How was Assata Shakur related to Tupac? Exiled Black liberation activist reportedly passes away at 78

Political activist Assata Shakur, a member of the Black Liberation Army, died on September 25 at the age of 78. According to an X post by Pop Crave, Assata was Tupac Shakur’s godmother. She was also his step-aunt. Meanwhile, a user, The Cake Lady, shared a heartfelt tribute to her, writing:

“Assata leaves this world with her dignity intact, her story unbent, and her defiance ETERNAL. She was never theirs to claim. She belonged to history, to the people, and to the ongoing fight for liberation. And now, she belongs to the ancestors. Rest in Power, love.”

The Cake Lady

@got_cake

RIP, Assata Shakur. She passed away yesterday in Havana, Cuba. She died free!​The U.S. government, after decades of pursuit, never got the satisfaction of putting her in a cage. They wanted her bound, broken, and paraded as an example, but instead, she slipped their grip and lived out her life in exile, surrounded by people who honored her struggle and her survival.​For racist white America, she was a fugitive. For us, she was a freedom fighter who refused to bow. ​Assata leaves this world with her dignity intact, her story unbent, and her defiance ETERNAL. She was never theirs to claim. She belonged to history, to the people, and to the ongoing fight for liberation. And now, she belongs to the ancestors.​Rest in Power, love. 🖤

Her daughter, Kakuya Shakur, shared a social media post, writing:

“Words cannot describe the depth of loss that I am feeling at this time.”

Assata Shakur was born in July 1947, and she grew up between New York City and Wilmington. When she was in college, she worked for the cause of Black Americans as an activist. At the time, she was associated with the Black Panther Party. Subsequently, she joined the Black Liberation Army.

According to the BBC, Assata was exiled in Cuba for almost 40 years, and she passed away in Havana. A statement by Cuba’s foreign affairs ministry noted that she had certain health conditions, which remained undisclosed. Additionally, she also had age-related problems.

She had been imprisoned in New Jersey’s women’s prison, where she was to serve a life sentence for murder. However, in 1979, Assata Shakur escaped, after which she became a wanted person by the FBI. Eventually, the President of Cuba granted her asylum.

The 1998 song Rebel Without a Pause included a mention of her.

What did Assata Shakur say about her name in her autobiography?

CNN’s Patrick Oppmann once interviewed Assata Shakur, asking if she had ever developed a revolutionary temperament in Cuba. She told him about an incident when a police officer in the country asked for her papers because she was Black. However, she was allowed to go after he learned that she was a foreigner. She told Oppmann:

“He thought I was tourist, if he only knew. Look there’s racism here, there’s racism in the United States. The difference is that the people at the top in the United States are the ones perpetuating that racist system and the leadership here are trying to dismantle it.”

Assata Shakur was also known as Joanne Chesimard. In her 1971 autobiography, she spoke about her name, writing:

“It sounded so strange when people called me JoAnne. It really had nothing to do with me. I didn’t feel like no JoAnne, or no negro, or no amerikan. I felt like an African woman.”

Assata Shakur shared in her autobiography that her family always taught her to have self-respect. Her grandparents were especially strict about reminding her that she was just as good as anyone else and should never believe that others were better than her.

Also read: Tupac Shakur's ashes were rolled and smoked, Suge Knight alleges in new interview

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