[Script Info]
Title: 
[Events]
Format: Layer, Start, End, Style, Name, MarginL, MarginR, MarginV, Effect, Text
Dialogue: 0,0:00:14.73,0:00:17.92,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,AMY GOODMAN: From Pacifica, this is Democracy Now!
Dialogue: 0,0:00:17.92,0:00:22.07,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,AARON FORD: I'm honoured to stand here today alongside the New Jersey State Police,
Dialogue: 0,0:00:22.07,0:00:27.22,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the New Jersey Attorney General's Office, and United States Marshall for the District of New Jersey,
Dialogue: 0,0:00:27.22,0:00:33.34,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to announce the addition of Joanne Chesimard to the FBI's Most Wanted Terrorists list.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:34.56,0:00:39.04,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,AMY GOODMAN: Assata Shakur, also known as Joanne Chesimard,
Dialogue: 0,0:00:39.04,0:00:42.42,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,a member of the Black Panthers and the Black Liberation Army,
Dialogue: 0,0:00:42.42,0:00:47.35,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,becomes the first woman named to the FBI's Most Wanted Terrorist list.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:47.35,0:00:52.42,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Convicted of murdering a New Jersey trooper in 1973,
Dialogue: 0,0:00:52.42,0:00:54.69,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,she's always proclaimed her innocence.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:54.69,0:01:00.10,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,She's lived in Cuba since the early 1980's after she received political asylum.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:00.10,0:01:02.68,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,We'll speak with scholar Angela Davis
Dialogue: 0,0:01:02.68,0:01:06.86,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and Assata's long time attorney Lennox Hinds.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:06.86,0:01:10.42,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And we'll hear Assata Shakur in her own words.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:11.13,0:01:14.30,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,ASSATA SHAKUR: Well the government just perceived us as a threat
Dialogue: 0,0:01:14.30,0:01:16.49,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,because they understood that we were serious,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:16.49,0:01:18.53,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,they understood we were telling the truth,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:18.53,0:01:25.32,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and they understood also that we were becoming a much more sophisticated opposition,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:25.32,0:01:27.94,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,we were not just the piece of pie opposition,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:27.94,0:01:34.94,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but that we wanted a real, structural change in the United States"
Dialogue: 0,0:01:36.22,0:11:30.36,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[ *please skip to 11:28 to continue with Assata Shakur piece *]
Dialogue: 0,0:11:30.36,0:11:35.58,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And I'm Juan Gonzalez, welcome to all of our listeners and viewers around the country and around the world.
Dialogue: 0,0:11:35.58,0:11:43.78,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,We begin today’s show looking at the case of Assata Shakur, a legendary figure within the Black Panther Party and the Black Liberation Army.
Dialogue: 0,0:11:43.78,0:11:49.59,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,On Thursday, she became the first woman ever to make the FBI’s Most Wanted Terrorists list.
Dialogue: 0,0:11:49.59,0:11:55.94,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,In addition, the FBI and the state of New Jersey doubled the reward for her capture to $2 million.
Dialogue: 0,0:11:55.94,0:12:03.08,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Shakur was convicted in the May 2nd, 1973, killing of a New Jersey state trooper
Dialogue: 0,0:12:03.08,0:12:06.62,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,during a shootout that left one of her fellow activists dead.
Dialogue: 0,0:12:06.62,0:12:09.92,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,She was shot twice by police during the incident.
Dialogue: 0,0:12:09.92,0:12:16.59,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,In 1979, she managed to escape from jail, and she later fled to Cuba where she received political asylum.
Dialogue: 0,0:12:16.59,0:12:18.79,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,She has long proclaimed her innocence.
Dialogue: 0,0:12:18.79,0:12:26.63,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,On Thursday, FBI Special Agent Aaron Ford spoke at a press conference announcing Shakur’s placement on the Most Wanted Terrorists list.
Dialogue: 0,0:12:26.63,0:12:31.32,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,He refers to Shakur as Joanne Chesimard, her original name:
Dialogue: 0,0:12:31.32,0:12:40.14,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,AARON FORD: Openly and freely in Cuba, she continues to maintain and promote her terrorist ideology.
Dialogue: 0,0:12:40.14,0:12:49.18,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,She provides anti-U.S. government speeches espousing the Black Liberation Army message of revolution and terrorism.
Dialogue: 0,0:12:49.18,0:12:56.05,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,No person, no matter what his or her political or moral convictions are, is above the law.
Dialogue: 0,0:12:56.05,0:13:03.45,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Joanne Chesimard is a domestic terrorist who murdered a law enforcement officer, execution-style.
Dialogue: 0,0:13:03.45,0:13:06.39,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,AMY GOODMAN: That’s FBI Special Agent Aaron Ford.
Dialogue: 0,0:13:06.39,0:13:08.55,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,In a moment, we’ll be joined by two guests:
Dialogue: 0,0:13:08.55,0:13:14.17,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the scholar and activist Angela Davis, who faced her own murder trial decades ago,
Dialogue: 0,0:13:14.17,0:13:19.86,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and Lennox Hinds, Assata Shakur’s longtime attorney for some 40 years.
Dialogue: 0,0:13:19.86,0:13:23.64,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But first we turn to Assata Shakur in her own words.
Dialogue: 0,0:13:23.64,0:13:30.52,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,In 1998, Democracy Now! aired her reading an open letter to Pope John Paul II during his trip to Cuba.
Dialogue: 0,0:13:30.52,0:13:38.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,She wrote the message after New Jersey state troopers sent the pope a letter asking him to call for her extradition.
