Assata: An Autobiography

Shakur went into hiding for the next several years. Reflecting on her time in hiding, she states, “I had done a lot of reading about it in other places, but I had no concrete idea how to apply the lessons from those struggles to the struggle of Black people within the United States” (241).

According to Shakur, one of the main struggles of the Black Liberation movement was that there was no consolidation of the various Black organizing groups. There were too many ideas and beliefs about how liberation could be achieved for Black people. She believed that “On the whole, we were weak, inexperienced, disorganized, and seriously lacking in training” (242). Many members believed in armed struggle without cultivation of the right ideologies. She believed that “armed struggle, by itself, can never bring about a revolution” (242). However, she also knew that reform was not the solution either.

In preparation for revolution, “it was important to start building underground structures as soon as possible” (243). When she went into hiding, this became an especially pertinent realization.

After Shakur was acquitted in her Queens bank robbery trial on January 16, 1976, she was returned to Middlesex County Jail and placed in solitary confinement for a year until the New Jersey Turnpike trial was over. Lennox Hinds, the head of the National Conference of Black Lawyers, along with other members of Shakur’s defense team, filed a civil suit against the state of New Jersey for Shakur’s inhumane treatment in jail. Much to Shakur’s surprise, the court ruled in her favor. However, the jail did not follow the ruling’s directives, and Shakur remained in solitary confinement.

Evelyn and Cohen began working together on the New Jersey Turnpike trial, but their personalities clashed. They had to hire a New Jersey lawyer who was familiar with the state’s laws to move forward with their defense plan. They hired a white New Jersey lawyer, Stuart Ball. They also brought onboard a young Black lawyer, Lewis Myers to help with the case. While Shakur had a robust defense team, she also knew that it meant there were “too many cooks in the kitchen” (245). As time passed, lawyers would ask the judge to be removed from the case.

The defense team needed to locate forensics and ballistics experts to build a stronger case, but many experts were too afraid to work with the defense. Many of these experts also worked with the police and knew that if they corroborated any of the defense’s arguments, they lose their police contracts. Finally, Cohen announced that he had found an investigator to help with the case. The investigator had some information on Harper, the police officer who was the main witness on the scene. A few days after this announcement, Cohen was found dead in his apartment with evidence of trauma, though the newspapers stated that he died of “natural causes” (247). The police on the scene also took all of Stanley’s legal papers, returning only a few to Evelyn when she argued for those documents to be released.

After Stanley’s death, William Kunstler joined the case. His entry proved difficult as Judge Theodore Appleby’s tendency was to “completely intimidate the lawyers, to harass them, threaten them until they became fearful of mounting any significant opposition to the legal lynching that was supposed to be my trial” (248). Appleby tried to remove William from the case, citing his “improper conduct” (248) for giving a lecture at a university about fundraising for more expert witnesses on the case.

On the first day of the trial—January 17, 1977—Gary Gilmore was executed by firing squad, which “set the climate for the trial” (249). Judge Appleby denied the defense team’s motions to examine US government surveillance and violence toward Shakur and insisted the jurors would be impartial despite Middlesex County’s predominantly white population having already formed an opinion about Shakur’s guilt.

During the jury selection process, he was careful not to ask the jurors questions about Shakur’s guilt, ensuring that those most opinionated about the trial remained on the jury. In the end, he selected an all-white jury. Shakur indicated that the jury selection process was “the biggest farce in legal history” (250). Shakur was advised to participate in the case despite its terrible odds. Her defense team’s strategy was to take the trial to appeals court. However, she knew that she would never win a courtroom that was like “the theater of the absurd” (251).

She was told that she could entertain a strategy of “opening the door” (251), which meant that she could provide political reasons for why she was a fugitive. However, this meant that the prosecution could share other information about the Black Liberation movement that had nothing to do with the New Jersey Turnpike shooting. There would be no political witnesses who could testify to the presence of COINTELPRO. Shakur would not only open the channels for exposing Black Liberation organizing tactics but also dilute her testimony in the process. Reflecting on this trial, Shakur referred to her participation as “unprincipled and incorrect” (252) and that “By participating, I participated in my own oppression” (252).