EP 5 Assata Shakur - Read To Drown Them Out I Women And Resistance 🌍

In this episode of the Women and Resistance podcast, host Adesoji Iginla engages in a profound conversation with Asata Olubala Shakur (played by Aya Fubara Eneli Esq), exploring themes of resistance, resilience, and the ongoing struggle for justice. 

Assata shares her personal experiences of confinement, the impact of education on identity, and the importance of revolutionary consciousness. 

The discussion delves into the legacy of political prisoners, the role of women in activism, and the necessity of civic engagement. 

Through powerful storytelling, Assata emphasises the need for unity and the fight against systemic oppression, leaving listeners inspired to continue the struggle for freedom and justice.


Takeaways

*Walls can be broken down, both physically and mentally.
*Education shapes our understanding of history and identity.
*Self-hatred is a tool of oppression that divides communities.
*Awakening to revolutionary consciousness is crucial for change.
*Joining movements like the Black Panther Party can empower individuals.
*Leadership should be humble and in service to the community.
*Life in Cuba offers a different perspective on freedom and resistance.
*Political prisoners are a vital part of the struggle for justice.
*Women play a crucial role in the fight for liberation.
*Civic engagement, including voting, is essential for justice
Chapters

00:00 Introduction to Resistance and Resilience
02:12 Breaking Down Walls: The Power of Spirit
04:40 The Education of a Revolutionary: Unlearning History
07:03 The Impact of Self-Perception on Identity
09:12 The Role of Organisations in the Fight for Justice
11:53 Personal Stories of Struggle and Awakening
14:24 The Journey to Activism and the Black Panther Party
15:53 Reflections on Life as a Fugitive
18:15The Legacy of Family and Community
20:39 Navigating Danger: A Young Woman's Experience
23:02 The Fight Against Systemic Oppression
25:50 The Reality of Incarceration and Its Consequences
28:07 The Struggle for Justice: A Personal Account
30:19 The Cruelty of the System: Reflections on Policing
32:49 The Escape: A Turning Point in the Fight for Freedom
34:47 The Harsh Realities of Prison Life
35:57 Railroaded by the Justice System
38:14 The Struggles of Motherhood in Prison
39:01 The Fight for Justice and Acquittals
41:01 The Weight of False Accusations
43:50 The Challenges of Legal Representation
45:50 The Impact of Racial Bias in the Justice System
47:26 The Importance of Voting and Civic Engagement
49:03 The Birth of a Revolutionary
51:48 Escape and Asylum in Cuba
53:08 Reflections on Freedom and Activism
54:52 The Legacy of Political Prisoners
59:04 A Call to Action for the Oppressed

Welcome  to Women and Resistance, a powerful podcast where we honour the courage, resilience, and revolutionary spirit of women across the globe. Hosted by Aya Fubara Eneli Esq and Adesoji Iginla...

You're listening to Women and Resistance with Aya Fubara Eneli Esq and Adesoji Iginla—where we honour the voices of women who have shaped history through courage and defiance...Now, back to the conversation.

That’s it for this episode of Women and Resistance. Thank you for joining us in amplifying the voices of women who challenge injustice and change the course of history. Be sure to subscribe, share, and continue the conversation. Together We Honour the past, act in the present, and shape the future. Until next time, stay inspired and stay in resistance!

Transcript

Adesoji Iginla (00:01.435)
Yes, greetings, greetings, and welcome to another episode of the Women and Resistance podcast. I am your host, Ade Soji Iginla. And with me as usual, before she reveals who she is this week, is my sister from another mother, Atoni Aya Fubera, NLEA Squire sister.

Aya Fubara Eneli (00:26.542)
Good evening.

Adesoji Iginla (00:28.677)
Yes, today we are centering a woman whose life and words continues to echo across generations of resistance. And I mean, I'll let the woman speak for herself, but I will introduce her simply as Asata Olubala Shakur, welcome sister.

Aya Fubara Eneli (00:54.552)
Thank you, it's a pleasure to be here.

Adesoji Iginla (00:57.721)
Yes. where do we begin? I will begin by one of the quotes you gave us in the course of your very long and still very vibrant life. And you said, and I quote, I have been locked by the lawless, handcuffed by the haters, gagged by the greedy. And if I know anything at all, it is that a war just

A is just a wall and nothing more at all. It can be broken down. What do you mean by that?

Aya Fubara Eneli (01:44.92)
we look at the lives of.

people of African descent, there are so many times when we've been hemmed in and we've been walled in and it's easy to look at those walls. I recall one of the prisons that I was in actually.

I was the only female prisoner in this prison. It was a male prison.

I was held in solitary confinement for over 20 months in this prison. And you know, when we use words, it's important to pause and to really visualize what you or someone else may be saying. So when we say solitary confinement,

There were no other women, there were no other prisoners that I was in contact with. I had guards that guarded me 24-7. I did not obviously have conversations with them.

Aya Fubara Eneli (03:04.341)
I found out that when I got around people, I'd almost gotten mute. I'd forgotten how to talk.

Aya Fubara Eneli (03:15.15)
It's very possible, I would say probably human, in those circumstances, walled in, walled up.

to think that this is all that life will be for you. But it is so important to know that they are just walls and that.

Aya Fubara Eneli (03:46.144)
our spirits transcend those walls and the spirits of our ancestors who overcame so much transcend any walls anyone can build and that is something that we all need to hold on to whatever walls we may be hemmed in by at this time and that's what I meant.

Adesoji Iginla (03:50.385)
True, true.

Adesoji Iginla (04:13.991)
And you go on to say, I didn't know what a fool they had made of me until I grew up and started to read real history. I had been taught that black people had no history, no heroes, no great migration or civilizations.

Aya Fubara Eneli (04:38.658)
Yes, wasn't that something? You know, being in school and some of you may be able to relate to this and you're acting out the first Thanksgiving and you're acting as the pilgrim and

Adesoji Iginla (04:51.409)
Mm.

Aya Fubara Eneli (04:56.686)
And you're not even aware that the truth is these are a genocidal people who came in and decimated another group of people and stole land and resources. I used to sing songs where we thought.

Adesoji Iginla (05:03.643)
Hmm.

Aya Fubara Eneli (05:14.67)
Abraham Lincoln free the slaves. And I did not know that my enslaved ancestors actually worked for their own freedom and that Abraham Lincoln was no friend of ours. He wanted to get rid of black people. He wanted to find where to put us in Liberia or somewhere in the Dominican Republic or somewhere, anywhere but around other white people. And so yes, our education makes fools of us, makes a mockery of us.

because it has us buying into narratives that have us question ourselves. Let me tell you a story that is still so heartbreaking. And then I'll circle back and talk about my beginning and so on. So at this time, I believe, cause you know, was born.

Adesoji Iginla (05:48.391)
Mmm.

Aya Fubara Eneli (06:07.63)
in New York, but at some point I moved to, woman to North Carolina with my grandparents. I think I was about three when I moved there. And then I moved back to New York eventually with my parents, because the idea was in the North you can get a better.

quality of education because in North Carolina and the South, education was still segregated. Now we had excellent teachers, but of course we got all the hand-me-down books from the white schools and things of that nature. But you have teachers who really cared about you. So at any rate, I was now in New York and beginning to develop and starting to be aware of boys in that way.

Adesoji Iginla (06:25.415)
Yeah.