Dialogue: 0,0:13:38.00,0:13:44.56,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,ASSATA SHAKUR: *My name is Assata Shakur and I was born and raised in the United States.*
Dialogue: 0,0:13:44.56,0:13:52.62,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,*I am a descendant of Africans who were kidnapped and brought to the Americas as slaves. *
Dialogue: 0,0:13:52.62,0:13:57.96,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,*I spent my early childhood in the racist segregated South. *
Dialogue: 0,0:13:57.96,0:14:02.32,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,*I later moved to the northern part of the country, *
Dialogue: 0,0:14:02.32,0:14:11.28,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,*where I realized that Black people were equally victimized by racism and oppression.*
Dialogue: 0,0:14:11.28,0:14:11.28,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,*I grew up and became a political activist, *
Dialogue: 0,0:14:11.28,0:14:11.28,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,*participating in student struggles, the anti-war movement, *
Dialogue: 0,0:14:20.08,0:14:27.74,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,*and, most of all, in the movement for the liberation of African Americans in the United States. *
Dialogue: 0,0:14:27.74,0:14:36.24,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,*I later joined the Black Panther Party, an organization that was targeted by the COINTELPRO program, *
Dialogue: 0,0:14:36.24,0:14:40.96,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,*a program that was set up by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) *
Dialogue: 0,0:14:40.96,0:14:47.38,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,*to eliminate all political opposition to the U.S. government's policies, *
Dialogue: 0,0:14:47.38,0:14:51.54,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,*to destroy the Black Liberation Movement in the United States, *
Dialogue: 0,0:14:51.54,0:14:57.12,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,*to discredit activists and to eliminate potential leaders.*
Dialogue: 0,0:14:57.12,0:15:00.26,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,*Under the COINTELPRO program, *
Dialogue: 0,0:15:00.26,0:15:08.37,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,*many political activists were harassed, imprisoned, murdered or otherwise neutralized. *
Dialogue: 0,0:15:08.37,0:15:14.24,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,*As a result of being targeted by COINTELPRO, I like many other young people, *
Dialogue: 0,0:15:14.24,0:15:21.67,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,*were faced with the threat of prison, underground, exile, or death. *
Dialogue: 0,0:15:21.67,0:15:32.20,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,*The FBI with the help of local police agencies, systematically fed false accusations and fake news articles to the press *
Dialogue: 0,0:15:32.20,0:15:37.69,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,*accusing me and other activists of crimes we did not commit. *
Dialogue: 0,0:15:37.69,0:15:43.58,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,*Although in my case the charges were eventually dropped, or I was eventually acquitted, *
Dialogue: 0,0:15:43.58,0:15:52.59,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,*the national and local police agencies created a situation where based on their false accusations against me, *
Dialogue: 0,0:15:52.59,0:15:56.98,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,*any police officer could shoot me on sight. *
Dialogue: 0,0:15:56.98,0:16:02.74,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,*It was not until the Freedom of Information Act was passed in the mid-70's *
Dialogue: 0,0:16:02.74,0:16:11.10,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,*that we began to see the scope of the United States governments' persecution of political activists.*
Dialogue: 0,0:16:11.10,0:16:16.32,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,*At this point, I think that it is important to make one thing very clear. *
Dialogue: 0,0:16:16.32,0:16:26.52,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,*I have advocated and I still advocate revolutionary changes in the structure and in the principles that govern the United States *
Dialogue: 0,0:16:26.52,0:16:35.82,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,*I advocate self determination for my people, and for all oppressed people inside the United States. *
Dialogue: 0,0:16:35.82,0:16:40.31,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,*I advocate an end to capitalist exploitation, *
Dialogue: 0,0:16:40.31,0:16:43.53,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,*the abolition of racist policies, *
Dialogue: 0,0:16:43.53,0:16:50.06,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,*the eradication of sexism and the elimination of political repression. *
Dialogue: 0,0:16:50.06,0:16:54.83,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,*If that is a crime, then I am totally guilty.*
Dialogue: 0,0:16:54.83,0:17:00.59,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,*To make a long story short, I was captured in New Jersey in 1973, *
Dialogue: 0,0:17:00.59,0:17:07.20,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,*after being shot with both arms held in the air, and then shot again from the back. *
Dialogue: 0,0:17:07.20,0:17:11.32,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,*I was left on the ground to die and when I did {\b1}not{\b0}, *
Dialogue: 0,0:17:11.32,0:17:18.47,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,*I was taken to a local hospital where I was threatened, beaten and tortured. *
Dialogue: 0,0:17:18.47,0:17:26.100,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,*In 1977 I was convicted in a trial that can only be described as a legal lynching.*
Dialogue: 0,0:17:26.100,0:17:34.58,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,*In 1979 I was able to escape with the aid of some of my fellow comrades. *
Dialogue: 0,0:17:34.58,0:17:40.54,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,*I saw this as a necessary step, not only because I was innocent of the charges against me, *
Dialogue: 0,0:17:40.54,0:17:48.66,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,*but because I knew that in the racist legal system in the United States I would receive no justice. *
Dialogue: 0,0:17:48.66,0:17:53.12,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,*I was also afraid that I would be murdered in prison. *
Dialogue: 0,0:17:53.12,0:18:00.54,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,*I later arrived in Cuba where I am currently living in exile as a political refugee.*
Dialogue: 0,0:18:00.54,0:18:10.48,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,*The New Jersey State Police and other law enforcement officials say they want to see me brought to "justice". *
Dialogue: 0,0:18:10.48,0:18:15.84,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,*But I would like to know what they mean by "justice." *
Dialogue: 0,0:18:15.84,0:18:17.95,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,*Is torture justice? *
Dialogue: 0,0:18:17.95,0:18:25.79,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,*I was kept in solitary confinement for more than two years, mostly in men’s prisons. *
Dialogue: 0,0:18:25.79,0:18:27.97,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,*Is that justice? *
Dialogue: 0,0:18:27.97,0:18:33.95,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,*My lawyers were threatened with imprisonment and imprisoned. *
Dialogue: 0,0:18:33.95,0:18:36.15,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,*Is that justice? *
Dialogue: 0,0:18:36.15,0:18:42.56,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,*I was tried by an all-white jury, without even the pretext of impartiality, *
Dialogue: 0,0:18:42.56,0:18:47.67,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,*and then sentenced to life in prison plus 33 years. *
Dialogue: 0,0:18:47.67,0:18:50.37,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,*Is that justice?*
Dialogue: 0,0:18:56.21,0:18:59.90,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,*it is justice for my people that is at stake. *
Dialogue: 0,0:19:06.49,0:19:11.12,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,AG: That is an excerpt of a letter Assata Shakur read,
Dialogue: 0,0:18:59.90,0:19:05.25,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,*When my people receive justice, I am sure that I will receive it, too." *
Dialogue: 0,0:18:50.37,0:18:56.21,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,*Let me emphasize that justice for me is not the issue I am addressing here; *
Dialogue: 0,0:19:11.12,0:19:17.59,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,an open letter to Pope John Paul II, \Nduring his trip to Cuba in 1998.
Dialogue: 0,0:19:17.59,0:19:24.12,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,When we come back from break, we’ll be joined by Assata Shakur’s longtime attorney, Lennox Hinds,
Dialogue: 0,0:19:24.12,0:19:26.72,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and the scholar and activist Angela Davis.
Dialogue: 0,0:19:26.72,0:19:28.81,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Stay with us.
Dialogue: 0,0:19:28.81,0:19:36.27,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[ *music: "A Song for Assata" by Common...* ]
Dialogue: 0,0:20:34.60,0:20:39.07,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,AMY GOODMAN: "A Song for Assata" by Common. This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org,
Dialogue: 0,0:20:39.07,0:20:41.95,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The War and Peace Report. I’m Amy Goodman, with Juan González.
Dialogue: 0,0:20:41.95,0:20:46.89,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,JUAN GONZÁLEZ: Well, we continue to look at the case of Assata Shakur,
Dialogue: 0,0:20:46.89,0:20:52.04,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,legendary figure within both first the Black Panther Party and then the Black Liberation Army.
Dialogue: 0,0:20:52.04,0:20:56.85,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,On Thursday she became the first woman ever to make the FBI’s Most Wanted Terrorists list.
Dialogue: 0,0:20:56.85,0:21:02.97,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,In addition, the FBI and the state of New Jersey doubled the reward for her capture to $2 million.
Dialogue: 0,0:21:02.97,0:21:05.53,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,AG: To talk about her case, \Nwe are joined by two people.
Dialogue: 0,0:21:05.53,0:21:09.72,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Here in New York, Lennox Hinds, Assata Shakur’s longtime attorney,
Dialogue: 0,0:21:09.72,0:21:12.83,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,he has represented her since 1973.
Dialogue: 0,0:21:12.83,0:21:16.29,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,He’s a professor of criminal justice at Rutgers University.
Dialogue: 0,0:21:16.29,0:21:21.14,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And in Chicago, we’re joined by the world-renowned author, activist, scholar, Angela Davis,
Dialogue: 0,0:21:21.14,0:21:24.23,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,also a professor at University of California, \NSanta Cruz.
