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Portrait of Assata Shakur

Assata Shakur

(1947–2025) Political Activist United States

161 quotes in 816 categories

Assata Shakur describes how music can make her heart race and feel like a dance of struggle. She points out that imperialism fuels racism, so fighting one means fighting the other. She also believes that real change starts when each person steps up and works to be better for everyone.

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Assata Shakur was a political activist from the United States, best known for Assata: An Autobiography.

Quick Facts About Assata Shakur

Born: July 16, 1947
Died: September 25, 2025
Nationality: United States
Profession: Political Activist
Notable works: Assata: An Autobiography

About Assata Shakur

Shakur was convicted in 1977 of first‑degree murder of New Jersey State Trooper Werner Foerster after a 1973 shootout on the Turnpike. She escaped from prison in 1979 and the FBI and New Jersey authorities placed a one‑million‑dollar reward on her capture. She has remained a fugitive for more than four decades.

Quotes by Assata Shakur

Only the strong go crazy. The weak just go along.

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I realized that I was connected to Africa.

Africa

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A revolutionary woman can't have no reactionary man.

Men

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i Believe In The Fire Of Love And The Sweat Of Truth

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What most impressed me about Cuba was the optimism.

Cuba

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We are pregnant with freedom.

Freedom

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Where there is oppression, there will be resistance.

Inspirational

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I can't do nothin except try to find cloud nine.

Cloud

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All you have to do is ask yourselves, who controls the government? And who are the victims of that control?

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Theory without practice is just as incomplete as practice without theory.

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When I was a child, if someone had talked to me about buying water, I would have thought it was a joke.

Buying

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“We do not have the right in the name of social justice to bore anyone to death.”

Death

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“Everything you love is from a different world. Hungry, you turn your nose up at my peas and rice.”

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No one is going to give you the education you need to overthrow them.

Education

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We usually reach success by putting the simple truths that we know into practice.

Inspirational

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To become free, you have to be acutely aware of being a slave.

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I stay connected in my head. I'm spiritually and psychologically connected to African-Americans. They are my people, and that will never change.

African american

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Peace is a rare gift. Peace of mind, peaceful sleeps, and peaceful spirits are all luxuries that few rebels can ever afford.

Luxury

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I really wanted to know what happens in a place that is trying to build socialism, that's trying to construct some form…

Capitalism

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I have declared war on the rich who prosper on our poverty, the politicians who lie to us with smiling faces, and…

Faces

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We're living in a very tricky world, and unless we become analytical and expose the tricknology, people will become sucked into that.…

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People come telling the truth. When I ask how thing are in the States, they don't give me the okeydoke. They say,…

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It never occurred to me that anyone would name a nuclear missile "Peacekeeper". It never occurred to me that thousands of people…

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People ask me if I miss the States. I miss African Americans. But not the U.S. government or all the things they…

African american

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All of my experience of studying religion, studying spirituality, studying natural healing, traditional medicine, has kind of enriched my vision of the…

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A revolutionary woman can't have no reactionary man. If he's not about liberation, if he's not about struggle, if he ain't about…

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“An aboveground political organization can't wage guerrilla war anymore than an underground army can do aboveground political work. Although the two must…

Politics

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Love is contraband in Hell, cause love is an acid that eats away bars. But you, me, and tomorrow hold hands and…

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To have one's race brutally treated for so many years, even after the end of slavery and segregation, people are going to…

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Freedom! you askin me about freedom. I'll be honest with you. I know a whole more about what freedom isn't than about…

Being honest

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I am a 20th century escaped slave. Because of government persecution, I was left with no other choice than to flee from…

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The US has attacked countries like Grenada, Panama, Libya... the list of victims of US terrorism is almost infinite. And the US…

Chile

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White people's fear of Black people with guns will never cease to amaze me. Probably it's because they think about what they…

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“Don’t you know that slavery was outlawed?” “No,” the guard said, “you’re wrong. Slavery was outlawed with the exception of prisons. Slavery…

Black people

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I am a Black revolutionary woman, and because of this i have been charged with and accused of every alleged crime in…

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I hate war, and I hate having to struggle. I honestly do because I wish I had been born into a world…

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“While big corporations make huge, tax-free profits, taxes for the everyday working person skyrocket. While politicians take free trips around the world,…

Around the world

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While big corporations make huge, tax-free profits, taxes for the everyday working person skyrocket. While politicians take free trips around the world,…

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I own no TV stations, or Radio Stations or Newspapers. But I feel that people need to be educated as to what…

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“this is the 21st century and we need to redefine r/evolution. this planet needs a people’s r/evolution. a humanist r/evolution. r/evolution is…

Evolution

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Assata Shakur by topic

People (56) Thinking (19) Life (17) World (15) Struggle (15) Cuba (15) Revolutionary (14) Racism (13) Love (13) Politics (12) Time (11) Government (11) Freedom (11) Oppression (10)