Aya Fubara Eneli (06:52.246)
And there was this boy who liked me. And just about every week he would put a flower on our porch, on our stoop for me. And I thought it was just the sweetest thing. But he was really dark skinned.

Adesoji Iginla (07:13.319)
Mmm.

Aya Fubara Eneli (07:14.312)
And I was trying to be part of the popular group. although, like he didn't really talk to me, but he showed in other ways that he liked me. And then finally, one day he was walking with me and he just, you know, told me he liked me. And then he asked me if I would be his girl.

Adesoji Iginla (07:34.767)
Hmm. Cute.

Aya Fubara Eneli (07:39.025)
and

them of course not. I was thinking of what my friends would say, what the in-group would say. I would totally ruin my social stature if I went with such a boy because we were taught to believe that the darker you were, the uglier you were. I made fun of my sister about her lips because thin lips were supposed to be better.

And I didn't know any better. This is why I tell you they make fools out of us. And I turned to him and I said, I could never be your girl because you are so dark and ugly.

and I will never forget the look on his face.

I

Aya Fubara Eneli (08:39.97)
Realize how much I hurt him and the look on his face Turned to one of absolute disgust

And of course, he never talked to me after that. And much later in life when I realized how they had pumped our heads with so much self-hatred. You know, as a kid, we were always fighting.

Like you went to school and we were always fighting and we would call ourselves all kinds of names. And the worst name you could call someone was any name that you added black to. So you could call someone a bastard and that was bad. But if you call them a black bastard, now you're really gonna get beaten up. And.

Adesoji Iginla (09:20.177)
Mm.

Adesoji Iginla (09:28.743)
Mm.

Aya Fubara Eneli (09:33.238)
As I became more conscious, as I started to unlearn all these untruths, I realized how much we had internalized this hatred they had for us and it had become a hatred we had for ourselves and how we were hurting ourselves. And I wish I could take back that day and what I said to that young man.

But that is how they make fools of us. And that's how they keep us divided.

Adesoji Iginla (10:01.755)
Mmm.

I mean, you've seen the scene within the American and global situation in terms of culture wars. How would you say this insight that you've just talked about now reflects the continued battle over teaching history today from debates over Black Studies in the 1960s and today's fights

against book bans, you know, for those in the American South.

Aya Fubara Eneli (10:41.933)
Well.

Aya Fubara Eneli (10:46.146)
The expectation for.

Those who have always meant you ill to ever educate you for you to be truly free has to be.

Aya Fubara Eneli (11:09.486)
probably one of the most absurd things that black people have chosen to embrace, isn't it? Brother Malcolm said, yeah, we are the only race of people who would take our children to our oppressors and tell them to educate them and expect them to come out and fight for what, your freedom, their freedom?

Adesoji Iginla (11:23.429)
We're the only race.

Adesoji Iginla (11:29.617)
this. Okay, then

Adesoji Iginla (11:38.47)
Hmm

Aya Fubara Eneli (11:39.018)
And so I think they're doing exactly what they intend to do. And the question is, what will we do about it? And that is why when I started to...

Adesoji Iginla (11:45.063)
Mm.

Aya Fubara Eneli (11:58.912)
understand more of my history. You know, I went to Manhattan Community College and there was this organization and I know we're kind of going around and I'll come back to my origins but

When I discovered the Golden Drums organization and I started going to different events that they would have and that's where I'm like, wait a second. We're fighting in Vietnam. Why are we fighting the Vietnamese? What issue do we as black people have with them? And look at what's happening here with us. And when I started to understand how we get manipulated and really started to get a better understanding of our history,

I wanted to join an organization that would enable me to make a difference. I'll tell you another story. So there were a group of us, know, young black youth and adults. And one day we were out, you know, on the beach, just, you know, smoking some marijuana and just, you know, just basically just having a good time.

Adesoji Iginla (12:51.015)
Mm.

Adesoji Iginla (13:07.857)
Beans.

Aya Fubara Eneli (13:10.942)
And there were some white hippies not too far from us. Essentially, you know, just hanging out at the time. This was in the 60s. And there were also a group of Asians that we didn't even notice initially. Some may know them as like the Red Berets or whatever. But...

So at some point, the pigs, that's what I call the police, they showed up and just started rough handling the white hippies. And we're kind of in a, you know, a daze, you know, from what we were smoking and we're just kind of looking at it like, what? Beating the crap out of these guys, you know, whatever. And then they like arrested them and took them away. And at that time,

Some of the Asian guys came over and they were like, listen, they're probably going to come back and you guys, find you with these reefers and all of that. You're going to be next. You need to get out of here as quickly as possible. Well, we were so stoned. We really couldn't even figure out how to get to wherever. And so they were like, you need to ride somewhere. And we're like, sure. We get into their cars and they're like, well, where do you want to go? We're just like, we're anywhere. And this Asian guy started talking about

the importance of being aware of your surroundings. The importance of knowing what's going on and being in a state of mind where you can react as needed. And I remember after they dropped us off and we all kind of started going to our individual homes, just thinking about it and saying,

Adesoji Iginla (14:46.631)
consciousness.

Aya Fubara Eneli (14:59.438)
I don't care what kind of deep thoughts we're having, what deep conversations we're having. If I ever let a substance take control of me where I don't have control over myself, I didn't even know that I should get out of there, I didn't have a way to get out of there, that's not what a revolutionary is about.

Adesoji Iginla (15:21.958)
Mmm.

Aya Fubara Eneli (15:24.246)
I started looking for an organization to join and I did my homework. looked at different organizations and I had some concerns with different organizations. But ultimately, when I joined the Black Panther Party, it was because I felt that they had an understanding that this wasn't just about, our struggle did not need to be about reforming the system. This system cannot be reformed.

It had to be. It had to be a revolution. And I saw what we were doing back then, the food programs, the health programs, we were teaching young children, we were helping our elderly. And I thought this is where I need to be. I didn't know quite exactly what I needed to be to become a revolutionary.

Adesoji Iginla (15:55.95)
dismantled.

Aya Fubara Eneli (16:19.736)
But I knew that that was a step. Now I ultimately did leave the Black Panther Party. After the New York 21 were arrested, basically Cointel Pro was going on. We didn't know this at the time. FBI comes in and arrests the top 21 minds of the New York Black Panther Party. They do that, right? They pull the leadership so that everybody else kind of scatters.

Adesoji Iginla (16:33.127)
Yeah.

Aya Fubara Eneli (16:49.722)
and put a hundred thousand dollar bond on each of them This was in the 60s a hundred thousand So, course they knew you know, we we raised some money. We're able to bail out a couple but we couldn't bail out most of them. No, we couldn't bail out even yeah and the cointel pro-head was planting seeds of distrust amongst the

Adesoji Iginla (17:05.487)
Not all of them,

Aya Fubara Eneli (17:18.912)
leadership on the west coast, on the east coast, but what I didn't appreciate was how some of the leaders would talk to the other members and talk to members of our community. I always believed, and I was taught this by my grandmother, that leaders should be humble.

Leaders are supposed to be in service of their people. And you don't have to get pompous and big headed and stop listening.

I attended a conference and one of the Black Panther leaders took some paperwork that I had been working with and I'd left it on a table. And I said, give me back the paperwork. And you he went to mouthing off and all of that.