Dialogue: 0,0:21:24.23,0:21:29.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And she is the subject of a recent film, Free Angela and All Political Prisoners.
Dialogue: 0,0:21:29.00,0:21:34.98,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Angela Davis and Lennox Hinds both wrote forewords to the book Assata: An Autobiography.
Dialogue: 0,0:21:34.98,0:21:40.26,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,We invited the FBI to join us on today’s program, but they did not respond to our request.
Dialogue: 0,0:21:40.26,0:21:42.25,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I wanted to start with you, Lennox Hinds.
Dialogue: 0,0:21:42.25,0:21:50.43,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The significance of Assata Shakur being put on the FBI’s terrorists list,
Dialogue: 0,0:21:50.43,0:21:54.51,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the first woman ever to be added to the most wanted list?
Dialogue: 0,0:21:54.51,0:22:00.86,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,LENNOX HINDS: My view on this is that this is a disingenuous act on the part of,
Dialogue: 0,0:22:00.86,0:22:05.22,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,driven by the state of New Jersey and particularly the state police.
Dialogue: 0,0:22:05.22,0:22:11.54,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,As you know, for decades, the state police have wanted and demanded
Dialogue: 0,0:22:11.54,0:22:19.53,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that the Cuban government extradite Assata Shakur to the United States.
Dialogue: 0,0:22:19.53,0:22:26.15,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,There is no extradition policy between Cuba and the United States.
Dialogue: 0,0:22:26.15,0:22:32.31,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Just to deal with this in context, the Cuban government, pursuant to international law—
Dialogue: 0,0:22:32.31,0:22:36.65,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that is, particularly the refugee convention—
Dialogue: 0,0:22:36.65,0:22:42.01,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,have granted Assata Shakur political asylum.
Dialogue: 0,0:22:42.01,0:22:43.79,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Now, what is the basis for that?
Dialogue: 0,0:22:43.79,0:22:53.27,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It is if an individual has a well-grounded fear that if they return to the country from which they left,
Dialogue: 0,0:22:53.27,0:22:56.17,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,they would either be persecuted or prosecuted
Dialogue: 0,0:22:56.17,0:23:02.89,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,based upon their political beliefs or/and their race or religion.
Dialogue: 0,0:23:02.89,0:23:07.69,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Now, this is not a new concept.
Dialogue: 0,0:23:07.69,0:23:19.80,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,There have been numerous individuals who have left the United States and went to foreign countries,
Dialogue: 0,0:23:19.80,0:23:27.84,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,allies of the United States, where those countries have refused to extradite them.
Dialogue: 0,0:23:27.84,0:23:31.78,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,France, for example, in the 1970s,
Dialogue: 0,0:23:31.78,0:23:38.27,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,there were Black Panthers who hijacked planes and went to France.
Dialogue: 0,0:23:38.27,0:23:42.96,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Now, both France and the United States have extradition treaties.
Dialogue: 0,0:23:42.96,0:23:48.62,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Not only that, France signed the 1963 Tokyo Convention,
Dialogue: 0,0:23:48.62,0:23:57.04,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the 1970 Hague Convention and the 1973 Montreal Convention, with the United States.
Dialogue: 0,0:23:57.04,0:24:04.88,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,All of these are international agreements that require countries, host countries,
Dialogue: 0,0:24:04.88,0:24:10.28,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that are holding individuals—who have hijacked planes—to extradite them or try them.
Dialogue: 0,0:24:10.28,0:24:17.10,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,France, after conducting their own independent review of these Black Panthers,
Dialogue: 0,0:24:17.10,0:24:24.22,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,refused to extradite them to the United States based upon France’s assessment
Dialogue: 0,0:24:24.22,0:24:30.73,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that if they would be returned, they would be subject to political and racial repression.
Dialogue: 0,0:24:30.73,0:24:37.01,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So, I say that the Cubans’ position is well grounded in international law.
Dialogue: 0,0:24:37.01,0:24:46.08,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Now, why today is Assata Shakur now being branded a terrorist?
Dialogue: 0,0:24:46.08,0:24:48.92,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,If we look at the definition of terrorism, what is it?
Dialogue: 0,0:24:48.92,0:24:57.19,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It is the use or the threat of use of force against a civilian population to achieve political ends.
Dialogue: 0,0:24:57.19,0:25:00.82,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,What happened in the case of Assata Shakur?
Dialogue: 0,0:25:00.82,0:25:06.23,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,You have heard, in her own words, this woman was a political activist.
Dialogue: 0,0:25:06.23,0:25:09.06,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,She was targeted by whom?
Dialogue: 0,0:25:09.06,0:25:17.02,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,J. Edgar Hoover and the FBI in a program that was called COINTELPRO.
Dialogue: 0,0:25:17.02,0:25:20.91,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,That program was unveiled by whom?
Dialogue: 0,0:25:20.91,0:25:25.21,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Frank Church, Senator Frank Church, in the 1970s.
Dialogue: 0,0:25:25.21,0:25:29.20,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,He chaired the Senate Intelligence Committee.
Dialogue: 0,0:25:29.20,0:25:39.24,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,That committee determined that the FBI was using both legal, but mostly illegal, methods—to do what?
Dialogue: 0,0:25:39.24,0:25:49.92,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,In the FBI’s own words, they wanted to discredit, to stop the rise of a black messiah—
Dialogue: 0,0:25:49.92,0:25:52.58,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that was the fear of the FBI—
Dialogue: 0,0:25:52.58,0:25:59.86,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,so that there would not be a Mau Mau, in their words, uprising in the United States.
Dialogue: 0,0:25:59.86,0:26:08.37,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And they were, of course, referring to the liberation movement that occurred in Kenya, Africa.
Dialogue: 0,0:26:08.37,0:26:15.20,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Now, the FBI carried out a campaign targeting not only the Black Panther Party.
Dialogue: 0,0:26:15.20,0:26:18.67,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,They targeted SCLC. They targeted Martin Luther King.
Dialogue: 0,0:26:18.67,0:26:23.27,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,They targeted Harry Belafonte. They targeted Eartha Kitt.
Dialogue: 0,0:26:23.27,0:26:34.45,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,They targeted anyone who supported the struggle for civil rights, that they considered to be dangerous.
Dialogue: 0,0:26:34.45,0:26:42.01,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It is in that context we need to look at what happened on the New Jersey Turnpike in 1973.
Dialogue: 0,0:26:42.01,0:26:56.66,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,What they call Joanne Chesimard, what we know as Assata Shakur, she was targeted by the FBI, stopped.
Dialogue: 0,0:26:56.66,0:27:04.61,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And the allegation that she was a cold-blooded killer is not supported by any of the forensic evidence.
Dialogue: 0,0:27:04.61,0:27:12.48,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,If we look at the trial, we’ll find that {\i1}she{\i0} was victimized, {\i1}she{\i0} was shot.
Dialogue: 0,0:27:12.48,0:27:14.85,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,She was shot in the back.
Dialogue: 0,0:27:14.85,0:27:19.68,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The bullet exited and broke the clavicle in her shoulder.
Dialogue: 0,0:27:19.68,0:27:24.40,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,She could not raise a gun. She could not raise her hand to shoot.
Dialogue: 0,0:27:24.40,0:27:26.77,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And she was shot while her hands were in the air.
