970s, Shakur was indicted ten times and stood trial twice for bank robbery, once for the kidnap of a drug dealer, once for the attempted murder of police officers, and eventually for the murder of a New Jersey State Trooper. On this last charge she was convicted of being an accomplice to murder and sent to prison. Two years after her conviction, Shakur escaped and fled the country eventually being granted political asylum in Cuba.
ShakurÆs experiences as an activist are often violent and life-threatening. In her experiences with law enforcement, we see not only her view of police as ôpigsö but also the prejudice and racism of many police officers. When she is arrested in New Jersey and lies wounded, one officer says, when asked if she should be put in the police cruiser by another officer, ôNaw. LetÆer lay in the gutter where she belongs,ö (Shakur 1987, 3). ShakurÆs experiences with racism and prejudice are what inspired her to become an activist for African American liberation. We see her marvel over the luxurious hospital room that exists for wealthy and white patients, though she knows she is only there because she is considered a threat, ôIt is elegant and clearly for rich people. I am probably the first Black person who has ever been in this room. And the only reason I am there is for security,ö (Shakur 1987, 8).
It is in the maintenance of the categories of ôBlackö and ôWhiteö that ShakurÆs work moves into neoslave narrative. This is because it is about individuals c
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