And it was just not necessary. And then the next thing he, without saying it to my face, I got back to New York and they told me I was being dismissed from the Black Panther Party because he had asked for me to be dismissed. And I was like, what kind of coward is this and what kind of ego is this? And so, know, I quit and then they later said, no, you can come back. And at that point I was like, no, not interested. But then I joined the Black Liberation Army as some of you may know.

But let me go back to the beginning.

Aya Fubara Eneli (18:45.611)
I need to pause.

Aya Fubara Eneli (18:53.164)
I was born in 1947, July 16th, 1947.

Aya Fubara Eneli (19:08.62)
I am no longer a young woman.

Aya Fubara Eneli (19:17.388)
I have seen more, experienced more than I could.

ever put words to with whatever time I have left on earth.

Aya Fubara Eneli (19:34.904)
I live in Cuba. I have been granted political asylum.

Aya Fubara Eneli (19:45.61)
I have a $2 million bond.

from the United States of America. In 2013, they elevated me to the list of the top 10 most wanted fugitives for the entire nation. Top 10.

Aya Fubara Eneli (20:11.712)
and there's a two million dollar bounty on my head.

Aya Fubara Eneli (20:20.342)
and I look in the mirror.

Aya Fubara Eneli (20:36.889)
and

Aya Fubara Eneli (20:56.51)
what they see about us that we don't often see about ourselves. How are they so terrified of me?

Adesoji Iginla (21:12.007)
Good question.

Aya Fubara Eneli (21:15.97)
was born in Queens, New York City. I was raised between New York City and Wilmington, North Carolina. My grandparents moved back to Wilmington, North Carolina to live in a home and on land that they inherited, but even that has a story because...

My grandfather had worked for a white family. had been a chauffeur for them. And he had been given this home. He thought it was his home. But the fine print on the paperwork said the home was his just for the duration of his life.

Aya Fubara Eneli (22:16.45)
And so although he kept up this home for the entire time he was alive, we later on, my family had to buy the home again from the family.

Adesoji Iginla (22:28.379)
Hmm

Aya Fubara Eneli (22:33.272)
but this was on land that is very much treasure today because it had access to the ocean. And my grandparents wanted to go back and start a business. My grandmother was a very proud, a very proud black woman and she would always say, hold your head up.

And she would always say, you don't say ma'am or sir to white people. You are not subservient to them. And you don't ever have to show respect to anyone who does not show respect to you.

Adesoji Iginla (23:09.179)
Mmm.

Aya Fubara Eneli (23:14.066)
and my grandmother had great plans for me. She wanted me to get an education and become part of the Black bourgeoisie, which in she would always say, she would always say something like, don't play with those gutter kids or something like that. I would go to the alicots, alicots. And it was like,

Adesoji Iginla (23:34.585)
Alley cats.

Aya Fubara Eneli (23:38.264)
Who is an alley cat? Like what does an alley cat look like? I don't know. And she would take me to play with the children who were supposedly from better homes and it would be so boring. Of course she didn't know some of the things those kids did as well. But yes, the alley cats, that's where I dwelt. I liked tagging out of the alley cats. Watched to her this May. But,

have lots of great memories growing up with my grandparents and just what my grandmother instilled in me. My grandmother was a dreamer. When I say a dreamer, I say that she would have dreams. And whatever my grandmother had a dream about was going to come to pass just like she saw it. We knew her dreams were real. But I moved back to New York with my mother. And...

went to pretty much all white schools. believe in the fourth grade I was only black child in my class. In the fifth grade I think there may have been another black child in my class. But again just imbibing all of these lessons that like you pointed out earlier make fools out of us. I ran away from home when I was 13.

My mother was in another relationship and it was just a lot of fighting and arguing and we, you I class with her and with my, you know, I guess that father and I just felt I couldn't make it out on the streets on my own and.

One time I stayed, met up with a girl who, her mother let me stay with them, but I found out that they shoplifted and they actually taught me how to shoplift and I eventually left that group. And then another time I was working at 13 at a joint where men come to drink and listen to music and my goal was kind of like a,

Aya Fubara Eneli (25:53.73)
bottle girl. My goal was to help the men relax and to get them to buy more drinks. I was 13. They of course did not know that when they hired me and I used my resources to pay for a place to stay.

Adesoji Iginla (26:14.075)
Wow.

Aya Fubara Eneli (26:14.424)
But there was, yes. But there was a very harrowing event that I experienced. I'd gone to a party. there were so many things that we got up to and I don't wanna take up too much time with this. But I share all of this because today I'm feeling like some parents need to understand that you don't.

abandon your children and their purpose or their greatness just because they may go through some patches that make no sense to you. I actually got involved with this other girl and young boy and they came up with a scheme well that they said they did all the time.

And that is where you basically act like you're a streetwalker and some guy propositions you and then you tell him there's this club where he can pay a one-time fee and he can then get all you can access to whatever you know what I'm talking about.

Adesoji Iginla (27:08.071)
Hmm.

Aya Fubara Eneli (27:24.106)
So the setup is the guy comes with you, you get to the building, you negotiate a price, he gives you the money.

Which would be like it could be $45 something like that because he's paying for the whole year You go up the stairs, but you don't come back down You go to the rooftop and then you go to another rooftop and then you come down through another building and the guy the Boy who was working with us would be there to now usher us away and I really could have gotten myself killed because I did it once but if any of those men ever

sauce again or saw me again I could have been in real deep trouble so I met a woman who told me that was not the way to go but one time I went to a party with these friends and then they said they were gonna go run an errand whatever and they'll be right back and I stayed at the party but there was not a whole lot going on at the party and I kept waiting for them to return and they didn't come back

Adesoji Iginla (28:07.527)
Mm.

Aya Fubara Eneli (28:32.642)
Well, in the meantime at the party, was talking to this guy. He was really nice and just a really nice guy and we just hit it off. And so he said, well, you know, this party is lame. Why don't you come back with me? We are having a party at my place and it's going to be a whole lot more fun. And I thought he seemed like a really nice guy. was young. And so I went with him.

and we get to this apartment, you know, and it's empty. There's no one else there. And I said, well, where's everybody? Where's, I thought there was a party here. And he's like, they're on their way. And then all these other young men started coming in. And I looked up and realized I was the only female there. And then they're whispering amongst themselves. And I realized I was in trouble.

Adesoji Iginla (29:23.591)
Mmm

Aya Fubara Eneli (29:25.824)
And so one of them came and sat next to me and tried to rub his arm on my, his hand on my thigh and I'm going, my God. And I'd heard of boys running or men running a train on a woman. And it was like, my God, I can't, can't, I can't do this. Well.

The guy started arguing amongst themselves as to who would go first and I was crying. I'm like, I'm a virgin. I've never done this. Please just let me go. Just let me go. Like it's always the first time. It's gonna feel good. I'm terrified out of my mind. And then somehow the guy who brought me in said, hey, be careful.

don't mess up anything because my mama will get on me if I mess up the house. And I seized on that. And I started picking up, I picked up a vase and I threw it and broke it. And I picked up a table lamp and I'm like, if you don't leave me alone, I'm gonna break this as well and you're gonna have to deal with your mama. Because I realized how scared he was of his mama. And so they were trying to attack me because initially I'd been trying to escape and they knocked me down, tracked me down, beat me down, everything they were holding me

Adesoji Iginla (30:43.161)
Mm.

