Pg.1
Carlos Lima
11/17/14
Section: 10385
Assata Shakur Essay
Assata Shakur’s political views are similar and different from many other political activists but the injustice she faced changed her views in ways other will never understand. Assata Shakur was an African American activist who became a member of the Black Panther party which supported the black power movement. Shakur faces oppression and is persecuted by the FBI for being a member of the black liberation army and the Black Panther party. Assata was convicted and charged with murdering a New Jersey police officer. She faced life in prison but she escaped and fled to Cuba where she seeked political asylum. Assata was persecuted so heavily and incarcerated because of her involvement
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In a way they both used militant strategies to directly fight for Black liberation. Malcom X differs from Assata in many ways. Malcolm X wanted a separate state for African Americans. He believed that blacks were feeding into the white power structure and then whites were holding them down. Malcolm X challenged the political economy which had African Americans facing poor working conditions and rates of unemployment higher than whites. Assata was not striving for a separate African American state but was more for equality in the United States for all people of color. She fought against police brutality and political injustice with the black panthers. Also Malcolm X was part of the nation of Islam while Assata was part of the Black Panther’s party and black liberation army. Assata’s political beliefs are also similar in some ways to those of W.E.B Du Bois. They both believed in equal rights in every aspect of a person’s life. They fought for full equality and were against accommodation. For example when W.E.B Du Bois apposed the Atlanta Compromise because he believed blacks should not have to compromise on this issue and they deserve to have the same rights that all citizens are promised in the constitution. As W.E.B. Du Bois believed only direct protest would advance African American civil rights, Assata also took direct action in the fight for black …show more content…
She states she was no longer the wide eyed, romantic young revolutionary who believed the revolution was just around the corner. She is saying she is not so hopeful that change will come so quick. She has realized that the revolution is a process and it is going to take for things to change. At that point they should not expect a revolution all of the sudden because it was not ready yet. It was going to take a lot more for real change to actually occur. She is still a revolutionary fighting for liberation of black people but now that she has escaped prison and fled to Cuba, she must do her work from afar. She is no longer in the middle of the conflict and directly working towards liberation and equality. She also now believes that it is not the government who runs the country. She says those who believe that the president or the vice-president and the congress and the Supreme Court run this country are sadly mistaken. The almighty dollar is king (Assata,
"I am a positive person, I never think of the glass as half empty. I just keep pushing forward" Rosie Perez the proud woman who declared this quote is a person who overcame many obstacles and difficulties to bring success in her life, despite her many hardships and traumatizing past.
During the time period of 1877-1915, Booker T. Washington and W.E.B Du Bois’ strategies both played crucial roles dealing with the recurring issues of poverty and discrimination; however,
The history of The Black Civil Rights Movement in the United States is a fascinating account of a group of human beings, forcibly taken from their homeland, brought to a strange new continent, and forced to endure countless inhuman atrocities. Forced into a life of involuntary servitude to white slave owners, African Americans were to face an uphill battle for many years to come. Who would face that battle? To say the fight for black civil rights "was a grassroots movement of ordinary people who accomplished extraordinary things" would be an understatement. Countless people made it their life's work to see the progression of civil rights in America. People like W.E.B. DuBois, Marcus Garvey, A Phillip Randolph, Eleanor Roosevelt, and many others contributed to the fight although it would take ordinary people as well to lead the way in the fight for civil rights. This paper will focus on two people whose intelligence and bravery influenced future generations of civil rights organizers and crusaders. Ida B.Wells and Mary Mcleod Bethune were two African American women whose tenacity and influence would define the term "ordinary to extraordinary".
When it all comes down to it, one of the greatest intellectual battles U.S. history was the legendary disagreement between Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. DuBois. This intellectual debate sparked the interest of the Northerners as well as the racist whites that occupied the south. This debate was simply about how the blacks, who just gained freedom from slavery, should exist in America with the white majority. Even though Washington and DuBois stood on opposite sides of the fence they both agreed on one thing, that it was a time for a change in the treatment of African Americans. I chose his topic to write about because I strongly agree with both of the men’s ideas but there is some things about their views that I don’t agree with. Their ideas and views are the things that will be addressed in this essay.
Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. Du Bois, both early advocates of the civil rights movement, offered solutions to the discrimination experienced by black men and women in the nineteenth and twentieth century. Despite having that in common, the two men had polar approaches to that goal. Washington, a man condoning economic efficiency had a more gradual approach as opposed to Du Bois, whose course involved immediate and total equality both politically and economically. For the time period, Washington overall offers a more effective and appropriate proposition for the time whereas Du Bois's approach is precedent to movements in the future. Both have equal influence over African Americans in politics. Washington's proposal excels in reference to education while Du Bois can be noted for achieving true respect from white Americans.
Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. Du Bois were very important African American leaders in the United States during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. They both felt strongly that African Americans should not be treated unequally in terms of education and civil rights. They had strong beliefs that education was important for the African American community and stressed that educating African Americans would lead them into obtaining government positions, possibly resulting in social change. Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. Du Bois had similar goals to achieve racial equality in the United States, they had strongly opposing approaches in improving the lives of the black population. Washington was a conservative activist who felt that the subordination to white leaders was crucial for African Americans in becoming successful and gaining political power.
