Quotes by Assata Shakur

Assata Shakur

Assata Shakur

American activist and former member of the Black Liberation Army (BLA)

Lived from: 1947 -

Category: Politics Country: FlagUnited States

Born: 16 july 1947

  • We’re taught at such an early age to be against the communists, yet most of us don’t have the faintest idea what communism is. Only a fool lets somebody else tell him who his enemy is.
  • I had to adjust to living in a Third World country, which means that things people in the U.S. take for granted-like hot running water whenever you turn on the tap-are not always available.
  • I've always been a student of different ways of looking at the world, different religions. That's been part of my survival mechanism, and also part of my curiosity as a person.
  • Being a warrior and being a struggler has been forced on me by oppression, otherwise I would have been free to be so much more.
  • I have been a political activist most of my life and many groups have attempted to label me as a criminal because of my outspoken beliefs. I am not a criminal and I have never been one.
  • I really prefer to be kind of anonymous. Because when people know your whole history, they have a tendency to relate to you differently and maybe put you up on a pedestal. I want people to just be normal with me. I just want to live my life.
  • I've tried as much as possible to avoid the standard nine-to-five thing. I've tried to organize my life so that I can move around, change the rhythm and the tempo.
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  • People are really beginning to see the mechanisms of imperialism. When colonialism existed people could see colonialism. When racial segregation existed in its apartheid form, people could see the whites only signs. But it's much more difficult to see the structures of neo-imperialism, neo-colonialism, neo-slavery.
    ― Assata Shakur
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  • If you're deaf, dumb, and blind to what's happening in the world, you're under no obligation to do anything. But if you know what's happening and you don't do anything but sit on your ass, then you're nothing but a punk.
    Assata: An Autobiography (1987) 222
    ― Assata Shakur
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  • A woman’s place is in the struggle.
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  • All you have to do is ask yourselves, who controls the government? And who are the victims of that control?
    Assata: An Autobiography (1987) 183
    ― Assata Shakur
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  • And if I know anything at all, it's that a wall is just a wall and nothing more at all. It can be broken down.
    Assata: An Autobiography (1987)
    ― Assata Shakur
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  • Are you ready to sacrifice to end world hunger? To sacrifice to end colonialism? To end neo-colonialism? To end racism? To end sexism?
    ― Assata Shakur
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  • Being a warrior and being a struggler has been forced on me by oppression, otherwise I would have been free to be so much more.
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  • Being in Cuba has allowed me to live in a society that is not at war with itself. There is a sense of community. It's a given in Cuba that, if you fall down, the person next to you is going to help you get up.
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  • Black revolutionaries do not drop from the moon. We are created by our conditions. Shaped by our oppression.
    Assata: An Autobiography (1987)
    ― Assata Shakur
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  • Dreams and reality are opposites. Action synthesizes them.
    Assata: An Autobiography (1987) 275
    ― Assata Shakur
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  • Freedom! you askin me about freedom. I'll be honest with you. I know a whole more about what freedom isn't than about what it is, 'cause I've never been free. I can only share my vision with you of the future, about what freedom is.
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  • Hip Hop can be a very effective way to reach young people and teach them about current political and social issues.
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  • I believe in self-defense and self-determination for Africans and other oppressed people in America.
    ― Assata Shakur
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  • I couldn't see how we could seriously struggle without having a strong sense of collectivity, without being responsible FOR each other and TO each other.
    Assata: An Autobiography (1987) 183
    ― Assata Shakur
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  • I found that people had all kinds of levels of consciousness, all kinds of levels of education, but that Cubans in general were very educated politically. I could go sit in a bus and get into a conversation with someone and that person had a wealth of knowledge. And energy!
    ― Assata Shakur
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  • I had to adjust to living in a Third World country, which means that things people in the U.S. take for granted-like hot running water whenever you turn on the tap-are not always available.
    ― Assata Shakur
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  • I have been a political activist most of my life and many groups have attempted to label me as a criminal because of my outspoken beliefs. I am not a criminal and I have never been one.
    ― Assata Shakur
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  • I have declared war on the rich who prosper on our poverty, the politicians who lie to us with smiling faces, and all the mindless, heartless, robots who protect them and their property.
    Assata: An Autobiography (1987) 65
    ― Assata Shakur
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  • I really prefer to be kind of anonymous. Because when people know your whole history, they have a tendency to relate to you differently and maybe put you up on a pedestal. I want people to just be normal with me. I just want to live my life.
    ― Assata Shakur
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  • I think that any time anybody gets rid of oppression, intervention, exploitation, cruelty - that's positive.
    ― Assata Shakur
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What are the most famous quotes from Assata Shakur?

The two most famous quotes from Assata Shakur are:

  • "People are really beginning to see the mechanisms of imperialism. When colonialism existed people could see colonialism. When racial segregation existed in its apartheid form, people could see the whites only signs. But it's much more difficult to see the structures of neo-imperialism, neo-colonialism, neo-slavery."
  • "If you're deaf, dumb, and blind to what's happening in the world, you're under no obligation to do anything. But if you know what's happening and you don't do anything but sit on your ass, then you're nothing but a punk."

When did Assata Shakur live?

Assata Shakur was born in 1947.