Aya Fubara Eneli (30:46.66)
down and and so

I said, come one more step close to me. I'm gonna tear up this whole place. I'm gonna break up everything. And he was so scared about that. And he was like, stop stuff. And I was like, no, get them all out of here. Get them all out of here. And I'm still holding the lamp and finally all of them leave. And it's just me and him and I'm trying to figure out what to do because they said, well, she has to come out sometime. So I knew they'll be waiting for me downstairs. And so I looked out of the peephole. was nobody in the hall.

but there were other apartments and so still holding the lamp I said to him You're gonna go out and you're gonna knock on the door of the next apartment and you're gonna get an adult here and if you don't I'm gonna tear up your mama's place and So he knocked on the door and this lady came out and when she came out I pulled my head out and said please please help me. I need help and then her husband came out and they Escorted me down and put me in a tab

Adesoji Iginla (31:25.063)
Mm.

Aya Fubara Eneli (31:52.246)
And that was a lesson for me. shortly after that, my aunt Evelyn saw me on the streets, because I was gone from home for maybe four months. And dragged me basically and took me back home. so that's just a little bit of some of my escapades. But let's get to the serious stuff. I was born Joanne Deborah Byron. I got married fairly early.

and that's how my name got changed to Chesimard. I realized that I was no homekeeper, homemaker. He expected me to cook like his mother and do some other things, and so we realized we were better off as friends. And so we divorced shortly after we got married, and he eventually got an annulment.

Adesoji Iginla (32:39.399)
Mm.

Aya Fubara Eneli (32:46.318)
So we got married. I got married to Luis Chesamard who was a student activist. We got married April 1967 and we got divorced in December 1970, but we were already, you know, like a part of course for some time. Yes I Did not finish high school. I left high school and I went to work. I left home again But I eventually did get my GED

Adesoji Iginla (32:59.991)
drifted apart.

Aya Fubara Eneli (33:15.136)
And then I also attended the borough of Manhattan Community College and I also attended City College of New York where I became very active in campus protests and civil rights organization.

Aya Fubara Eneli (33:32.866)
The reason that I really loved the Black Liberation Army was because their focus was on revolution and not just reform. And they were engaged at that time, at least so says Contelpro, in armed actions in the early 1970s. I...

Was on my way home one day when some friends of mine were laid me and they said, you can't go back to your place. I said, what do you mean I can't go back to my place? And they said it's surrounded the police all over the place. They're looking for you. Again, I don't know if you can just put yourself in my shoes.

Adesoji Iginla (33:59.74)
Hmm.

Aya Fubara Eneli (34:20.982)
Everything you have, like you left home, let's say you went to your job or you went to the grocery store. Everything you have is in your home. Your pictures, everything that is of value to you. You just can't go back. I knew that if I went back, you could not trust the system. You could not trust them to not have trumped up charges against you. I did not know what to do.

Adesoji Iginla (34:28.17)
Thank you for

Aya Fubara Eneli (34:50.654)
what reason they were there and so I basically went underground and They were searching for me for a while and in the meantime It seemed like every crime that was committed or purported to be committed that included a woman a black woman

Adesoji Iginla (34:59.751)
Mm.

Aya Fubara Eneli (35:15.822)
I was charged with that crime. And even the ones that were all men, I was charged with being the organizer behind the scenes. And I'll tell you a little bit about some of the acquittals and dismissed charges that occurred between 1971 and 1977.

Aya Fubara Eneli (35:39.234)
Well...

On an eventful day, I was on the New Jersey Turnpike with...

Aya Fubara Eneli (35:54.222)
two of my dear brothers.

Aya Fubara Eneli (36:00.344)
Zahid was there. Zahid ended up losing his life. It was a traffic stop. They would often just harass and stop black people for any number of reasons. This was May 2nd, 1973, and the excuse was that we had a broken tail light. Well, you may remember.

Adesoji Iginla (36:24.731)
Broken tail part.

Aya Fubara Eneli (36:29.902)
Not too long ago, a brother lost his life in Minnesota over a broken tail light. Like nothing has changed, right? They just killed him in front of his girlfriend and a young child. Well, this was back in 1973 and the traffic stop escalated into a shootout.

State Trooper Werner Förster was killed. Zahid Malik Shakur was also killed.

and

Aya Fubara Eneli (37:17.678)
I've been asked to put my hands up, which I did, and I was shot in the upper back, like my shoulder area, and I was also shot in my back. And then somehow I was charged with the murder of the state trooper, even though my injuries clearly would have indicated that it would have been impossible for me to have shot a gun.

They also tested my hands for gun residue and there was none on me.

Aya Fubara Eneli (38:06.766)
brethren who was there did escape but they caught him 36 hours later.

Aya Fubara Eneli (38:15.458)
the

I can't even begin to tell you the horrors that I experienced. I remember fading in and out of consciousness. It was like they did not want to put me on a stretcher and get me any medical care because they were hoping that I would die. They were poking my wounds. They were kicking me. I would come to and then fade out again.

Eventually, I was taken to a hospital and the whole time they would prod me in my wounds. They said that I've got no care at all and asked me questions and asked me questions. I don't know what information they thought I had. I was not allowed to call any family, any attorney, nothing else. Completely isolated. I didn't even know if

Adesoji Iginla (38:58.279)
Aya Fubara Eneli (39:14.05)
my family had any idea that I had been arrested.

Adesoji Iginla (39:17.168)
arrested.

Aya Fubara Eneli (39:22.306)
The people guarding me were also state troopers. So you can imagine where they feel like I was responsible for the death of one of their own. There were a couple of black nurses who were sympathetic and one of them I was able to eventually give my aunt Evelyn's information for her to try and reach her.

Adesoji Iginla (39:47.783)
Mm.

Aya Fubara Eneli (39:48.874)
It took my aunt going to court to finally get permission to access me and even then it was for a very short period of time that she could see me as my attorney and then that my mother and my sister could see me and I could tell from the reactions on their faces that I looked really bad. That began my ordeal in an...

Adesoji Iginla (39:52.689)
Get to access. Okay.

Adesoji Iginla (40:10.139)
Hmm

Aya Fubara Eneli (40:18.752)
not in and out of various prisons because I stayed under the control of the U.S. state, sometimes federal, sometimes until my escape. Yes.

Adesoji Iginla (40:31.591)
Would you be able to draw parallels based on what you learned about the New Jersey police force vis-a-vis the guy who said he returned from World War II, having fought on the wrong side to today's policing in the United States?

Aya Fubara Eneli (41:01.106)
What I would say about policing in the United States is if we understand that this began with

quote unquote, slave patrols, slave padarolas, then you understand that the focus has always been on controlling our bodies and controlling our lives. It's never been about protect and serve, which is what they write and say that they're about.

And so unfortunately, the police in this country and to the extent that other countries have emulated the notion of police forces, as we see even on the African continent, they are mostly anti the people. They are anti revolutionary. They are pro the status quo.

Adesoji Iginla (41:47.983)
Hmm.

Aya Fubara Eneli (41:54.634)
And so, yes, to go and fight for your country again the way they make fools out of us, believing that you are fighting for justice or democracy or rights, only to come back to supposedly your home country and be denied all humanity. These people would just indiscriminately target us.

for no reason. They just always found a reason to target us and that's what happened on that turnpike that day on May 2nd in 1973. So, I'm sorry, go ahead.

Adesoji Iginla (42:24.475)
You froze?

Adesoji Iginla (42:31.196)
Hmm.

