Happy Birthday Assata Campaign

On November 2 2006, Mos Def, Sonia Sanchez and the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement helped to kick off the Happy Birthday Assata Campaign, a national mobilization effort to commemorate the revolutionary icon’s 60th birthday. Well over one hundred supporters gathered at SEIU 1199 in midtown Manhattan to rally support for Assata and for the many political prisoners detained throughout the United States and abroad.

In 1973 Assata and her comrades were caught in a shootout with State Troopers on the New Jersey Turnpike. The incident left one of Assata’s comrades and one State Trooper dead. Assata – who was also shot during the incident – was charged with the officer’s murder and sentenced to life in prison. After serving nearly six years behind bars she escaped and fled to Cuba, where she remains to this day under political asylum. She details her life story in her autobiography, Assata.

“Eyes On The Rainbow”, a film by Gloria Rolando about the activist’s life in Cuba was screened at the celebratory event. It featured a clear eyed and tranquil Assata detailing her astounding experiences, maintaining her innocence and declaring that there is still much work to be done in the fight for true freedom.

Next was Sonia Sanchez, a preeminent figure in the Black Arts Movement of the 1960s and 70s. She delivered rousing words, which situated Assata Shakur within a revolutionary legacy predating American Slavery and extending to the present day. She expressed delight at the fact that so many young people were in attendance, signaling the changing of the guard from her generation to the next.

When Mos Def took to the mic he spoke of the need to celebrate our elders and for the Hip-Hop generation to remain humble and continue the struggle. Last year when the bounty on Assata’s head was increased to $1 million, Mos Def drafted a letter to the Hip-Hop community in support of her right to live free.

Ms. Sanchez and Mos Def were the first to sign the handmade birthday card which had several blank pages. Two lines formed throughout the room and one by one attendees waited patiently to inscribe their words and receive a beaded Assata bracelet. Similar events will be held in Bahia, Brazil, Philadelphia, Chicago, San Francisco, Detroit and Atlanta giving her supporters throughout the world a chance to sign the card. www.happybirthdayassata.org