Long live Assata! Long live Cuba! Long live the African fighting spirit!

by Obi Egbuna Jr., Zimbabwe Cuba Friendship Association

Solidarity and Camaraderie Statement for the Family of Comrade Assata Olugbala Shakur

On behalf of the Zimbabwe Cuba Friendship Association, I begin by humbly expressing what an honor it truly is to be deemed worthy enough for the challenging task of drafting a statement that captures and contextualizes our fallen comrade’s strength, resolve and, most of all, her immeasurable value moving forward.

For all Mother Africa’s children worldwide who find her special journey inspiring — which we can safely affirm is in the millions — it is difficult to identify a single word that describes what this standout woman warrior means to us collectively.

We are truly in awe of those comrades who were chosen to say a few words at her upcoming tribute and celebration, primarily because of how they will have to navigate the whirlwind of natural emotions that come with the territory of bidding a comrade of Sister Assata’s caliber farewell.

They will face the uphill battle of hurdling over joy and sorrow to scientifically and accurately share with those in attendance how this once-in-a-generation servant and warrior confronted our enemies on the battlefield for most of her life.

When paying tribute and honor to our frontline fighters, who, in the eyes of the masses of our people, have earned historical space reserved for the illustrious, the plea not to be intimidated by Sister Assata’s legacy must exceed the vibrations of a volcanic eruption or, better yet, all the tornadoes and hurricanes Planet Earth has endured.

That only means the daughters of the African world must look themselves in the mirror and commit to matching and exceeding what she contributed to the culture of resistance.

Because, both on our Mother Continent and throughout the African diaspora, the matrilineal attributes of African culture will be the main weapon used in this aspect of the decolonization process, ensuring that no son of Africa stands in the way of any sister who decides to follow the trail of Comrade Assata. For this effort to prevail in our favor, our brothers will have to purge themselves of all sexist tendencies that, due to captivity, displacement and colonialism, have contaminated their hearts and minds.

It will be interesting to witness our fallen sister and comrade being given a farewell in the exact house of worship where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. publicly condemned the Vietnam War for the second time nearly 60 years ago and called U.S. imperialism the greatest purveyor of violence in the world at that historic moment.

Because our former captors and colonizers are completely devoted to the culture of rape, plunder and genocide and, from the shores of Mother Africa and Asia’s massive landscape to the borders of Palestine, have done so in the name of Jesus Christ and the Creator of the universe in general, by honoring the Mother of Urban Guerrilla Warfare in this sacred spiritual space, we are making a declaration that this monstrous cycle must be broken.

Dr. King, as courageous and selfless as he was, considered nonviolence a cardinal principle and received the cold shoulder from President Johnson for condemning the Vietnam War. Dr. King can watch from the African ancestral world as a revolutionary sister guerrilla fighter, who had a $2 million bounty placed on her head by President Obama, whom some have the audacity to compare to him, receives the ultimate send-off in the place where she first grabbed her torch for African liberation.

In conclusion, a common trend at many of these tributes is the component of regret, specifically expressed by some who feel that, during the lifetime of the fighter we are celebrating, they squandered opportunities to do more work directly around the issues of paramount importance.

The only way around self-criticism and guilt is through ingenuity and hard work, identifying and sustaining projects that are authentic representations of our fallen comrades and warriors.

In Comrade and Sister Assata’s case, we are proud to say a music project has been completed honoring not only her, but also the late wife of the revolutionary Pan-African champion Patrice Emery Lumumba, Pauline Lumumba. The music is a springboard to intensify our collective support for Cuba’s Henry Reeve Medical Brigade on African soil.

As we know, Cuba takes just as much pride in the work of its doctors as it has in keeping Sister Assata and Nehanda Abiodun safe and sound, or in fighting CIA-trained mercenaries in Angola. May the frontline fighters of the future not only acknowledge Comrade and Sister Assata’s revolutionary fervor, but also how humbly and unassumingly she approached struggle.

May the African women who were modern-day guerrilla fighters — from Josina Machel, Deolinda Rodrigues, Alganesh Kahsay, Djamila Bouhired and Fatima Bernawi, who are no longer with us — welcome Sister Assata home with a 21-gun salute.

Revolutionary greetings to her biological and ideological families.

Long Live Assata! Long Live Cuba! Long Live the African Fighting Spirit!

Obi Egbuna Jr. is External Relations Officer of the Zimbabwe Cuba Friendship Association. He can be reached at obiegbuna15@gmail.com. 

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