Adesoji Iginla (42:38.159)
No, you were going to say you talked up to the point where you made your escape. How did that come about? Or what led to it? Because I think that's folklore.

Aya Fubara Eneli (42:47.968)
Well, I was going to say, because those who know don't tell, and those who tell definitely don't know. But I would say this.

Adesoji Iginla (42:55.143)
You

Adesoji Iginla (42:58.983)
Mm.

Aya Fubara Eneli (43:04.504)
talking about cruel and unusual punishment.

Aya Fubara Eneli (43:12.106)
in just about really in every prison that I went that I was put in.

Aya Fubara Eneli (43:21.59)
What you could see is that slavery never ended for us.

Adesoji Iginla (43:25.703)
Mm.

Aya Fubara Eneli (43:28.386)
The vast majority of the people there that were imprisoned were black and brown women. And when you talk to them about what their infractions were or what their crimes were, and then realized what kind of sentences they got as a result, I mean, these are things that white people routinely just get a slap on the hand for, if anything, and yet these women's lives would be ripped apart.

Adesoji Iginla (43:41.489)
Very petty.

Aya Fubara Eneli (43:58.71)
We have no rights. One of the most, my God, I can't say it's the most because there are so many indignities that I suffered. But let me tell you about one that those of you who have never been incarcerated could possibly never.

relate to. Every time you are brought into a prison, you must have your cavities searched.

If you leave to go to court even though you are under their control the whole time, yes, when you come back to the facility.

Adesoji Iginla (44:38.937)
supervision.

Aya Fubara Eneli (44:48.418)
You are strip searched.

and then you have to spread your legs.

Adesoji Iginla (45:01.658)
cough.

Aya Fubara Eneli (45:02.272)
And I don't know if I'm allowed to say it on this platform, but finger F'd.

Adesoji Iginla (45:14.087)
Thanks.

Aya Fubara Eneli (45:17.078)
and if you refuse.

You get beaten and you're still eventually going to have to go through it and then you're going to be thrown into solitary confinement as well. Human beings are not meant to be treated in this way.

Adesoji Iginla (45:24.261)
Dude.

Adesoji Iginla (45:37.893)
there are no humans involved.

Aya Fubara Eneli (45:41.432)
During one of our trials, when we knew again that we were being railroaded, this was for one of the bank robberies, they had no evidence at all. There was nothing to tie us to the crime at all. It was Kamau and I, and we told our attorneys not to participate. Every motion we made, the judge had struck down.

Did not want to give us the resources to be able to do you know? To be able to pay for any of the experts that we needed to put on a defense We're just being railroaded and so we told our attorneys don't say anything and all we're going to do is every time the jury's here We're going to stand up and we're going to say we're being railroaded and we're going to just speak out and of course the

The judge would get upset and he'll hold us in contempt and then the guards will have to take us out, remove us from the courtroom. And of course each time they were just so willing to put their hands on us and beat us up. And they put us in this room next to the courtroom where there was a speaker so we could hear the court proceedings. And it was so cold.

and but at the same time it was great for to be in a place where we could talk without all the eavesdropping and surveillance and all of that.

So we actually kept opening the door because we knew if we asked to for the door to be open so that some heats would come in that would make them close the door which would give us more privacy and of course they did exactly that and over the days of Kamau and I every day just coming and having to sit in this room as we listen to the The farce of a court hearing that was going on we grew close

Aya Fubara Eneli (47:40.614)
And one day we started talking about sex. And at that point it was like, these people are probably going to take our lives if they can. If we have sex, there's a real possibility of pregnancy. And why would anyone want to bring a child into these circumstances?

Adesoji Iginla (48:00.87)
Hmm.

Aya Fubara Eneli (48:01.464)
But I was reminded of a conversation I had with a sister who was pregnant, who I knew before, but we saw again in jail and she was pregnant. We saw again in prison and she was pregnant. And she was so looking forward to having her baby. And the point she made was our babies carry it on.

our mothers and our foremothers and our forefathers, they did not stop living and they did not stop producing and procreating because life looked so bleak for them and we carry on. And so we made love and months later, much to my amazement,

Adesoji Iginla (48:32.027)
public.

Aya Fubara Eneli (48:46.154)
it was confirmed that I was pregnant but even then the doctor at the hospital at the prison had to play all kinds of games with me and the only health services he wanted to offer me was abortion. So I had to fight even to have my daughter and that child is Kakuya. But let me tell you a little bit about some of the acquittals and dismissed charges.

Adesoji Iginla (49:12.967)
Mm.

Aya Fubara Eneli (49:15.4)
So I was charged with attempted armed robbery at Stockler Hilton Hotel. And the charge date was April 5th, 1971. So this was before I was arrested. The arraignment wasn't until November 22nd, 1977.

and no trial was held because they did not have enough evidence to even really get the judge to move forward with this and so the charges were dismissed. I was also charged with a bank robbery in Queens. The robbery date was supposedly August 23rd, 1971.

and my arraignment was July 20th, 1973. The trial was held from January 5th through January 16th in 1976. And I was acquitted on January 16th, 1976, because it was not me. And yet, what they did was there was a picture of a black woman with a gun at the robbery.

They put my name underneath the picture and posted that all over New York Post offices The train stations on buses the picture of another black woman, but my name under it I was acquitted

Adesoji Iginla (50:44.295)
Mmm.

Aya Fubara Eneli (51:00.91)
I was also charged with bank robbery in the Bronx. The robbery date was September 1st, 1972. And I was arraigned on August 1st, 1973. The trial was from December 3rd through the 14th of 1973.

and it was a hung jury. I was retried again December 19th through the 28th of 1973 and I was acquitted. So imagine I'm a relatively young woman with no resources and all of this state apparatus is just

Adesoji Iginla (51:40.493)
Going, yeah. Having to go through all of that. Being thrown.

Aya Fubara Eneli (51:51.67)
you know, just being thrown at me. And these guys are determined to get me on something.

Adesoji Iginla (51:54.351)
Hmm

Aya Fubara Eneli (52:01.8)
Then I was charged with kidnapping of James E. Freeman.

The charge date was December 28th 1972 and the arraignment was on May 30th 1974. So just in terms of my nerves from the moment they arrested me by the way, I was paralyzed by one of the shots and so and they would not give me any physical therapy.

Adesoji Iginla (52:29.073)
shoulder.

Aya Fubara Eneli (52:36.248)
They did give me a sleeve that I wore that kind of protected my clavicle and provided some support for my shoulder, but I had to figure out my physical therapy myself.

And I've got all of these charges hanging over my head with no resources.

Aya Fubara Eneli (53:07.618)
Just the mental and spiritual fortitude. They're harassing my aunt, they're harassing my mother.

Aya Fubara Eneli (53:19.614)
Okay, so for the kidnapping of James Freeman, my trial was September 6th through December 19th, 1975. I was acquitted of that. Then I was charged with the murder of Richard Nelson.

Aya Fubara Eneli (53:41.472)
Mind you, I'm going through all of this. I'm pregnant. I'm trying to keep my child healthy. We're eating sometimes just the most, you couldn't even call it food. We actually went on a hunger strike at one point. They improved the food for a few days and then it just went back to the same grill. I was living off of the commissary. That's another scam that they run where...