Dialogue: 0,0:27:26.77,0:27:28.72,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Now, that is the forensic evidence.
Dialogue: 0,0:27:28.72,0:27:34.44,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,There is not one scintilla of evidence placing a gun in her hand.
Dialogue: 0,0:27:34.44,0:27:41.30,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,No arsenic residue was found on her clothing or on her hands.
Dialogue: 0,0:27:41.30,0:27:48.13,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So, the allegation by the state police that she took an officer’s gun and shot him,
Dialogue: 0,0:27:48.13,0:27:55.66,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,executed him in cold blood, is not only false, \Nbut it is designed to inflame.
Dialogue: 0,0:27:55.66,0:28:01.60,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,JUAN GONZÁLEZ: But, Mr. Hinds, before we get into more of the details of the case, this whole issue of 40 years later—
Dialogue: 0,0:28:01.60,0:28:03.50,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,LENNOX HINDS: Yeah.
Dialogue: 0,0:28:03.50,0:28:12.92,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,UAN GONZÁLEZ: —suddenly branding her a terrorist and also insisting that she is a threat to the United States government at this time,
Dialogue: 0,0:28:12.92,0:28:15.69,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,could you talk about the significance of that declaration?
Dialogue: 0,0:28:15.69,0:28:22.45,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,LH: Well, I believe that we have to look at it in the context of what has just happened in Boston.
Dialogue: 0,0:28:22.45,0:28:26.49,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I think that with the massacre that occurred there,
Dialogue: 0,0:28:26.49,0:28:35.64,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the FBI and the state police are attempting to inflame the public opinion to characterize her as a terrorist,
Dialogue: 0,0:28:35.64,0:28:42.56,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,because the acts that she was convicted of has nothing to do with terrorism.
Dialogue: 0,0:28:42.56,0:28:47.82,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The acts that she was convicted of, if you look at the evidence,
Dialogue: 0,0:28:47.82,0:28:55.52,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,she was convicted of aiding and abetting, and therefore was present during the shootout.
Dialogue: 0,0:28:55.52,0:29:05.78,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The FBI and the state police’s theory was that Sundiata Acoli shot Officer Foerster.
Dialogue: 0,0:29:05.78,0:29:08.62,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,That was their theory during his trial.
Dialogue: 0,0:29:08.62,0:29:09.91,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,JG: One of the people in the car with her, that—
Dialogue: 0,0:29:09.91,0:29:11.22,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,LH: One of the people in the car, yeah.
Dialogue: 0,0:29:11.22,0:29:14.49,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,AG: Well, let me read the FBI press release, and you can respond to how they describe it.
Dialogue: 0,0:29:14.49,0:29:16.95,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And we want to bring Angela Davis in, as well.
Dialogue: 0,0:29:16.95,0:29:23.61,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,This was their press release yesterday describing the May 2nd, 1973, shooting.
Dialogue: 0,0:29:23.61,0:29:28.66,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,They said, "*On May 2, 1973, Chesimard and a pair of accomplices *
Dialogue: 0,0:29:28.66,0:29:32.24,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,*were stopped by two troopers for a motor vehicle violation on the New Jersey Turnpike. *
Dialogue: 0,0:29:32.24,0:29:37.72,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,*At the time, Chesimard—a member of the violent revolutionary activist organization known as the Black Liberation Army—*
Dialogue: 0,0:29:37.72,0:29:41.27,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,*was wanted for her involvement in several felonies, including bank robbery.*
Dialogue: 0,0:29:41.27,0:29:44.10,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,*Chesimard and her accomplices opened fire on the troopers. *
Dialogue: 0,0:29:44.10,0:29:49.20,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,*One officer was wounded, his partner—Trooper Foerster—was shot and killed at point-blank range. *
Dialogue: 0,0:29:49.20,0:29:53.63,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,*One of Chesimard’s accomplices was killed in the shoot-out and the other was arrested and remains in jail.*
Dialogue: 0,0:29:53.63,0:29:56.20,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,*Chesimard fled but was apprehended.*"
Dialogue: 0,0:29:56.20,0:29:57.80,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,That’s their statement yesterday.
Dialogue: 0,0:29:57.80,0:30:01.54,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,LH: Right. Also in their statement that I read,
Dialogue: 0,0:30:01.54,0:30:13.39,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the superintendent of state police claimed that Assata Shakur took the Officer Foerster’s weapon
Dialogue: 0,0:30:13.39,0:30:16.86,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and shot him while he was on the ground.
Dialogue: 0,0:30:16.86,0:30:24.08,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,There is not one scintilla of evidence at the trial attesting to that.
Dialogue: 0,0:30:24.08,0:30:32.35,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,In fact, as I was saying before, she was incapable of lifting her hands, much less firing a weapon.
Dialogue: 0,0:30:32.35,0:30:38.60,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Now, you asked what is the reason for this allegation at this time.
Dialogue: 0,0:30:38.60,0:30:45.29,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,We have to remember that 10 years ago, \Na little over 10 years ago,
Dialogue: 0,0:30:45.29,0:30:53.66,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the then-governor of the state of New Jersey, former Governor Christie Todd Whitman,
Dialogue: 0,0:30:53.66,0:31:03.77,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,she had issued and posted a $1 million bounty for Assata Shakur.
Dialogue: 0,0:31:03.77,0:31:05.66,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Today it has been doubled.
Dialogue: 0,0:31:05.66,0:31:14.73,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But we believe that putting Ms. Chesimard, putting Assata Shakur on the FBI’s 10 most wanted list
Dialogue: 0,0:31:14.73,0:31:26.74,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,is designed to inflame the public and to characterize her as a terrorist, when none of the acts alleged relates to terrorism.
Dialogue: 0,0:31:26.74,0:31:35.60,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,In fact, of all of the charges that have been leveled against her in New York,
Dialogue: 0,0:31:35.60,0:31:40.76,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,case after case, she was acquitted, or the charges were dismissed.
Dialogue: 0,0:31:40.76,0:31:44.38,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,There was insufficient evidence to support any of the charges.
Dialogue: 0,0:31:44.38,0:31:48.39,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,AG: Well, let’s just—in 1971, armed robbery case was dismissed;
Dialogue: 0,0:31:48.39,0:31:51.92,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,1971, she was acquitted of bank robbery;
Dialogue: 0,0:31:51.92,0:31:53.69,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,1972, hung jury;
Dialogue: 0,0:31:53.69,0:31:56.84,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,1972, kidnap of drug dealer, acquitted;
Dialogue: 0,0:31:56.84,0:32:00.28,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and then several other cases dismissed.
Dialogue: 0,0:32:00.28,0:32:08.68,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Angela Davis, you’re in Chicago right now to give a major address tonight at the University of Chicago.
Dialogue: 0,0:32:08.68,0:32:21.74,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Can you talk about this news of Joanne Chesimard, Assata Shakur, being—now being put on the top 10 wanted terrorists list,
Dialogue: 0,0:32:21.74,0:32:24.51,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the first woman ever to be put on this list?
Dialogue: 0,0:32:26.48,0:32:27.69,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,ANGELA DAVIS: Well, first of all,
Dialogue: 0,0:32:27.69,0:32:40.55,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,it was a major shock to hear that Assata Shakur has become the first woman to be added to the FBI’s Most Wanted Terrorists list
Dialogue: 0,0:32:40.55,0:32:48.97,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and then to learn that they’re adding another million dollars to the reward, the bounty really.
