To My People (July 4, 1973)
To My People (July 4, 1973)
Assata: in her own words
Context: My name is Assata ("she who struggles") Olugbala ( "for the people" ) Shakur ("the thankful one"), and I am a 20th century escaped slave. Because of government persecution, I was left with no other choice than to flee from the political repression, racism and violence that dominate the US government's policy towards people of color. I am an ex political prisoner, and I have been living in exile in Cuba since 1984. I have been a political activist most of my life, and although the U. S. government has done everything in its power to criminalize me, I am not a criminal, nor have I ever been one. In the 1960s, I participated in various struggles: the black liberation movement, the student rights movement, and the movement to end the war in Vietnam. I joined the Black Panther Party. By 1969 the Black Panther Party had become the number one organization targeted by the FBI's COINTELPRO program. because the Black Panther Party demanded the total liberation of black people, J. Edgar Hoover called it "greatest threat to the internal security of the country" and vowed to destroy it and its leaders and activists.
To My People (July 4, 1973)
Tape 407, Conversation No. 407-18, 32:08 http://nixon.archives.gov/forresearchers/find/tapes/tape407/407-018.mp3
On Nixon Tapes, Ambivalence Over Abortion, Not Watergate http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/24/us/politics/24nixon.html by Charlie Savage, The New York Times, June 23 2009, retrieved June 23 2009
1970s, Tape transcripts (1973)
Comedy specials, The Age of Spin: Dave Chappelle Live at the Hollywood Palladium (2017)
1870s, Speech before the Pole-Bearers Association (1875)
Source: The Myth of Male Power (1993), Part IV: Where do we go from here, p. 361.
