Family members, longtime comrades, movement veterans, scholars, and admirers of Assata Shakur plan to gather at Riverside Church on May 30 for a public celebration of her life — a memorial that will affirm the political life Shakur spent decades defending.
Entitled “Carry It On,” the event takes its name from Shakur’s poem “The Tradition,” which appears at the end of her 1987 book, “Assata: An Autobiography.”
When she wrote about the last time she was able to speak with her grandparents before fleeing the United States, Shakur noted that they implored her not to get used to being imprisoned: “Every day out in the street now, I remind myself that Black people in amerika are oppressed,” she wrote. “It’s necessary that I do that. People get used to anything. The less you think about your oppression, the more your tolerance for it grows. After a while, people just think oppression is the normal state of things. But to become free, you have to be acutely aware of being a slave.”
In that poem, Shakur urges future generations to continue the Black struggle for freedom: “Carry it on now./Carry it on./Carry it on now./Carry it on./Carry on the tradition.”
The program is being organized by an all-volunteer host committee that includes longtime activist Monifa Bandele and African history and Diaspora studies professor Dr. Lisa Brock, who chairs the memorial committee. Event organizers say they have spent months putting together what they describe as a national gathering in New York, both because Shakur’s life reached far beyond any one city and because they believe the public record about her has too often been written by law enforcement and the state.
“In African tradition, we always do a celebration of life,” said Bandele. “And just because someone has passed away months ago or a year ago, it’s still really important for us, in our tradition as African folks, to make sure that we celebrate that life, that we celebrate the community and the village that that life helped to produce.
“So, for Mama Assata Shakur, she’s built so much, she’s inspired so much, she’s taught and trained so many; part of that transition into the ancestral realm requires community acknowledgment and community celebration of an important person in our village.”
Bandele said Shakur’s family has been directly involved with organizers in planning the event. This will be the principal public memorial for Assata Shakur, even though independent tributes have been held elsewhere. Dr. Lisa Brock said organizers felt a major national gathering was necessary: “There are already smaller things in various cities, but we felt we needed one national memorial and celebration.”
Bandele noted that the choice of Riverside Church for the event was practical, historical, and political: Riverside has long hosted major gatherings for movement figures, and Brock added that because the church seats about 1,700 people, organizers believe it can accommodate all those who want to attend. The program will include speakers, music, visual tributes, and intergenerational reflections on politics.
For decades, Assata Shakur’s legacy has been the target of intense attacks. To supporters, she was a freedom fighter, political thinker, and former political prisoner, but U.S. law enforcement officials have characterized her as a convicted fugitive in the 1973 killing of New Jersey State Trooper Werner Foerster.
In 1977, Shakur was convicted of Foerster’s killing and sentenced to life in prison. In 1979, she escaped prison with outside help, lived underground for several years, and then resurfaced in Cuba, where she was granted political asylum in 1984. She remained there for some 41 years despite repeated U.S. demands for her return. In 2013, the FBI made her the first woman placed on its Most Wanted Terrorists list, and the reward for her capture ultimately increased to $2 million.
Bandele said that in Cuba, Shakur spoke with gratitude about the Cuban people and the Cuban government for giving her safety and the chance to spend time with her daughter after years of imprisonment and pursuit. At the same time, Brock said exile took a personal toll on her: “The separation, she’s spoken about the separation from her family and from Black people as being some of the hardest things she had to endure.”
Brock said Shakur also remained part of a broader political and cultural world in Cuba, especially among Afro Cubans and younger activists. She said Shakur was known in Black hip hop circles there and remembered the affection many Cubans had for her, even as security concerns pushed her further from public view in later years. Her autobiography remains in print and continues to be taught, organizers noted, helping make her an inspiring political figure for younger generations.
Riverside Church, at 490 Riverside Drive, in Morningside Heights, will open “Carry It On” at 3 p.m.; those who need accessible entry should use the 91 Claremont Ave entrance. The event will also be recorded and livestreamed. Those interested in attending can register online or visit the events page at HarlemOneStop.com.