
Interview, page 5
The news is big business and
it is owned operated by affluent white men. Unfortunately, they
shape the way that many people see the world, and even the way people
see themselves. Too often black journalists, and other journalists
of color mimic their white counterparts. They often gear their reports
to reflect the foreign policies and the domestic policies of the
same people who are oppressing their people. In the establishment
media, the bombing and of murder of thousands of innocent women
and children in Libya or Iraq or Panama is seen as "patriotic,"
while those who fight for freedom, no matter where they are, are
seen as "radicals," "extremists," or "terrorists."
Like most poor and oppressed people in the United
States, I do not have a voice. Black people, poor people in the
U.S. have no real freedom of speech, no real freedom of expression
and very little freedom of the press. The black press and the progressive
media has historically played an essential role in the struggle
for social justice. We need to continue and to expand that tradition.
We need to create media outlets that help to educate our people
and our children, and not annihilate their minds. I am only one
woman. I own no TV stations, or Radio Stations or Newspapers. But
I feel that people need to be educated as to what is going on, and
to understand the connection between the news media and the instruments
of repression in Amerika. All I have is my voice, my spirit and
the will to tell the truth. But I sincerely ask, those of you in
the Black media, those of you in the progressive media, those of
you who believe in truth freedom, To publish this statement and
to let people know what is happening. We have no voice, so you must
be the voice of the voiceless.
Free all Political Prisoners, I send you Love and
Revolutionary Greetings From Cuba, One of the Largest, Most Resistant
and Most Courageous Palenques (Maroon Camps) That has ever existed
on the Face of this Planet.
Assata Shakur
Havana, Cuba
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