Dialogue: 0,0:32:48.97,0:32:58.29,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It seems to me that this act incorporates or reflects the very logic of terrorism.
Dialogue: 0,0:32:58.29,0:33:08.76,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I can’t help but think that it’s designed to frighten people who are involved in struggles today.
Dialogue: 0,0:33:08.76,0:33:12.50,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Forty years ago seems as if it were a long time ago,
Dialogue: 0,0:33:12.50,0:33:18.82,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,four decades; however, in the 21st century, at the beginning of the 21st century,
Dialogue: 0,0:33:18.82,0:33:23.61,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,we’re still fighting around the very same issues—
Dialogue: 0,0:33:23.61,0:33:29.95,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,police violence, healthcare, education, people in prison, and so forth.
Dialogue: 0,0:33:29.95,0:33:34.37,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So I see this as an attack not so much on Assata herself,
Dialogue: 0,0:33:34.37,0:33:40.03,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,although of course she deserves to be brought home.
Dialogue: 0,0:33:40.03,0:33:49.08,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,She deserves to be able to live out her life, and with justice and peace.
Dialogue: 0,0:33:49.08,0:33:58.92,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It was wonderful that you allowed people, through this program, to hear Assata’s words,
Dialogue: 0,0:33:58.92,0:34:03.52,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,because, 40 years later, people really don’t know the details of the case
Dialogue: 0,0:34:03.52,0:34:13.87,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and are not aware of the extent to which she was targeted by the FBI by the COINTEL Program, as Lennox pointed out.
Dialogue: 0,0:34:13.87,0:34:27.05,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And it’s amazing that in 2013, where she is living in Cuba as a political refugee, having given—
Dialogue: 0,0:34:27.05,0:34:29.63,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,having been given political asylum by Cuba,
Dialogue: 0,0:34:29.63,0:34:31.34,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,she is still pursued.
Dialogue: 0,0:34:31.34,0:34:37.61,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And actually, this is an invitation for anyone to travel to Cuba illegally
Dialogue: 0,0:34:37.61,0:34:46.69,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and to kidnap her and bring her back to the United States, if not shoot her dead.
Dialogue: 0,0:34:46.69,0:34:54.58,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,This is—as I said, was an extremely shocking revelation.
Dialogue: 0,0:34:54.58,0:35:01.25,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,JG: And, Angela Davis, the government statement that she remains a threat to the United States,
Dialogue: 0,0:35:01.25,0:35:09.07,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the implication being that she’s somehow still trying to organize attacks on the country,
Dialogue: 0,0:35:09.07,0:35:10.94,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,it really is mind-boggling.
Dialogue: 0,0:35:10.94,0:35:15.10,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It’s one thing to say, "We have a case here of someone who’s still wanted."
Dialogue: 0,0:35:15.10,0:35:19.01,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It’s another thing to say that they’re still a threat to the United States,
Dialogue: 0,0:35:19.01,0:35:23.67,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,when there’s been no indication over the last 30, 40 years
Dialogue: 0,0:35:23.67,0:35:30.15,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that Assata Shakur has been involved in any type of movements or organizations
Dialogue: 0,0:35:30.15,0:35:34.11,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,directed against the United States government.
Dialogue: 0,0:35:34.11,0:35:37.79,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,AD: Well, see, there’s always this slippage
Dialogue: 0,0:35:37.79,0:35:49.15,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,between what should be protected free speech—that is to say, the advocacy of revolution, the advocacy of radical change—
Dialogue: 0,0:35:49.15,0:35:54.01,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and what the FBI represents as terrorism.
Dialogue: 0,0:35:54.01,0:36:04.27,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,You know, certainly, Assata continues to advocate radical transformation of this country, as many of us do.
Dialogue: 0,0:36:04.27,0:36:08.91,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,You know, I continue to say that we need revolutionary change.
Dialogue: 0,0:36:08.91,0:36:17.68,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,This is why it seems to me that the attack on her reflects the logic of terrorism,
Dialogue: 0,0:36:17.68,0:36:22.69,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,because it precisely is designed to frighten young people,
Dialogue: 0,0:36:22.69,0:36:30.25,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,especially today, who would be involved in the kind of radical activism that might lead to change.
Dialogue: 0,0:36:30.25,0:36:34.09,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But you’re absolutely right, Assata is not a threat.
Dialogue: 0,0:36:34.09,0:36:37.100,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,If anything, this is a—this is a vendetta.
Dialogue: 0,0:36:37.100,0:36:43.30,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,She is innocent, and many of us have looked at the evidence.
Dialogue: 0,0:36:43.30,0:36:45.21,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And as Lennox pointed out,
Dialogue: 0,0:36:45.21,0:36:54.49,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,there’s no way that she could have possibly been the person who killed Foerster,
Dialogue: 0,0:36:54.49,0:36:59.54,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,because she had her hands up and was shot in the back with her hands in the air
Dialogue: 0,0:36:59.54,0:37:02.06,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and could not have used a gun at that time.
Dialogue: 0,0:37:02.06,0:37:05.04,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And so, to represent her as a person
Dialogue: 0,0:37:05.04,0:37:12.74,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,who continues to be a threat to the U.S. government in the way that is described is,
Dialogue: 0,0:37:12.74,0:37:17.38,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,it seems to me, an effort to strike fear in the hearts of young people
Dialogue: 0,0:37:17.38,0:37:24.15,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,who would be active in the struggles that are represented historically by Assata and struggles that continue today.
Dialogue: 0,0:37:24.15,0:37:27.48,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Struggles against police violence, for example, continue.
Dialogue: 0,0:37:27.48,0:37:34.12,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The fact—consider the fact that so many people have been killed by the police in recent years.
Dialogue: 0,0:37:34.12,0:37:37.62,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And I’m thinking about Kimani Gray in New York.
Dialogue: 0,0:37:37.62,0:37:41.62,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I’m thinking about Alan Blueford in Oakland,
Dialogue: 0,0:37:41.62,0:37:44.03,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,of course Oscar Grant in Oakland.
Dialogue: 0,0:37:44.03,0:37:53.77,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I’m thinking about—there’s some 63 people who were killed last year in Chicago by the Chicago police.
Dialogue: 0,0:37:53.77,0:37:58.42,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,AG: Lennox Hinds, this issue of what this allows the U.S. government to do?
Dialogue: 0,0:37:58.42,0:38:02.76,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,To be on the Most Wanted Terrorists list, I mean,
Dialogue: 0,0:38:02.76,0:38:08.35,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,does this mean the government could move in, like they moved in on Osama bin Laden, for example? Could—
Dialogue: 0,0:38:08.35,0:38:13.63,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,LH: I think what Angela said was right on point.
Dialogue: 0,0:38:13.63,0:38:21.04,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It is an open invitation, not only with respect to the United States government,
Dialogue: 0,0:38:21.04,0:38:30.53,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but for anyone, in Cuba or elsewhere, to become a vigilante,
Dialogue: 0,0:38:30.53,0:38:37.92,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to go there and to not only apprehend and bring her back, or to kill her.
Dialogue: 0,0:38:37.92,0:38:40.50,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So it’s an open invitation.
Dialogue: 0,0:38:40.50,0:38:48.59,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And, you know, when we—Cuba is accused of harboring terrorists.