When you have loved ones in prison, you end up spending so much money just trying to feed them through the junk food that is overpriced anyway, but it beats the horrible prison food. I could go on. The charges of murder against Richard, of murder against me for the murder of Richard Nelson were dismissed. No trial was held because there was no evidence.

Then I was also charged, I hope you're keeping track of this, with the attempted murder of officers Michael O'Reilly and Roy Pollyanna.

Aya Fubara Eneli (54:50.318)
The incident date was supposedly January 23rd, 1973. This was in Queens County.

No trial was held. It was dismissed. But then of course the one that they got me on

was, they also, yeah, so one of the people that they charged me with murdering, kidnapping, well, no, of kidnapping, who was it that they charged me with kidnapping? It was James Freeman. James Freeman was actually a Brooklyn drug dealer that I supposedly kidnapped.

Adesoji Iginla (55:31.879)
Hahaha

Aya Fubara Eneli (55:36.002)
So where they finally got me convicted was on the murder of the state trooper.

Adesoji Iginla (55:46.673)
Foster.

Aya Fubara Eneli (55:48.3)
Yes. Here's another thing that's never discussed. There is certain evidence that when presented, the experts that a defense would have to hire to refute that evidence are mostly people who work with the police anyway. So for instance, in this case, they claimed that

Adesoji Iginla (56:07.055)
at least on regular basis.

Aya Fubara Eneli (56:15.982)
Forrest's blood was all over my clothes. Again, given my condition, it would have been impossible for me to have shot him. No residue, residue on my hands. The gun was found under Zaid's leg or something of that nature. Supposedly they said, because you can't believe anything these pigs say. We wanted.

to get an expert who could examine my clothes so they could make a determination as to when that blood transfer took place. And whether it was mingled with any of my blood from when I was shot and which one came first and all of that. But all of the people that you could possibly hire that have that kind of expertise.

Adesoji Iginla (56:52.283)
Mm-hmm.

Aya Fubara Eneli (57:09.622)
work for the police and if they work with you in a case against the police, they will never work again. So first we couldn't even afford that kind of expertise, but then the judge finally granted us the resources to hire an expert, but then now we couldn't find an expert. But then we had a young man.

Adesoji Iginla (57:19.429)
Mmm.

expert.

Adesoji Iginla (57:26.043)
the ones you

Aya Fubara Eneli (57:37.954)
who reviewed my files and came in and talked with us and said he had found pertinent information and he had found someone who would testify on our behalf. You wanna know what happened?

Adesoji Iginla (57:56.517)
retail.

Aya Fubara Eneli (58:00.3)
He was found dead.

Aya Fubara Eneli (58:05.686)
And to this day, only his wife and possibly the FBI know. Maybe his family know how he died. They did not say how he died. He was dead and all of my legal documents that he had in his possession were gone. Nothing, no, he was dead. He was dead. We don't know what, under what circumstances he was dead.

Adesoji Iginla (58:25.031)
Was it disappeared or dead?

Aya Fubara Eneli (58:36.171)
and we later on found out that

Aya Fubara Eneli (58:44.226)
the state had my papers that were in his possession. They hadn't taken anything else except the documents related to my defense that included us laying out what our defense was gonna be. Why they would take that?

Adesoji Iginla (58:50.503)
possession.

Adesoji Iginla (59:03.047)
Yeah.

Aya Fubara Eneli (59:07.018)
I live up to your imagination. Of course, the jury was an all-white jury, and we never get juries of our peers. And let me say this to my brothers and sisters still in the United States of America who do not see the importance of voting. Listen, I am all for revolution. I understand that this system cannot be reformed.

I also understand that we're not going to have this revolution overnight. There are systematic steps. In fact, that is one of the things that has hurt us as a people is that we're not making the plans and being diligent and systematically working our plans. And there are different roles for different people to play.

Adesoji Iginla (59:56.135)
Mm.

Aya Fubara Eneli (59:58.674)
Now, if we don't register to vote and if we don't vote, guess what happens? Every time you are going to pull jurors, we won't be in that pool because jurors are pulled from the list of voters, not potential voters.

Adesoji Iginla (01:00:23.591)
voters.

Aya Fubara Eneli (01:00:27.732)
Voters!

Adesoji Iginla (01:00:29.569)
Okay, those who have voted before or okay. Okay. Okay for the voters role. Okay

Aya Fubara Eneli (01:00:31.926)
Yes. So the fact that you have the potential to vote, but you don't register to vote or you register to vote, but you refuse to vote, you exclude yourself from those roles. And there are so many of our children, your mothers, your fathers, your brothers and your sisters who are depending on you.

to be in that jury pool so that we get a chance at justice, some measure, a little bit. We know the system is stacked against us. But time after time after time, I would have an all-white jury. They would say, a jury of your peers. How? You don't have any understanding of my life. In fact, the jury that convicted me,

Adesoji Iginla (01:00:58.15)
Hmm.

Aya Fubara Eneli (01:01:22.546)
and the judge sentenced me to life in prison plus 33 years. That was my sentence. That jury of the 14 jurors, because they have the 12 and the alternates, five of them were related to state troopers.

Adesoji Iginla (01:01:51.323)
about conf...

Conflict of interest.

Aya Fubara Eneli (01:02:00.632)
So.

Aya Fubara Eneli (01:02:07.852)
I knew my time to have my baby was coming near and I had been under the care of a black physician.

for him to you know I asked the prison officials to allow him to come and deliver my baby.

Aya Fubara Eneli (01:02:31.274)
and initially they weren't the white.

Doctor who had wanted me to get an abortion wanted to be the one to deliver my baby. I was not going to let that happen and I finally said well, then I'll deliver my baby myself. I was moved from the prison to a psychiatric ward and that is where I brought my daughter into the world.

Adesoji Iginla (01:02:39.687)
Aya Fubara Eneli (01:03:04.15)
and then the doctor, my doctor came and tended to us.

Aya Fubara Eneli (01:03:11.448)
They allowed me precious little time with my daughter before she was taken away without warning.

Aya Fubara Eneli (01:03:21.56)
But I did eventually get to be the mother that I wanted to be to my daughter. But I remember a visit that my daughter made to me with my mother. She was four years old and I was at a Clinton Correctional Facility. At this time I had received my life sentence plus 33 years. I'd given birth to my daughter in 1974.

And my daughter came in with my mother. know, everything is your surveil the whole time. And she wouldn't let me touch her. And she didn't want to play with me. And she was so angry at me. And she started yelling, you're here because you want to be. Why don't you just leave? You're not my mother. You're not my mother. Why don't you just leave? You could leave if you wanted to. And I was just so heartbroken.

And I said, and my mother whispered to me, show her you can't leave. And so I went to the door and pulled on the door so that she could see I couldn't get out. And I pulled yanked on the bars and on the windows and I said, you try. And so she goes with her body and she's just trying and trying and trying and pulling and pulling and screaming and pulling. And finally she falls in a heap on the ground just completely exhausted.

Adesoji Iginla (01:04:47.143)
Hmm.

Aya Fubara Eneli (01:04:50.23)
and she's crying and she let me hold her. I think in that moment she realized that it wasn't that I was rejecting her and didn't want to be with her. I truly couldn't. But something in me, something that that that did something in me. And shortly after that, my grandmother all the way from North Carolina came to visit. And she said I had a dream.

said, Grandma, what was the dream? And she said, I had a dream that I was dressing you.

