Assata Shakur is a revolutionary African-American woman who believed in the uplifting of the black race during the sixties and seventies. She is an awesome and inspiring symbol of overcoming a corrupt society’s limitations and racial strongholds. In 1971, Assata Shakur was accused of robbing a bank in Queens (Shakur XIX). This was just the beginning of a long list of accusations and arraignments that she would be experiencing. Assata Shakur was a member of the Black Panther Party, an organization that was dedicated to the uplifting of the black race ‘by any means necessary’ (BlackPast). During the height of the Black Panther Party, the government began targeting the group feeling that it posed a national threat to the country. The unification of a militant black army caused government agencies such as the Federal Bureau of Investigation to develop tactics to destroy the power and institution of the Black Panther Party. Shakur was also an affiliate with the Black Liberation Army (Shakur 52).
It took the United States court system seven times to finally convict Assata Shakur, and even after being finally convicted, the notion was under false information and misrepresentation. She was accused of multiple bank robberies that took place between 1971 and 1972 and the murder of a drug dealer in 1973(Shakur XIX). While most of the trials were dismissed, one trial did end with the conviction of Assata. The action that caused her conviction was the accusation of murdering a New Jersey State Trooper. Whether people believe Assata Shakur murdered a state trooper in 1973, the facts prove that Assata could not have possibly murdered a man in the condition that she was (Puryear).
While travelling down the New Jersey turnpike accompanied with Z...
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... be more political gain in the capture of Assata Shakur than expected.
Works Cited
United States. Federal Bureau of Investigation. Definitions of Terrorism in the U.S. Code. Web
United States. Federal Bureau of Investigation. New Most Wanted Terrorist. 2013.Web
Cornell University Law School. Legal Information Institute. 18 U.S. Code § 751-Prisoners in custody of instiution or officer. Web.
BlackPast.org. (1964)Malcolm X’s Speech at the Founding Rally of the Organization of Afro-American Unity.Web.
Puryear, Eugene. Liberation. Assata Shakur: Understanding the politics behind the FBI’snew attack.2013. Web.
Afrocubaweb. Assata Shakur. Web
Glick, Brian. War at Home. Cointelpro in the 60s. Web.
Savali, Kirsten West. NewsOne. Angela Davis: FBI Targeting Assata Shakur ‘Reflects Very Logic Of Terrorism’. 2013. Web.
Shakur, Assata. Assata: An Autobiography.1987. Print
She claimed self defense stating in the documentary duing a court order, “first female serial killer is not what I am and I am not even near it and my confessions prove it” (CITE). From the learning theory comes a term deemed “Neutralization”. Neutralization is an attempt by the offender to buffer the severity of their actions. It’s a learned behavior and thus is categorized under the learning theory which has been adopted via observation of their surroundings. This neutralization is an attempt to redistribute blame away from the offender. While all claims of rape Aileen mentioned are valid ( we can never know for sure because her victims are dead) a pattern of blame starts to form through her dialogue. According to the FBI, “The term ‘serial killings’ means a series of three or more killings, not less than one of which was committed within the United States, having common characteristics such as to suggest the reasonable possibility that the crimes were committed by the same actor or actors.” (CITE). By definition of the word, Aileen was in fact a serial killer. However, while in the end admitting to the crimes, Aileen held strong to the idea that she was in fact not a serial killer, “Lee Wuornos insists she is not a serial killer and did not stalk her victims or plan her crimes” (DOCUMENTARY CITE). We see Aileen used neutralization in 2 main forms,
Davis, Jayna. The Third Terrorist: The Middle East Connection to the Oklahoma City Bombing. Nashville: WND, 2004. Print.
This historical study will compare and contrast the depiction of the “War on Terror” in a pro-government and anti-government plot structures found in Zero Dark Thirty (2012) by Kathryn Bigelow and The Siege (1998) by Edward Zwick. The pro-government view of Zero Dark Thirty defines the use of CIA agents and military operatives to track down Osama Bin Laden in the 2000s. Bigelow appears to validate the use of torture and interrogation as a means in which to extract information in the hunt for Bin Laden. In contrast this depiction of terrorism, Zwick’s film The Siege exposes the damage that torture, kidnapping, and
attempted murder of policemen on January 23, 1973. On May 2, 1973, Assata Shakur and two
Imagine being objectified not being seen like a human. How would you feel? Sad? Angry? Depressed? Devastated? In “Assata An Autobiography” by Assata Shakur that is what happened to her and other people whom were not white. Being arrested and shot by troopers with no evidence simply by assumptions is what happened to Assata Shakur. Since she and Zayd were black they were mistreated and taken into custody. During the 70’s social justice rarely existed, the whites had power over any other ethnic group. All thought the autobiography social justice is what Shakur empathizes and how she did not obtain it with many other blacks. That caused her to become part of The Black Panther Party. She wanted a change to happen for the better not only for her and her people but for other facing the same issue of inequality. Social justice being a touchy topic in Assata Shakur’s life has made more people
Aileen Wuornos is one the most famous psychopathic serial killers in the world. Not only is she one of the only female serial killers, her killings are unlike any other there has been. She exhibited psychopathy traits since birth and her abuse as a child didn't help matters. She killed 6 men in the span of year and told police she was the victim in all the cases, not admitting to intentionally killing them to many months later. After getting caught by the police and going through a long, tedious trial she was found guilty of all her charges and was charged with the death penalty. There is a very good chance that Aileen could have experienced a normal life, but the abuse she endured ruined that for her at an early age.