Dialogue: 0,0:38:48.59,0:38:56.21,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And when we look at the role of the United States and the United States government vis-à-vis Cuba,
Dialogue: 0,0:38:56.21,0:39:04.69,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the United States government and the CIA have encouraged, trained, sent individuals
Dialogue: 0,0:39:04.69,0:39:16.16,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to not only disrupt the Cuban economy by killing tourists, placing bombs in restaurants and hotels,
Dialogue: 0,0:39:16.16,0:39:21.16,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but to assassinate Fidel Castro,
Dialogue: 0,0:39:21.16,0:39:32.22,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and individuals who admitted that they were involved in the downing of a Cuban airliner in 1973.
Dialogue: 0,0:39:32.22,0:39:37.24,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I’m talking about Posada Carriles.
Dialogue: 0,0:39:37.24,0:39:45.47,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Here was a man who made the open admission, trained by the CIA, harbored by the United States.
Dialogue: 0,0:39:45.47,0:39:52.11,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,When he was found in the United States, did the United States prosecute him for those crimes? No.
Dialogue: 0,0:39:52.11,0:40:02.88,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,They, on a pretext, prosecuted him for lying to the FBI, all right? and acquitted him of that.
Dialogue: 0,0:40:02.88,0:40:08.19,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,AG: I wanted to go back to Assata Shakur when she was here, when she was imprisoned.
Dialogue: 0,0:40:08.19,0:40:13.11,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,This is a clip of a documentary, Eyes On the Rainbow: The Assata Shakur Documentary.
Dialogue: 0,0:40:13.11,0:40:16.64,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,In this, Assata Shakur talks about her experience in prison.
Dialogue: 0,0:40:16.64,0:40:20.11,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,AS: *Prisons are big business in the United States,*
Dialogue: 0,0:40:20.11,0:40:27.84,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,*and the building, running and supplying of prisons has become the fastest-growing industry in the country.*
Dialogue: 0,0:40:27.84,0:40:35.92,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,*Factories are moving into the prisons, and prisoners are forced to work for slave wages.*
Dialogue: 0,0:40:35.92,0:40:44.24,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,*This super-exploitation of human beings has meant the institutionalization of a new form of slavery.*
Dialogue: 0,0:40:44.24,0:40:51.18,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,*Those who cannot find work on the streets are forced to work in prison.*"
Dialogue: 0,0:40:51.18,0:40:55.27,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,AG: That was Assata Shakur in the film Eyes On the Rainbow: The Assata Shakur Documentary.
Dialogue: 0,0:40:55.27,0:41:03.61,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Lennox Hinds, you went to court to change the prison conditions that Assata Shakur was in after she was arrested.
Dialogue: 0,0:41:03.61,0:41:07.37,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Describe what happened to her after she was arrested. I mean, she was near death.
Dialogue: 0,0:41:07.37,0:41:09.07,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,LH: She was near death.
Dialogue: 0,0:41:09.07,0:41:11.73,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,She was chained to her hospital bed.
Dialogue: 0,0:41:11.73,0:41:17.22,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,After she recovered, she was placed in an all-male prison.
Dialogue: 0,0:41:17.22,0:41:21.90,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,She was under 24-hour surveillance by male prison guards
Dialogue: 0,0:41:21.90,0:41:33.33,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,who were watching and monitoring her very personal needs during that time period.
Dialogue: 0,0:41:33.33,0:41:40.36,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,We went into federal court and challenged the conditions of her confinement,
Dialogue: 0,0:41:40.36,0:41:46.77,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,where she was kept in solitary confinement for two years.
Dialogue: 0,0:41:46.77,0:41:48.93,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,We won that case.
Dialogue: 0,0:41:48.93,0:42:03.64,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And they—that is, the Middlesex County Correctional Department were forced to place her in a women’s facility.
Dialogue: 0,0:42:03.64,0:42:08.52,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But that was a horrible situation amounting to torture.\N
Dialogue: 0,0:42:08.52,0:42:13.10,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,AG: Your case went to the Supreme Court, how you were treated in the court?
Dialogue: 0,0:42:13.10,0:42:19.56,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,LH: Well, there’s the illusion—you know, I wrote a book called Illusions of Justice.
Dialogue: 0,0:42:19.56,0:42:27.64,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,There is the illusion that we have justice in the United States.
Dialogue: 0,0:42:27.64,0:42:33.70,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I made the mistake of thinking that lawyers enjoyed a First Amendment right,
Dialogue: 0,0:42:33.70,0:42:35.83,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and I called a press conference,
Dialogue: 0,0:42:35.83,0:42:45.54,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and I criticized the trial judge at the trial and said that the case was a legalized lynching.
Dialogue: 0,0:42:45.54,0:42:49.49,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And before you know it, I was facing disbarment.
Dialogue: 0,0:42:49.49,0:42:56.05,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,They attempted to disbar me by bringing charges against me.
Dialogue: 0,0:42:56.05,0:42:59.22,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And they asked me to come and explain myself. I refused.
Dialogue: 0,0:42:59.22,0:43:02.06,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I sued the judge. I sued the prosecutor.
Dialogue: 0,0:43:02.06,0:43:07.58,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And I sued all of the members of the Ethics Committee, forced them to come to my office.
Dialogue: 0,0:43:07.58,0:43:12.86,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I took their depositions. And the case went all the way up to the United States Supreme Court.
Dialogue: 0,0:43:12.86,0:43:14.51,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,United States Supreme Court said,
Dialogue: 0,0:43:14.51,0:43:19.60,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,"Well, Hinds could not have understood the seriousness of the charges;
Dialogue: 0,0:43:19.60,0:43:22.58,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,otherwise, he would not have made that sort of statement."
Dialogue: 0,0:43:22.58,0:43:30.04,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,They sent the case back to New Jersey. The New Jersey Supreme Court agreed and tossed it out.
Dialogue: 0,0:43:30.04,0:43:31.75,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,AG: You’re still a lawyer today, and you—
Dialogue: 0,0:43:31.75,0:43:32.78,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,LH: I’m still a lawyer today.
Dialogue: 0,0:43:32.78,0:43:35.71,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,AG: And you represented South African President Nelson Mandela?
Dialogue: 0,0:43:35.71,0:43:37.75,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,LH: That’s correct, yeah.
Dialogue: 0,0:43:37.75,0:43:41.23,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,JG: I wanted to ask you about the trial itself,
Dialogue: 0,0:43:41.23,0:43:46.80,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the only trial for which Assata Shakur has ever been convicted.
Dialogue: 0,0:43:46.80,0:43:47.74,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,LH: Convicted, that’s correct.
Dialogue: 0,0:43:47.86,0:43:49.75,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,JG: You write in the preface,
Dialogue: 0,0:43:49.75,0:43:53.90,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,"It had been and is my view that it was the racism in Middlesex County,
Dialogue: 0,0:43:53.90,0:43:59.89,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,fueled by biased, inflammatory publicity in the local press before and throughout the trial,
Dialogue: 0,0:43:59.89,0:44:03.08,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,fanned by the documented government lawlessness,
Dialogue: 0,0:44:03.08,0:44:07.36,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that made it possible for the white jury to convict Assata
Dialogue: 0,0:44:07.36,0:44:13.75,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,on the uncorroborated, contradictory, and generally incredible testimony of trooper Harper,
Dialogue: 0,0:44:13.75,0:44:16.40,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the only other witness to the events on the turnpike."
