Assata Shakur’s Escape
Although Shakur pleaded her innocence, she was convicted of murder and sentenced to life in 1977 following a traffic stop that resulted in a state trooper being shot dead. Shakur was left with gunshot wounds that caused temporary paralysis in her arm. Refusing to be left to rot in prison, she escaped to Cuba in 1979 with the help of fellow Black Liberation Army members. Her life reminds us that liberation is possible when we fight together.
Gloria Richardson, Cambridge Uprising
If ”knuck if you buck” was a person, it would be Gloria Richardson, head of Cambridge, Maryland's Nonviolent Action Committee. In 1963, a National Guardsman poked her in the back with his bayonet in the middle of a protest. She swatted it away, refused to back down, and kept marching into the trenches with her people. She reminds us that we've always pushed past fear because not being in control of our own bodies, lives, and destinies was even scarier.
Montgomery Riverfront Brawl
The Alabama brawl happened in 2023, and we're still celebrating because it was an epic display of Black unity captured in real time. It was the perfect reminder that we've always united to overcome obstacles and oppression.
We must remember that liberation requires our support and care for each other. The point of it all? A new world where our people can thrive as we're meant to.