Assata: An Autobiography

“I am thinking about living, about surviving, thinking about what is going to happen next. They are gonna do what they are gonna do and there isn’t much i can do about it. I just have to be myself, stay as strong as i can, and do my best.”

After Shakur was shot at the New Jersey Turnpike shooting and brutalized and interrogated by police at the hospital, she must remind herself to be strong. The following chapters detail the increasingly difficult trials Shakur undergoes to prove her innocence. This moment in the first chapter marks a declaration of will and determination to persist, knowing that the worst is only up ahead.

“I want that head held high, and i don’t want you taking no mess from anybody, you understand?”

During a time of segregation in North Carolina, Shakur’s grandmother advised her granddaughter to hold her head up high with pride and to not debase herself for anyone. She wanted Shakur to grow up knowing that she was not inferior to white people despite the social structures of the time. This instillation of pride in her Black identity was an important foundation for her budding political consciousness.

“The tactics that my grandparents used were crude, and i hated it when they would repeat everything so often. But the lessons that they taught me, more than anything else i learned in life, helped me to deal with the things i would face growing up in amerika.”

Shakur’s grandparents were strict with her in terms of decorum. They wanted her to speak appropriately and carry herself with pride. As Shakur was a more reckless child, these lessons were especially hard for her. As an adult, she understands that they were trying to protect her by teaching her how to act with respect so that when she came of age in a racist country, she would know her worth.