Assata Shakur - Political Asylum in Cuba

Political Asylum in Cuba

Shakur fled to the island nation of Cuba by 1984; in that year she was granted political asylum in that country. The Cuban government pays approximately $13 a day toward her living expenses. In 1985 she was reunited with her daughter, Kakuya, who had previously been raised by Shakur's mother in New York. She published Assata: An Autobiography, which was written in Cuba, in 1987. Her autobiography has been cited in relation to critical legal studies and critical race theory. The book does not give a detailed account of the events on the New Jersey Turnpike, except saying that the jury "Convicted a woman with her hands up!" The book was published by Lawrence Hill & Company in the United States and Canada but the copyright is held by Zed Books Ltd. of London due to "Son of Sam" laws, which restrict who can receive profits from a book. In the six months prior to the publications of the book, Evelyn Williams, Shakur's aunt and attorney, made several trips to Cuba and served as a go-between with Hill.

In 1993, she published a second book, Still Black, Still Strong, with Dhoruba bin Wahad and Mumia Abu-Jamal. Shakur's writings have been widely circulated on the Internet. For example, the largely Internet-based "Hands Off Assata!" campaign is coordinated by Chicago-area Black Radical Congress activists. As early as 1998, Shakur has referred to herself as a "20th century escaped slave". In the same open letter, Shakur calls Cuba "One of the Largest, Most Resistant and Most Courageous Palenques (Maroon Camps) that has ever existed on the Face of this Planet". Shakur is also known to have worked as an English-language editor for Radio Havana Cuba.