Assata: An Autobiography

After Shakur was told that she would go on trial for the New Jersey Turnpike case in Morris County on January 4, 1973, she was suddenly moved to a New York jail to await trial for a Bronx bank robbery case that took place in September 1972. When she arrived at the jail, she was subjected to a “search” (83) of her vaginal and anal cavities. If she refused, she would be placed in solitary confinement, which she professed that she could not do again for her sanity.

When Shakur woke up in her cell the next day, she learned from other inmates that the jail was for people waiting to go before the Disciplinary Board for sentencing. They shared that this part of the jail was usually reserved for “people who have infractions or for crazy people” (86). When they learned who Shakur was, they were elated and joked that the newspapers represented her as “bigger, blacker, and uglier,” than she was in reality (87).

Shakur learned that her friend and fellow Black revolutionary leader, Simba, was also in the jail. Simba was pregnant with a child whose father was fellow activist Kakuyan Olugbala. Unfortunately, Kakuyan had been murdered by the police, and Simba was facing 25 years in prison. Shakur was happy to see her but saddened by her friend’s predicament.

On the day of Shakur’s trial, Evelyn was flustered since the rushed date of this trial did not give her time to properly prepare. She explained to Shakur that she was going to ask for postponement in federal court, which she knew would be denied. The next step would be to file an appeal in the circuit court.

Shakur appeared on trial with Kamau Sadiki, who was also charged with being part of the Bronx bank robbery case. Judge Lee P. Gagliardi, whom Shakur characterized as a “racist dog craka” (89), denied all of Evelyn’s motions for postponement. Outside of the courtroom, Sadiki tried to hug his two-year old daughter, but was beaten by US marshals. Shakur jumped into the fight to defend Sadiki, leading to a full-scale fight where Shakur and Sadiki were both injured and handcuffed.

Due to their ill treatment, Shakur and Sadiki agreed to tell their lawyers to remain “mute” (90) in court and to let them do the talking. When Judge Gagliardi brought in the jury, Shakur and Sadiki explained that they were being targeted by the US government and treated unjustly. Judge Gagliardi would remove Shakur and Sadiki repeatedly from the courtroom for this behavior. Meanwhile, spectators watching the trial erupted in protest and were attacked by US marshals as well.

Shakur and Sadiki were removed from the courtroom to listen to the trial over a loudspeaker in a separate room. Sadiki and Shakur developed a romantic relationship through the process. Sadiki suggested they have sex and they entertained the possibility of having children together. While Shakur was frightened at the possibility of bringing another Black child into a world with so much racism, she decided, “[I’m] going to love Kamau, and, if a child comes from that union, [I’m] going to rejoice” (93).

During a particularly rough day at trial, Evelyn and Shakur got into a fight, leading Shakur to dismiss her aunt as her lawyer. She decided to hire Florence Kennedy, a renowned Black feminist lawyer and political activist, to represent her. While Kennedy did not have much trial experience, Shakur felt sure that she wanted “a political lawyer” given the direction that the trial was heading (98).

When Shakur was 13 years old, her mother split up with her stepfather and moved the children from the neighborhood of Jamaica to Parsons Gardens in Queens, New York. During this time, Shakur’s relationship with her mother continued to grow tense. Shakur ran away from home once more and tried to find work in Greenwich Village.

During her first days in Greenwich Village, Shakur stayed with a paranoid man who threw her out after the first night. She then found a job at a diner but was sexually harassed by her boss. When she quit, her boss refused to pay her. She had to make a public scene to force him to pay her for a day’s work.

Finally, Shakur met Miss Shirley, a transgender woman who sensed that Shakur was a runaway youth. Miss Shirley helped Shakur get a job as a barmaid and a place to stay. The people at the bar knew she was younger than she claimed to be, and they protected her from predatory men.

Meanwhile, Shakur also befriended fellow runaway youth, Pat and Ronnie. Together, they agreed to run the “Murphy game” on white men who approached Black women sexually (107). Shakur would wait for a white man to approach and solicit her sexually. Then she would lure him to a building under the pretense that a private party would be supposedly taking place. She would make the man pay her in advance for entry and then disappear into the building with the money. With Pat and Ronnie’s oversight, she would exit the building a different way, leaving the white man behind. When Shakur told Miss Shirley about this scheme, she was reprimanded. Miss Shirley disapproved of Pat and Ronnie’s influence, insisting that entrapping white men in this way could lead to violence.

One day, Pat and Ronnie took Shakur to a party where she met a boy she liked. When Pat and Ronnie left and never came back, the boy told Shakur that he would take her to a better party at his place. When Shakur arrived at his apartment, she was greeted by a group of boys who were planning to rape her. She understood that this act of violence was terribly common for young girls, especially Black girls. She escaped by destroying items in the apartment, forcing the boys to exit into the hallway. She made the boy who brought her to the apartment knock on a neighbor’s door to locate an adult. When the neighbors came out, Shakur explained what had happened. The neighbors called her a car and got her to safety.

Shakur’s life away from home was eventually cut short when one of Evelyn’s friends saw her on the street. Her aunt’s friend returned her to Evelyn, who reprimanded her and forced her to go home. By that time, Shakur had recognized: “I was tired of being grown and [I] wanted to be a kid again” (117).