Assata Shakur has been living in Cuba since 1986, after escaping from
prison where she was serving a life sentence imposed in a highly
disputed trial. Assata was a Black Panther then a Black Liberation Army
(BLA) leader in the early '70s, so she was a target of the FBI's
COINTELPRO operation. Assata was captured in a shoot-out resulting from
resistance to yet another "driving while black" police action in 1973 on
the New Jersey State Turnpike. She was convicted by an all white jury
in 1977 and sentenced to life in prison. Before her daring escape from
prison in 1979, Assata Shakur served a total of six years behind bars
where she would also give birth to her daughter Kakuya.