Dialogue: 0,0:44:16.40,0:44:26.56,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,There was one other state trooper, Harper, who survived the confrontation and who was the main witness against Assata.
Dialogue: 0,0:44:26.56,0:44:34.76,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,LH: Yeah, but Harper ran away during the shootout, came back,
Dialogue: 0,0:44:34.76,0:44:40.58,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and his story was conflicted and contradictory. And—
Dialogue: 0,0:44:40.58,0:44:44.40,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,JG: He originally claimed that he had seen her pull out a gun.
Dialogue: 0,0:44:44.40,0:44:46.68,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,LH: That’s right, but there was no evidence to support that.
Dialogue: 0,0:44:46.68,0:44:48.06,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,JG: Right.
Dialogue: 0,0:44:48.06,0:44:51.78,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,LH: As I said, no fingerprints on any weapon.
Dialogue: 0,0:44:51.78,0:44:54.30,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,They claim that she fired a weapon.
Dialogue: 0,0:44:54.30,0:45:05.23,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,There were no arsenic powder marks or residue on her clothing or on her hands, etc.
Dialogue: 0,0:45:05.23,0:45:07.19,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,No forensic evidence.
Dialogue: 0,0:45:07.19,0:45:13.93,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,JG: And he later also admitted that the original reports and testimony that he had given was wrong on that.
Dialogue: 0,0:45:13.93,0:45:15.40,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,LH: Was wrong, that’s right. That’s right.
Dialogue: 0,0:45:15.40,0:45:16.64,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,JG: And yet she was still convicted.
Dialogue: 0,0:45:16.64,0:45:18.95,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,LH: Yeah, she was convicted.
Dialogue: 0,0:45:18.95,0:45:22.31,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And it was an all-white jury.
Dialogue: 0,0:45:22.31,0:45:25.89,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The pretrial publicity was such that
Dialogue: 0,0:45:25.89,0:45:35.63,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,people in Middlesex County and people from the northern part of New Jersey believed then, and believe now, that she is guilty.
Dialogue: 0,0:45:35.63,0:45:40.51,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The mere fact that she was in the car meant that she was guilty.
Dialogue: 0,0:45:40.51,0:45:47.16,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And in fact, the instructions to the jury—because there was no evidence of her doing any shooting,
Dialogue: 0,0:45:47.16,0:45:49.63,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the instructions to the jury was that
Dialogue: 0,0:45:49.63,0:45:57.54,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,if you find that she was present and supported the action of the people who did the shooting,
Dialogue: 0,0:45:57.54,0:46:01.90,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,she can be found guilty as a principal.
Dialogue: 0,0:46:01.90,0:46:05.21,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And that is under the felony murder rule.
Dialogue: 0,0:46:05.21,0:46:10.56,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,AG: Now, Angela Davis, I wanted to go to your own case years ago,
Dialogue: 0,0:46:10.56,0:46:13.66,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,because it’s coming up with a new film, your own history.
Dialogue: 0,0:46:13.66,0:46:22.80,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I wanted to play a trailer to the new documentary Free Angela and All Political Prisoners.
Dialogue: 0,0:46:30.40,0:46:33.88,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,*REPORTER: Philosophy Professor Angela Davis admitted that she is a member of the Communist Party.*
Dialogue: 0,0:46:33.88,0:46:37.97,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,*UNIDENTIFIED MAN 1: Hoover put her on the top 10. Everybody had a file on her.*
Dialogue: 0,0:46:37.97,0:46:40.73,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,*UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: Her first lecture drew 2,000 students.*
Dialogue: 0,0:46:40.73,0:46:44.36,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,*FANIA DAVIS: Angela’s education is now being put into practice.*
Dialogue: 0,0:46:44.36,0:46:46.85,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,*UNIDENTIFIED MAN 2: Angela Davis purchased four guns.*\N
Dialogue: 0,0:46:46.85,0:46:54.40,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,*ANGELA DAVIS: There is a conspiracy in the land. It’s a conspiracy to wipe out the black community as a whole.*
Dialogue: 0,0:46:56.50,0:47:00.24,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,*UNIDENTIFIED MAN 3: Well, I think she’s trying to overthrow our system of government, and she admits that.*
Dialogue: 0,0:47:01.43,0:47:05.100,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,*PRESIDENT RICHARD NIXON: The actions of the FBI in apprehending Angela Davis, a rather remarkable story.*
Dialogue: 0,0:47:05.100,0:47:10.04,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,*REPORTER: The U.S. district court judge set bail at $100,000.*
Dialogue: 0,0:47:11.30,0:47:15.40,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,*FANIA DAVIS: She knows that the movement to free all political prisoners is growing every day.*
Dialogue: 0,0:47:15.40,0:47:17.88,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,*GOV. RONALD REAGAN: This entire incident was a deliberate provocation.*
Dialogue: 0,0:47:17.88,0:47:20.61,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,*ANGELA DAVIS: They wanted to break me. They wanted me to respond.*
Dialogue: 0,0:47:20.61,0:47:23.23,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,*UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN 2: There was enormous feeling for Angela everywhere in the world.*
Dialogue: 0,0:47:23.23,0:47:24.86,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,*SALLYE DAVIS: We know that she is innocent.*
Dialogue: 0,0:47:24.86,0:47:30.38,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,*RALPH ABERNATHY: We want to tell that pharaoh in Washington to let Angela Davis go free.*
Dialogue: 0,0:47:30.38,0:47:36.30,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,*UNIDENTIFIED MAN 4: What they’re doing to her is an exaggerated form of what happens every day to black people in this country.*
Dialogue: 0,0:47:39.36,0:47:41.80,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,*PROTESTERS: Free Angela! Free Angela! Free Angela!*
Dialogue: 0,0:47:41.80,0:47:45.31,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,*ANGELA DAVIS: What does it mean to be a criminal in this society?*
Dialogue: 0,0:47:45.31,0:47:50.02,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,*UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN 3: They are not going to kill her. They’re not going to imprison her. We’re going to free her. We’re going to win her freedom.*
Dialogue: 0,0:47:50.02,0:47:52.79,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,AG: You’ve been listening to an excerpt of a trailer,
Dialogue: 0,0:47:52.79,0:47:58.89,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Free Angela and All Political Prisoners, that has just been finished,
Dialogue: 0,0:47:58.89,0:48:02.66,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,quite an interesting film by Shola Lynch.
Dialogue: 0,0:48:02.66,0:48:08.13,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Angela Davis, if you could share your own experience that you went through?
Dialogue: 0,0:48:08.13,0:48:15.47,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It was right about the same time that Assata Shakur was going through what she was.
Dialogue: 0,0:48:15.47,0:48:17.19,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,AD: Well, yes, it was.
Dialogue: 0,0:48:17.19,0:48:27.44,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And I find it really interesting that the FBI decided to focus quite specifically on black women,
Dialogue: 0,0:48:27.44,0:48:30.86,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,because somehow they feared, it seems to me,
Dialogue: 0,0:48:30.86,0:48:35.84,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that the movement would continue to grow and develop,
Dialogue: 0,0:48:35.84,0:48:41.53,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,particularly with the leadership and the involvement of black women.