Aya Fubara Eneli (01:05:33.838)
and you weren't in here. And I said, oh my God, the only time that someone dresses a grown person, an adult, is if they're dead. Was I dead? And she's like, no, you are perfectly fine. I was dressing you.

Aya Fubara Eneli (01:05:53.078)
And the day before I broke out of prison, my grandmother called.

Aya Fubara Eneli (01:06:04.142)
And she said, don't you get used to that place. Don't you ever get used to that place. Don't you ever get used to that place. You hear me? You hear me? Don't you ever get used to that place. That's not you. Don't you ever get used to that place. And I said, this must be a sign.

second 1979.

Aya Fubara Eneli (01:06:28.654)
some of my supporters entered the prison as visitors. We planted in such a way that we did not physically hurt anybody. There was no injury to anybody, no bloodshed. And we escaped in the prison van. And then we left the van and had another vehicle. And that's as much as I can tell you. And...

Five years later, I was granted political asylum in Cuba. And that is where I have lived from 1984 until now. And eventually my daughter, who had not gotten a birth certificate from the state of New York.

We were eventually able to petition. My mother was able to petition and finally get her birth certificate so that they could get a passport. And my mother and my aunt Evelyn and my daughter came to Cuba and I was reunited with my daughter. Cuba has repeatedly been pressured to extradite me.

Adesoji Iginla (01:07:36.965)
and get the passport here.

Adesoji Iginla (01:07:53.189)
Yeah.

Aya Fubara Eneli (01:07:55.886)
I have worked sometimes as an English language translator, editor. I love living in Cuba. I love the pace of life. I love how I've been able to connect with my African ancestry, to learn about the Orishas, to really embrace my African spirituality and history.

Adesoji Iginla (01:08:15.547)
Hmm.

Aya Fubara Eneli (01:08:25.806)
Like I said, in 2013, the FBI added Joanne Deborah Chesimard to the Most Wanted Terrorist list, the first woman on the list, announcing a $1 million FBI reward with which New Jersey added another million to. And I remain on the Most Wanted list.

Adesoji Iginla (01:08:37.787)
Yeah.

Aya Fubara Eneli (01:08:53.72)
course, my life and my story dovetails with Cointel Pro, dovetails with the death of Malcolm X, the assassination of Martin Luther King, the killing of Huey P. Newton, usurper Fred Hampton, the destruction of the Black Panther Party, the murder charges leveled against Angela Davis, and Angela Davis actually wrote the foreword to my book.

Adesoji Iginla (01:09:22.919)
I'll see you

Aya Fubara Eneli (01:09:23.906)
memoir Asata. And in case you're wondering where the name came from, Asata means

Aya Fubara Eneli (01:09:39.592)
one of struggle, she struggles. Olubala is for the people and Shakur is grateful and I use the name Shakur because of my dear friend Sayid Malik Shakur who was killed on that turnpike.

Adesoji Iginla (01:09:59.771)
Don't back out.

Aya Fubara Eneli (01:10:03.156)
So some of the books about me, of course my autobiography and many US officials railed against me writing this book and railed against me being able to take care of myself with the proceeds of this book. And so if you have not read my autobiography yet, do purchase it.

Adesoji Iginla (01:10:22.223)
Do putches it.

Aya Fubara Eneli (01:10:25.719)
There are many documentaries about me. There are other books that have been written as well. Here's another one. It's called The Tale of a Panther.

and the dub and it actually covers not just my story but it also covers Leila Khalid of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine which is very relevant at this time given what they're doing there which could very easily be any African country as a matter of fact it could very easily be Cuba if they could get their arms around it because the entire island of Cuba is just 90 miles from the United States and we're just talking 10 million

people and for Cuba to have withstood the United States and the West in the way that it has there are so many political you know freedom fighters here people have been granted political asylum from all over the world who are here in Cuba there's a documentary called the eyes of the rainbow there's another one called a sata aka Joanne Chesimard

Adesoji Iginla (01:11:04.583)
Mm.

Aya Fubara Eneli (01:11:32.718)
And of course, there are different interviews that I've granted over time. do want to, I'm looking at your time, but I do want to read something to you from some things that I've written, that's okay with you. One of them is a poem that I wrote. I actually love to write poetry.

Adesoji Iginla (01:11:49.851)
Go ahead, go ahead, go ahead.

Aya Fubara Eneli (01:11:59.98)
did quite a bit of writing while I was also incarcerated for the times when I did have access to writing materials. And I hope that as I read this that you will listen with your heart, listen with your soul, listen with your spirit. It's called the tradition. Carry it on now. Carry it on. Carry it on now. Carry it on. Carry on the tradition.

There were black people since the childhood of time who carried it on. In Ghana and Mali and Timbuktu, we carried it on, carried it on the tradition. We hid in the bush when the slave masters came holding spares. And when the moment was ripe, leaked out and lanced the lifeblood of would-be masters, we carried it on. On slave ships, hurling ourselves into oceans, slitting the throats of our captors, we took their whips and their.

Ships, blood flowed in the Atlantic. wasn't all ours. We carried it on.

Aya Fubara Eneli (01:13:10.136)
Fed Missy arsenic apple pies, stole. Stole the access from the shed, went and chopped off master's head. We ran, we fought, we organized the railroad and underground. We carried it on in newspapers and meetings, in arguments and street fights. We carried it on.

In tales told to children, in chants and cantatas, in poems and blues songs, in saxophone screams, we carried it on. In classrooms, in churches, in courtrooms, in prisons, we carried it on. On soap boxes and picket lines, welfare lines, unemployment lines, our lives on the line, we carried it on. In sit-ins and pray-ins and march-ins and die-ins, we carried it on. On cold Missouri midnights.

Pitting shotguns against lynch mobs on burning Brooklyn streets. Pitting rocks against rifles, we carried it on. Against water hoses and bulldogs. Against night sticks and bullets.

Aya Fubara Eneli (01:14:22.688)
against tear gas, needles and nooses. Bombs and birth control, we carried it on. In Selma and San Juan, Mozambique, Mississippi. In Brazil and in Boston, we carried it on. Through the lies and the self, give me one second here. Through the lies and the sellouts.

The mistakes and the madness through pain and hunger and frustration, we carried it on. Carried on the tradition, carried a strong tradition, carried a proud tradition, carried a black tradition, carried it on. Pass it down to the children. Pass it down. Carry it on. Carry it on now. Carry it on. Carry it on to freedom.

Adesoji Iginla (01:15:03.249)
Hmm.

Adesoji Iginla (01:15:15.879)
Mmm.

Aya Fubara Eneli (01:15:29.845)
One last thing I want to share with you.

Aya Fubara Eneli (01:15:37.612)
with everything going on in the United States now and really across the world.

Aya Fubara Eneli (01:15:50.966)
we might be tempted to be overcome by fear.

But let me say this.

Aya Fubara Eneli (01:16:04.844)
Our situation right now is critical. We can't run from it or hide from it. We're going to have to get down to the nitty gritty. We've got to determine who we are. Are we house niggers who are going to walk peacefully into the gas chambers? Or are we field niggers who are going to fight until we are free? We didn't come here no house niggers. We didn't come here from Africa no punks.

We didn't come here from Africa, no fools. We didn't come here, no Uncle Tom's hemming and hawing, shuffling and jiving, scratching our heads and kissing the feet of our masters. We didn't come here like that.