Patty Hearst was held captive from February until April. Then after the voice message saying that she had joined the SLA and changed her name to Tania, she was believed to be a willing participant in the terrorist acts the group had committed. The first act she was a part of was robbing the Hibernia bank in San Francisco. That is when the mystery and controversy began. Was she a willing participant or was she being held at gun point? Was it Stockholm syndrome, which is described as feelings of trust or affection that occur in certain kidnapping situations? Was her gun really loaded and did she have a choice in what she was doing? Will America ever know the truth?
The attitudes toward Muslims today have not changed significantly since September 11, 2001. Any Muslim person; man, woman, or child is automatically suspect to instigate pandemonium, based strictly on their appearance and faith. Regardless of any evidence, reasoning, or perspective to the contrary, Muslims are seen as an enemy to United States citizens. The events of 9/11 left Muslim Americans unceremoniously lacking any respect from U.S. citizens regardless of any affiliation with Al-Qaida. We assess Muslim people with a common image of terror. We see the turban or hijab and assume a terrorist is hidden within its folds. Our mentalities inevitably come to a paralyzing halt, and we can never see through the fabric of the religious garments. When we see any one of these people, one person comes to mind, and that is the person who attacked our country. Today, in our nations cities and towns these arrogances still exist forcefully. Muslim people are still profoundly victimized and discriminated against by the means of assumption and negative mental sets. In the novel Zeitoun, author Dave Eggers takes time to assess the spitefulness encountered by Kathy and Abdulrahman Zeitoun, along with narrating the family’s endeavors with hurricane Katrina. Zeitoun presents racial differences in America, primarily in New Orleans, by discussing how they are created and the ways in which they exist today.
Acoli, Sundiata. A Brief History of the Black Panther Party and Its Place In the Black
Angela Yvonne Davis’ interest in social justice began during her youth when she was exposed firsthand to the hateful and violent consequences of racism. She was born on ...
Struggle and incarceration surrounded Shakur from an early age. His godfather, Elmer "Geronimo" Pratt, a high ranking Black Panther, was convicted of murdering a school teacher during a 1968 robbery although his sentence was later overturned. His stepfather, Mutulu Shakur, spent four years at large on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list beginning in 1982, when Shakur was a pre-teen. Mutulu was wanted in part for having helped his sister Assata Shakur (also known as Joanne Chesimard), Tupac's godmother, to escape from a penitentiary in New Jersey, where she had been incarcerated for allegedly shooting a state trooper to death in 1973.
Crosley, Hillary. “How Data Took Down NYC’s Stop and Frisk” The Hour (2013) 1-3. Print.
Nearly all of the problems the Black Panther Party attacked are the direct descendants of the system which enslaved Blacks for hundreds of years. Although they were given freedom roughly one hundred years before the arrival of the Party, Blacks remain victims of White racism in much the same way. They are still the target of White violence, regulated to indecent housing, remain highly uneducated and hold the lowest position of the economic ladder. The continuance of these problems has had a nearly catastrophic effect on Blacks and Black families. Brown remembers that she “had heard of Black men-men who were loving fathers and caring husbands and strong protectors.. but had not known any” until she was grown (105). The problems which disproportionatly affect Blacks were combatted by the Party in ways the White system had not. The Party “organized rallies around police brutality against Blacks, made speeches and circulated leaflets about every social and political issue affecting Black and poor people, locally, nationally, and internationally, organized support among Whites, opened a free clinic, started a busing-to prisons program which provided transport and expenses to Black families” (181). The Party’s goals were to strengthen Black communities through organization and education.
• AW calls herself “a womanist “, her term for a black feminist. She is one of the female Afro-American writers founding the concept “New Black Renaissance” .
The 1960’s was an era of constant turmoil as a result of the fight for equal rights for all races, a fight led by the great Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcom X. Even before they were both murdered, the mostly peaceful Civil Rights movement was gaining traction, but still actually gaining equal rights at a painfully slow pace. Founded by Huey Newton and Bobby Seale, the Black Panther Party emerged as a revolutionary group who aimed to change not only the unfair government but the slow pace at which the Civil Rights Movement was progressing. In the late 1960’s and the 1970’s, The Black Panther’s consistently stood up for their beliefs on Civil Rights and were successful in changing it into