This week’s dash of Wednesday Wisdom comes from Assata Shakur

This week’s dash of Wednesday Wisdom comes from Assata Shakur, a prominent Black Liberation Army (BLA) figure living in exile in Cuba. This revolutionary elder reminds us that oppressors do not simply free the oppressed because it’s right. It turns out the benefits of oppressing a population outweigh moral appeals.

While some have vilified African freedom fighters because they won’t sing ‘kumbaya’ and try to get along with their oppressors, history has proven that we must fight for our freedom instead of asking for it.

If the oppressors had any moral sense, they would not have enslaved Africans in the Americas for over 400 years. Yet, our people have resisted their shackles since the advent of the European slave trade. Additionally, upon slavery’s abolition, enslavers would have paid reparations, but instead, governments compensated slavemasters in places like the United Kingdom and France.

Sources:

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/100322.Assata

https://www.un.org/en/observances/decade-people-african-descent/slave-trade#:~:text=For%20over%20400%20years%2C%20more,darkest%20chapters%20in%20human%20history.

https://www.theguardian.com/news/2019/aug/15/400-years-since-slavery-timeline

https://www.zinnedproject.org/news/tdih/compensated-emancipation-act/#:~:text=The%20federal%20government%20compensated%20the,the%20transition%20to%20their%20freedom.

https://www.gilderlehrman.org/history-resources/teacher-resources/historical-context-facts-about-slave-trade-and-slavery#:~:text=Over%20the%20period%20of%20the,all%20long%2Ddistance%20global%20migrations.