Quotessence
Home / Authors / Assata Shakur
Assata Shakur

Assata Shakur Quotes

Activist

Filter quotes by topic

AllPeopleIfsBlackThinkingKnowsStruggleWorldRevolutionaryCubaGovernmentWayBelieveOppressionStatesHas BeensBlack PeopleRacismVisionCountryKind

Famous Assata Shakur Quotes

“You better shut your big blubber lips.” We would call each other “jungle bunnies” and “bush boogies.” We would talk about each other’s ugly, big lips and flat noses. We would call each other pickaninnies and nappy-haired so-and-so’s. “Act your age, not your color,” we would tell each other. “You gon thank me when I’m through with you, Ima beat you so bad, I’m gon beat the black offa you.” Black made any insult worse. When you called somebody a “bastard,” that was bad. But when you called somebody a “Black bastard,” now that was terrible. In fact, when i was growing up, being called “Black,” period, was grounds for fighting. “Who you callin’ Black?” we would say. We had never heard the words “Black is beautiful” and the idea had never occurred to most of us.”

BlackProudAssimilationBlacknessBlack PowerBlack Is BeautifulBlack Struggle
Book:Assata: An Autobiography
Create image

“White people's fear of Black people with guns will never cease to amaze me. Probably it's because they think about what they would do were they in our place. Especially the police, who have done so much dirt to Black people - their guilty conscience tells them to be afraid. When Black people seriously organize and take up arms to fight for our liberation, there will be a lot of white people who will drop dead from no other reason than their own guilt and fear.”

PeopleThinkingReasonDoneFightingBlackWhiteArmsGunConsciencePoliceGuiltCeaseGuiltyLiberationBlack PeopleDirtOrganizeGuilty Conscience
Author:Assata Shakur
Create image

“Any Black person in amerika [sic], if they are being honest with themselves, have got to come to the conclusion that they don't know what it feels like to be free. We aren't free politically, economically, or socially. We have very little power over what happens in our lives. In fact, a Black person isn't free to walk down the street. Walk down the wrong street, in the wrong neighborhood at night, and you know what happens.”

IfsKnowsFeelsLittlesPersonsFactsHappensNightBlackWalksOur LivesStreetsHonestConclusionBeing HonestNeighborhoodBlack Person
Author:Assata Shakur
Create image

“I own no TV stations, or Radio Stations or Newspapers. But I feel that people need to be educated as to what is going on, and to understand the connection between the news media and the instruments of repression in Amerika. All I have is my voice, my spirit and the will to tell the truth. But I sincerely ask, those of you in the Black media, those of you in the progressive media, those of you who believe in true freedom, to publish this statement and to let people know what is happening. We have no voice, so you must be the voice of the voiceless.”

PeopleKnowsNeedsFeelsBelieveSpiritAsksBlackVoiceMediaTvsNewsHappeningsConnectionsInstrumentsRadioNewspapersStatementsEducatedTelling The TruthStationsProgressivePublishSincerelyRepressionTrue FreedomRadio StationsNews MediaVoiceless
Author:Assata Shakur
Create image

“In my opinion while lynchings were quite possibly the most heinous crimes ever witnessed in American history, they helped in bringing people together for a sole purpose. It was because of these lynchings that armed self-resistance was created. If white people knew black people were capable of fighting back then there was less of a chance that violence actually would break out.”

PeopleIfsSelfTogetherPurposeFightingBlackChanceWhiteOpinionBreakViolenceCrimeCapableResistanceBlack PeopleSoleAmerican HistoryBreak OutLynchingFighting BackHeinous Crimes
Author:Assata Shakur
Create image

“That was one of the big problems in the [Black Panther] Party. Criticism and self-criticism were not encouraged, and the little that was given often wasn’t taken seriously. Constructive criticism and self-criticism are extremely important for any revolutionary organization. Without them, people tend to drown in their mistakes, not learn from them.”

PeopleLittlesImportantSelfProblemBigsGivenBlackPartyMistakeTakenCriticismOrganizationRevolutionaryConstructiveBig ProblemsSelf CriticismPanthersConstructive CriticismBlack PantherBlack Panther Party
Author:Assata Shakur
Create image

“As far as I was concerned, the Panthers were 'baaaaaad.' The Party was more than bad; it was bodacious. The sheer audacity of walking onto the California Senate floor with rifles, demanding that Black people have the right to bear arms and the right to self-defense, made me sit back and take a long look at them.”

PeopleLooksLongMadeSelfBlackPartyArmsBearsWalkingConcernedDefenseCaliforniaBlack PeopleSenateSheerSelf DefenseRiflesRight To Bear ArmsAudacityPanthers
Author:Assata Shakur
Create image

“I am a Black revolutionary woman, and because of this i have been charged with and accused of every alleged crime in which a woman was believed to have participated. The alleged crimes in which only men were supposedly involved, i have been accused of planning. They have plastered pictures alleged to be me in post offices, airports, hotels, police cars, subways, banks, television, and newspapers. They have offered . rewards for my capture and they have issued orders to shoot on sight and shoot to kill.”

MenHas BeensOrderBlackCarCrimeTelevisionInvolvedOfficeSightPoliceRewardsNewspapersPlanningPostsRevolutionaryHotelCaptureAccusedAirportsSubwayPost OfficePolice Cars
Book:Assata: An Autobiography
Create image