Today there are many controversial subjects discussed throughout the media. One of the most discussed is race and the Black Lives Matter movement. Recently, I came across an article titled “The Truth of ‘Black Lives Matter’”, written by The Editorial Board. The article was published on September 3, 2015, to the New York Times. In the article, The Editorial Board writes about what they believe African Americans are facing as challenges in society today, including the all-too-common police killings of unarmed African-Americans across the country. The Editorial Board is right that some African Americans have been treated unfairly, but all ethnicities have been. Life is a precious thing that comprises all ethnicities. This brings us to ask; why
Tupac Amaru II, originally Jose Gabriel Condorcanqui, began a rebellion that rampaged through the Andes from the 1780s up until 1783. Amaru had started one of the largest Colonial Spanish-American movements in history when he captured and executed local authority, Antonio Arriaga. (OxfordBibliographies.com). This was an uprising of native and mestizo Campesino, or farmers/peasants, against Bourbon reforms from the Spaniard Viceroyalty at Peru. The goal of Tupac Amaru was to separate upper Peru, which is now modern-day Bolivia, and Argentina, which was only a territory before it became known as modern-day Argentina, from the Viceroys that had invaded Peru. The Spaniards invaded and established their authority over the people of Latin America
Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. Du Bois are two incredibly famous civil rights activists in United States history. Although they both sought to uplift blacks socially and economically across the country, they clashed over the best strategy for doing so. Coming from vastly different backgrounds, it’s understandable as to why they disagreed. However, as is evident by our current societal problems, Du Bois was the one who had the correct plan. That doesn’t mean that Washington’s ideas were wrong, but they were a temporary solution to a permanent and systematic problem.
What I enjoy is that Shakur provides descriptive scenarios of when she was being attacked by police officers, when she was in prison and even of her childhood. By doing such thing she gives us the opportunity to feel and imagine how it must have been for her. The fact that she does she, she gives us, the readers, the opportunity to visualize and see how bad racism and police brutality was, especially against African Americans. What intrigues me the most about this piece of work is when her grandmother went to visit her to tell her that she had had a dream about her being free and soon enough Shakur was in Cuba contacting her aunt to tell her she was fine. Something I would like to know more about is her process of escaping and how it happened. Also, I’d like to know more on how she was able to flee to
“If there is anybody in this land who thoroughly believes that the meek shall inherit the earth they have not often let their presence be known” (Du Bois). This is a quote from African American rights activists W.E.B. Du Bois. It’s a good example of how he views the situation at this time, and how he works mentally as a rights activist. This was a very dangerous time for the African American population in America. During this time period, there were two very well-known men who protested for rights for the African American community. Their names were Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. Du Bois. Both had very different views, but were both doing it as a way to help the African American community. However, for this time period, W.E.B. Du Bois’ philosophies
Imagine being objectified not being seen like a human. How would you feel? Sad? Angry? Depressed? Devastated? In “Assata An Autobiography” by Assata Shakur that is what happened to her and other people whom were not white. Being arrested and shot by troopers with no evidence simply by assumptions is what happened to Assata Shakur. Since she and Zayd were black they were mistreated and taken into custody. During the 70’s social justice rarely existed, the whites had power over any other ethnic group. All thought the autobiography social justice is what Shakur empathizes and how she did not obtain it with many other blacks. That caused her to become part of The Black Panther Party. She wanted a change to happen for the better not only for her and her people but for other facing the same issue of inequality. Social justice being a touchy topic in Assata Shakur’s life has made more people
Du Bois was a scholar activist who proposed lots of solutions for the issue of racism and discrimination. Du Bois was sort of an opposition to Washington’s ideology, as he strongly believes that it can only help to disseminate white’s oppression towards blacks. We can see his dissatisfaction based on his writing with a title On Booker T. Washington and Others. He wrote that Washington’s philosophy was really not a good idea because the white extremists from the south will perceived this idea as blacks’ complete surrender for the request of civil rights and political equality. Du Bois had a different view on this issue if compared to Washington because of their different early lifestyles. Unlike Washington, Du Bois was born free in the North and he did not receive any harsh experienced as a slave himself and was also grew up in a predominantly white area. In his writings, it is obvious that he thought that the most important thing that the black should gain was to have the equality with whites. Regarding the issue of the voting rights, Du Bois strongly believed that it is important for black people to agitate to get the right to vote. He also believed that the disfranchisement of poor men could mean the catastrophe of South’s democracy (Painter 157). In his writing with a title Of Our Spiritual Strivings, he wrote that it was significant for blacks to exercise the right to vote because there were whites that wanted to put them back in their inferior position—and it was
During the late 19th and early 20th century, racial injustice was very prominent and even wildly accepted in the South. Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. DuBois were two of the most renowned “pioneers in the [search] for African-American equality in America” (Washington, DuBois, and the Black Future). Washington was “born a slave” who highly believed in the concept of “separate but equal,” meaning that “we can be as [distant] as the fingers, yet one as the hand in all things essential to mutual progress” (Washington 1042). DuBois was a victim of many “racial problems before his years as a student” and disagreed with Washington’s point of view, which led
Washington 's programme naturally takes an economic cast” (Du Bois). Du Bois believed that Washington’s theory was a gospel of Work and Money that ultimately overshadowed the higher aims of life” Later he makes another statement so powerful that should have made all African Americans want to stand up and fight for a better social status and rights for both the South and North. He goes on stating “The growing spirit of kindliness and reconciliation between the North and South after the frightful differences of a generation ago ought to be a source of deep congratulation to all, and especially to those whose mistreatment caused the war; but if that reconciliation is to be marked by the industrial slavery and civic death of those same black men, with permanent legislation into a position of inferiority, then those black men, if they are really men, are called upon by every consideration of patriotism and loyalty to oppose such a course by all civilized methods, even though such opposition involves disagreement with Mr. Booker T. Washington.” (Du