We came here strong, proud, beautiful Africans. We came here with a culture with pride. We came here knowing who we are. We came here an intelligent, sensitive people who fought and struggled on every level from the moment that we were brought here in chains. We have got to realize who we are and we've got to realize that we've got a tradition to carry on. So many of my sisters are so completely unaware of who the real criminals and the dogs are. They blame themselves for being hungry. They hate themselves for surviving

the best way they know how to see so much fear doubt hurt and self-hatred is the most painful part of being in this concentration camp anyway in spite of all i feel a breeze behind my neck turning to a hurricane and when i take a deep breath i can smell freedom

It's moods like this that make me aware of how glad I am to be a revolutionary. Can you be a revolutionary? I know who our enemy is and I know that me and this swine cannot live peacefully together, not on the same planet. I am a part of a family of field niggers that is something very precious.

Aya Fubara Eneli (01:18:01.106)
We are oppressed people in the US and don't even know it. We have fewer opportunities to be doctors and lawyers as tuition increases. Our problem is that we want to belong to a society that wants to oppress us. We want to be the plantation owner. Think about that. In Cuba, we want to change the plantation to a collective farm.

I was sentenced to life plus 30 years by an all white jury. What I saw in prison was wall to wall black flesh in chains, women caged in cells. But we're the terrorists. It just doesn't make sense. Sisters, black people will never be free unless black women participate in every aspect of the struggle.

The more you understand what you're dealing with, the stronger you get. People see fear as a bad thing, not I. Fear is healthy. When you're dealing with America, fear is healthy. But when fear controls you, when you're afraid to struggle against fear, fear is a bad thing. I'm more afraid of what will happen if I don't struggle than what will happen if I do.

Aya Fubara Eneli (01:19:23.118)
I believe in the fire of love and in the sweat of truth.

Adesoji Iginla (01:19:45.979)
Yep.

Adesoji Iginla (01:19:52.815)
You've shown...

Aya Fubara Eneli (01:19:54.968)
I wanna say one more thing. I know I've said that before, but I feel like, I feel like this has to be said.

Adesoji Iginla (01:19:57.295)
You

Aya Fubara Eneli (01:20:06.334)
I made it to Cuba.

Aya Fubara Eneli (01:20:13.004)
Lumia is still in jail.

Geronimo Pratt, Leonard Peltier. Do you black people, African people, do you know how many?

Aya Fubara Eneli (01:20:31.52)
of our brothers and sisters? Are still locked up in jail? Are still political prisoners? Do you even call their names?

Adesoji Iginla (01:20:37.959)
Mmm.

Aya Fubara Eneli (01:20:45.198)
Do you call their names as you deal with whatever the travails of your own life may be? Do we call on these people who fought for us, who sacrificed for us, who have essentially given their lives for us to have freedom or have we discarded them like yesterday's newspapers? Do you have any idea what they are experiencing, languishing behind?

these prison walls, these slave plantations.

carved out in the US Constitution to ensure that we are never truly free.

Aya Fubara Eneli (01:21:33.196)
You hear my voice today.

and you go back and you read more about me, yes, but also read about those that are still imprisoned by these pigs. What can you do to help them? Can you write a letter to them, to Congress? Can you check on them? Let them not feel forgotten because the horrors

behind those walls are things that even your loved ones who have been incarcerated will probably never be able to fully express. Say their names. Say all their names.

Aya Fubara Eneli (01:22:35.374)
And thank you. I really do love nature and I love that I'm out and I love that I get to go to the ocean and music. And I know that...

Adesoji Iginla (01:22:37.391)
No, thank you.

Aya Fubara Eneli (01:22:54.606)
That that is not what many of my brothers and sisters have gotten to experience. So many killed, so many still imprisoned. But I have also not let that steal my hope and steal my joy and steal my zest for life. And you too must live. All of you hearing my voice, you must live.

Adesoji Iginla (01:23:03.687)
Mm.

Adesoji Iginla (01:23:22.629)
Yeah, yeah. Speaking of those whose name we must call, the last news coming out of the prison where Abdou Jamal Moumiya is, is that he is losing the sight, is losing his sight because corrective surgery for his eyes is being delayed by the attorney general of the state where he's, so.

It's one of the...

Adesoji Iginla (01:23:56.391)
inequities that one has to live with because you are cooked up by a system who feels your very presence is a threat to their existence. While they would think so, even your book in there, you suggested that the mere sight of black people was enough to scare them out of their wits. So you begin to understand that

Maybe just standing up against them sometimes is all they need. Just raising your voice. Just raising your voice. Speaking of raising your voice, you've done that marvelously tonight. And we must say your life is a testimony to the struggle, the continued struggle and refusal to bow to oppression.

you've using your the opportunity that you've gained within one bastion of freedom which is just next door to the United States to raise your voice because some some other people would have escaped and live in their best life but you're still looking back to say listen just because I am out doesn't mean everything is now okay so that said

Most thank everyone for listening to Women and Resistance. Please do like, share, subscribe, and yeah, all the other good stuff. And next week, we'll be looking at Mese-Re Gitae Mugo.

The name is Misere Mitag Mugoh. You will see another, you will hear the story of another excellent woman. And this, I mean, I can't even stress how many they are. And it's mind boggling that stuff like this has not been done yet, but you know, it's only to contribution to ensuring that the names, their lives is not.

Adesoji Iginla (01:26:16.2)
a footnote, but rather a cornerstone of our history. So sister, thank you for coming. And any last words?

Aya Fubara Eneli (01:26:28.805)
Just when you were talking right now, just felt a chill going down my spine, you know, as children, well, as a child, let me speak for myself. We used to watch cartoons, particularly on Saturday mornings. Now, of course, the kids have access to shows all the days, hours of the day. But,

Adesoji Iginla (01:26:45.189)
devices.

Aya Fubara Eneli (01:26:50.315)
Just imagine, we are just scratching the surface with a few black women. Imagine if we had these kind of stories of black men, of black women, easily accessible to our young people.

You know, it could be in like graphic book form. It could be now that there's AI, possibly something that could very easily be done, but just to tell these stories so that as Asata says, we're not making, allowing others to make fools of us, but just to understand what a rich.

history we come from. And it's not all history. I mean, she's alive. She is walking the face of the earth today. And yet her story is like something out of a novel, right? A dark novel, but something out of a novel. The fact that, wow, this woman broke out of jail and made it to Cuba. Amazing. But how would our...

Adesoji Iginla (01:27:33.275)
Mm.

Adesoji Iginla (01:27:48.039)
Mm.

Aya Fubara Eneli (01:27:55.831)
How would our young women carry themselves if they had this information? How would our young men treat young women if they had this information? How would our young men carry themselves if they had information about black men of valor, of resistance, you know?

So I'm very grateful to you that we are getting to do this and that hopefully someone with even more creativity and resources picks up on it and decides to make it even bigger. So for everyone who's watching, for everyone who shares, thank you for doing that because we do need to get these stories out.

Adesoji Iginla (01:28:28.849)
Yeah.

Adesoji Iginla (01:28:39.565)
Yeah and one other quote I'll take from your book is you said it is our duty to fight for our freedom it is our duty to win we must love each other and support each other and we have nothing to lose but our chains.

Adesoji Iginla (01:29:03.237)
So good night, everyone. Again, next week we're looking at the lives and times of Misere Gite Mugou. And yeah, until next week, good night and God bless.