Uploaded October 2025 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
I’ve been sitting with my feelings about the passing of Assata Shakur before saying anything publicly. Her life, and what she endured, deserves more than a quick post.
For those who don’t know her story:
Assata Shakur was a member of the Black Panther Party - an organization that fed children, provided medical care, protected neighborhoods, and demanded justice at a time when Black communities were under constant attack. The Panthers were infiltrated, demonized, and painted as violent, when much of their work was positive and community-centered.
Assata herself was shot, imprisoned on contested charges, targeted by COINTELPRO, and labeled America’s “most wanted” Black woman. Her legal team was threatened, and there were official orders to shoot her on sight. She ultimately escaped, and Cuba gave her refuge…not for glamour or gain, but for safety, dignity, and a home when her own country branded her an enemy.
In a letter she wrote to the Pope before his visit to Cuba, she laid out her truth…what she endured, why she fled, and how the U.S. wanted her extradited. Listening today, you don’t just hear a fugitive. You hear a human being fighting for justice, reaching out to the highest moral authority she could.
This is bigger than Assata. It’s about what happens when Black leaders stand up to the system - Malcolm X, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., the Panthers, and many more. They were vilified not only by those in power, but often by their own communities, because the system knew how to manipulate fear and division. That still happens today.
Assata represented courage…the courage to speak truth to power, to defend Black life, and to refuse to be broken. She wasn’t perfect…none of our leaders are…but she put herself on the line for her people. That deserves respect.
✊🏾 I salute Assata Shakur.
✊🏾 I salute the Black Panther Party.
✊🏾 I salute Malcolm X, Dr. King, and every leader who refused to “play nice” when “playing nice” meant surrender.
If you’ve never heard Assata in her own words, I encourage you to listen to her letter to the Pope (link in first comment). Don’t just take other people’s opinions. Hear her yourself.
Rest in power, Assata Shakur.
Your life reminds us: it takes courage to resist, greater courage to survive, and a lifetime of courage to keep loving your people when the world calls you a villain.
📝 Ask yourself:
• When a policy is pushed that raises taxes, displaces neighbors, or benefits developers over residents, who stands for you…and who quietly helps it pass?
• When decisions are rushed through without notice or buried in reports, who benefits? Who loses?
• When leaders silence dissent or side with corporate interests, is that protection or betrayal?
• When a leader who looks like you calls truth “crazy” or paints truth-tellers as troublemakers, who taught them that?
• When public funds for uplift are redirected into deals that don’t serve the community, whose fingerprints are on it?
⚠️ Remember: white supremacy doesn’t always arrive in a hood. Sometimes it sends familiar faces, they’ll hand you crumbs, call it progress, and make you feel like you’ve been given the world. It’s an old playbook meant to lull us to sleep.
If you see patterns, policies that burden you but enrich a few, closed-door deals, voices punished for asking questions - that’s the system at work. And sometimes it’s wearing a familiar face.
Real love for community isn’t secret deals or silencing questions. Real leadership looks like courage, even when it costs something.
This isn’t about one city or one set of names. It’s about a pattern. Assata saw it. Malcolm saw it. Dr. King saw it. We must see it too. Because once you see it, you can’t unsee it…and that’s when change starts.
To hear Assat Shakur’s letter, click the link in the first comment.
#AssataShakur #RestInPower #BlackPantherParty #JusticeForThePeople #TruthToPower #CourageToResist #UnmaskTheSystem #ForThePeopleNotTheFew #KnowYourHistory #WakeUpEvanston #BlackLiberation #CommunityOverCorporations #PowerInTruth #NeverForget #meleikagardner
I’ve been sitting with my feelings about the passing of Assata Shakur before saying anything publicly. Her life, and what she endured, deserves more than a quick post.
For those who don’t know her story:
Assata Shakur was a member of the Black Panther Party - an organization that fed children, provided medical care, protected neighborhoods, and demanded justice at a time when Black communities were under constant attack. The Panthers were infiltrated, demonized, and painted as violent, when much of their work was positive and community-centered.
Assata herself was shot, imprisoned on contested charges, targeted by COINTELPRO, and labeled America’s “most wanted” Black woman. Her legal team was threatened, and there were official orders to shoot her on sight. She ultimately escaped, and Cuba gave her refuge…not for glamour or gain, but for safety, dignity, and a home when her own country branded her an enemy.
In a letter she wrote to the Pope before his visit to Cuba, she laid out her truth…what she endured, why she fled, and how the U.S. wanted her extradited. Listening today, you don’t just hear a fugitive. You hear a human being fighting for justice, reaching out to the highest moral authority she could.
This is bigger than Assata. It’s about what happens when Black leaders stand up to the system - Malcolm X, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., the Panthers, and many more. They were vilified not only by those in power, but often by their own communities, because the system knew how to manipulate fear and division. That still happens today.
Assata represented courage…the courage to speak truth to power, to defend Black life, and to refuse to be broken. She wasn’t perfect…none of our leaders are…but she put herself on the line for her people. That deserves respect.
✊🏾 I salute Assata Shakur.
✊🏾 I salute the Black Panther Party.
✊🏾 I salute Malcolm X, Dr. King, and every leader who refused to “play nice” when “playing nice” meant surrender.
If you’ve never heard Assata in her own words, I encourage you to listen to her letter to the Pope (link in first comment). Don’t just take other people’s opinions. Hear her yourself.
Rest in power, Assata Shakur.
Your life reminds us: it takes courage to resist, greater courage to survive, and a lifetime of courage to keep loving your people when the world calls you a villain.
📝 Ask yourself:
• When a policy is pushed that raises taxes, displaces neighbors, or benefits developers over residents, who stands for you…and who quietly helps it pass?
• When decisions are rushed through without notice or buried in reports, who benefits? Who loses?
• When leaders silence dissent or side with corporate interests, is that protection or betrayal?
• When a leader who looks like you calls truth “crazy” or paints truth-tellers as troublemakers, who taught them that?
• When public funds for uplift are redirected into deals that don’t serve the community, whose fingerprints are on it?
⚠️ Remember: white supremacy doesn’t always arrive in a hood. Sometimes it sends familiar faces, they’ll hand you crumbs, call it progress, and make you feel like you’ve been given the world. It’s an old playbook meant to lull us to sleep.
If you see patterns, policies that burden you but enrich a few, closed-door deals, voices punished for asking questions - that’s the system at work. And sometimes it’s wearing a familiar face.
Real love for community isn’t secret deals or silencing questions. Real leadership looks like courage, even when it costs something.
This isn’t about one city or one set of names. It’s about a pattern. Assata saw it. Malcolm saw it. Dr. King saw it. We must see it too. Because once you see it, you can’t unsee it…and that’s when change starts.
To hear Assat Shakur’s letter, click the link in the first comment.
#AssataShakur #RestInPower #BlackPantherParty #JusticeForThePeople #TruthToPower #CourageToResist #UnmaskTheSystem #ForThePeopleNotTheFew #KnowYourHistory #WakeUpEvanston #BlackLiberation #CommunityOverCorporations #PowerInTruth #NeverForget #meleikagardner