Dialogue: 0,0:48:41.53,0:48:48.01,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I was rendered a target, an ideological target,
Dialogue: 0,0:48:48.01,0:48:55.35,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,in the same way that Assata Shakur was called the "mother hen" of the Black Liberation Army.
Dialogue: 0,0:48:55.35,0:48:59.20,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The way in which she was represented
Dialogue: 0,0:48:59.20,0:49:11.02,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,became an invitation for racists and everyone who assented to the repressive behavior of the U.S. government
Dialogue: 0,0:49:11.02,0:49:19.71,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to focus very specifically on her, to focus their hate, to focus vendettas on her.
Dialogue: 0,0:49:19.71,0:49:23.65,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And I really find it surprising
Dialogue: 0,0:49:23.65,0:49:31.49,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that when the grandchildren of those who were active in the late ’60s and early ’70s
Dialogue: 0,0:49:31.49,0:49:35.51,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,are becoming involved in similar movements today,
Dialogue: 0,0:49:35.51,0:49:41.94,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,there is this effort to again terrorize young people
Dialogue: 0,0:49:41.94,0:49:48.08,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,by representing such an important figure as Assata Shakur as a terrorist.
Dialogue: 0,0:49:48.08,0:49:57.50,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And let me say that I was quite surprised that in the aftermath of the Boston Marathon bombing,
Dialogue: 0,0:49:57.50,0:50:07.03,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,where, before the Tsarnaev brothers were discovered to be the alleged perpetrators,
Dialogue: 0,0:50:07.03,0:50:12.66,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,there was an attempt to represent the person who planted the bombs
Dialogue: 0,0:50:12.66,0:50:17.92,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,as either a black man or a dark-skin man with a hoodie, I believe—
Dialogue: 0,0:50:17.92,0:50:28.47,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,this racialization of what is represented as terrorism
Dialogue: 0,0:50:28.47,0:50:41.24,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,is an attempt to bring the old-style racism into conversation with modes of repression in the 21st century.\N
Dialogue: 0,0:50:41.24,0:50:44.22,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And there’s one other point that I would like to make.
Dialogue: 0,0:50:44.22,0:50:49.77,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And that is that at the same time that Assata Shakur is being designated
Dialogue: 0,0:50:49.77,0:50:56.09,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the first woman ever on the 10 Most Wanted Terrorists list,
Dialogue: 0,0:50:56.09,0:51:03.80,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the Cuban Five, Cuban citizens who attempted to prevent terrorist attacks on Cuba,
Dialogue: 0,0:51:03.80,0:51:07.63,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,continue to be held in prison in the United States.
Dialogue: 0,0:51:07.63,0:51:12.11,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,JG: Lennox, I’d like to ask you about this whole issue of the FBI and COINTELPRO
Dialogue: 0,0:51:12.11,0:51:13.36,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that you mentioned earlier
Dialogue: 0,0:51:13.36,0:51:20.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,on the role that the FBI has historically played in terms of persecution of black activists and revolutionaries,
Dialogue: 0,0:51:20.99,0:51:29.71,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,beginning obviously with an incident that shaped Assata Shakur’s thinking: the murder of Fred Hampton.
Dialogue: 0,0:51:29.71,0:51:30.79,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,LH: That’s correct.
Dialogue: 0,0:51:30.79,0:51:35.22,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,JG: And when you talk about people who—everyone who was involved in an incident,
Dialogue: 0,0:51:35.22,0:51:40.50,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,there were many FBI and Chicago police folks involved in the murder of Fred Hampton.
Dialogue: 0,0:51:40.50,0:51:41.70,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Could you talk about that?
Dialogue: 0,0:51:41.70,0:51:43.52,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,LH: No question about it, no question.
Dialogue: 0,0:51:43.52,0:51:52.43,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,There were literally hundreds of victims of the FBI COINTELPRO program.
Dialogue: 0,0:51:52.43,0:51:56.33,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,These are individuals who were killed, assassinated.
Dialogue: 0,0:51:56.33,0:52:07.35,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The instructions that were given by the FBI to not only their field agents, but also to the local police,
Dialogue: 0,0:52:07.35,0:52:11.07,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,it was essentially shoot on sight.
Dialogue: 0,0:52:11.07,0:52:16.46,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And the case of Fred Hampton was a clear case where the—
Dialogue: 0,0:52:16.46,0:52:29.05,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,again, the investigations that were conducted showed that of the dozens of bullets that were fired,
Dialogue: 0,0:52:29.05,0:52:38.77,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,at least 40 bullets that were fired, only one, if that many, were fired by the Panthers who were in the house.
Dialogue: 0,0:52:38.77,0:52:42.27,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,AG: And then, of course, Fred Hampton was the head of the Black Panther Party in Chicago.
Dialogue: 0,0:52:42.27,0:52:45.35,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,AG: He in bed, he and Mark Clark killed on December 4th, 1969.
Dialogue: 0,0:52:45.35,0:52:47.41,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,LH: That’s right. They were killed.
Dialogue: 0,0:52:47.41,0:52:52.72,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Fred Hampton was in bed, and he was shot while lying in bed.
Dialogue: 0,0:52:52.72,0:52:59.32,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And so, again, the victims of the Counter Intelligence Program
Dialogue: 0,0:52:59.32,0:53:04.74,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,were individuals who were not only falsely accused, falsely arrested,
Dialogue: 0,0:53:04.74,0:53:09.42,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but many of them were assassinated.
Dialogue: 0,0:53:09.42,0:53:13.62,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,AG: Finally, you are Assata Shakur’s lawyer.
Dialogue: 0,0:53:13.62,0:53:19.92,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Is there anything you can do as a lawyer right now with her being named to the terrorism list?
Dialogue: 0,0:53:19.92,0:53:22.87,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Is there any way to appeal this?
Dialogue: 0,0:53:22.87,0:53:30.28,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,LH: No, there is no way to appeal someone being put on the terrorists list.
Dialogue: 0,0:53:30.28,0:53:33.19,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,This is a political act,
Dialogue: 0,0:53:33.19,0:53:37.01,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and this is an act that has been done by—
Dialogue: 0,0:53:37.01,0:53:43.33,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,being pushed by the state of New Jersey by some members of Congress from Miami,
Dialogue: 0,0:53:43.33,0:53:55.46,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and with the intent of putting pressure on the Cuban government and to inflame public opinion.
Dialogue: 0,0:53:55.46,0:53:57.73,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,AG: Well, I want to thank you both very much for being with us.
Dialogue: 0,0:53:57.73,0:54:02.93,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Lennox Hinds, Assata Shakur’s attorney, he’s represented her since 1973,
Dialogue: 0,0:54:02.93,0:54:05.29,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,professor of criminal justice at Rutgers University.
Dialogue: 0,0:54:05.29,0:54:09.22,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,He also represented Nelson Mandela in the United States.
Dialogue: 0,0:54:09.22,0:54:14.03,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And Angela Davis, joining us from Chicago, author, professor and activist,
Dialogue: 0,0:54:14.03,0:54:18.57,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,a professor at the University of California, Santa Cruz, joining us from Chicago.\N
Dialogue: 0,0:54:18.57,0:54:24.04,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,We’re going to break and then come back for a short segment on President Obama in Mexico.
Dialogue: 0,0:54:24.04,0:54:26.20,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Stay with us.
Dialogue: 0,0:54:27.61,0:54:31.61,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[ END OF SEGMENT... ]