{"id":23675,"date":"2020-02-01T11:49:16","date_gmt":"2020-02-01T18:49:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.womeninandbeyond.org\/?p=23675"},"modified":"2022-02-01T05:30:34","modified_gmt":"2022-02-01T12:30:34","slug":"what-should-i-do-assata-for-the-ancestors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.womeninandbeyond.org\/?p=23675","title":{"rendered":"What Should I Do Assata: for the Ancestors"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n
\"\"<\/figure>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

What Should I Do Assata: for the Ancestors<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

What should I do Assata? They’re coming for my womb!<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Shouted Justice<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

And, I won\u2019t know who is grabbing my pussy because I\u2019m blindfolded!<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

But, I can guess.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Is it quisling Alan Dershowitz forgetting the wisdom of \u201cwhen they came for…\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Is it the narco-trafficante\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Killing Isabel Cabanillas while she bicycles home from a gathering in Ciudad Ju\u00e0rez?<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Was her music too dangerous?<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Or, her murals too revolutionary and inflammatory?<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Was it the artificial intelligence facial recognition technology that misidentifies Black, Brown, Yellow and female faces?<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

But can spot a Uyghur from outer space in a crowd of ethnic Chinese.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Removed from their homes<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Their graveyards desecrated<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

By a country that claims to be re-educating them\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

And protecting them from their own culture, religion, and language<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

To make them more productive citizens.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Uyghurs \u2014 apparently \u2014 are the new Niggers; or perhaps the new Redskins or Chiefs<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

And, A.I. Identifiable \u201cWhiteface\u201d is the new blackface warns the MIT Media Labs.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Was it the new laws in South Dakota outlawing treatment for trans youth?\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

They won\u2019t have to be oppressed if they just kill themselves and be done with it<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Cause of death: body dismorphia<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Is intersectionality dead\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

The wisdom of \u201cwhen they came for…\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Or are the opiates just that strong?<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Because if they come for my body<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

They will come for yours, too.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Who was it who said:<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

I wish that they all had just one neck so that I could slit their throats all at once\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

I think it was Caligula<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

If he had waited just 2000 years his wish would have come true.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

We rewrite the New Colossus to include a wealth and education test<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

While we install a new Caligula<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

His hand on the throat of Our collective dreaming\u00a0
One foot in America and the other in the Middle East<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

While pissing on immigrants.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

And the lies\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

So many lies.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

\u201cWhy don\u2019t we get to keep the oil?\u201d, he asks.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

I shake my head in shame<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Everyone I respect is dead\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

And all of my enemies are in power\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

The affirmation of an optimistic\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Revolutionary mind<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

I would root for the intelligence agencies if your COINTELPRO experience didn\u2019t inform me, Assata.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

What should I do, Assata?\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

While you are still here for me to ask you the question<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

What should I do?<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

How did you find hope in your gunshot riddled and beaten body?<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

How did you not despair when your godson was taken away too soon?<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

When you were imprisoned with men<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

And they tried to murder both you and your hope<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

How did you escape to fight another day?\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Oh, 20 century escaped slave with a price on your head<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

A two million dollar bounty for helping people to get freed;<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

While America bends over backwards to exonerate a man murdering representative democracy<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

And renewing the call for your capture<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

The first amendment has been\u00a0\u00a0shot through and beaten\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

As if it were a Black Panther on the New Jersey Turnpike\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Tolls paid for with blood sweat and tears\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Hope left waterboarded, tortured, and gasping\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Through disinformation and the scrawl of a Sharpie marker<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Assata, may the trade winds of Cuba ever caress your skin\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

And Afro-Cuban music ever fill your ears.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Spit in the direction of Mar Largo<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

And cast ancient curses at an Orange Man.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Should I learn how to make myself small like Harriet<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Or should I become larger then Life itself like you?<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

If we sing out loud; or paint our murals; or march<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Will the Space Force and the A.I. cameras see us?\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

They are coming to get me<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

And I AM paranoid.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Justice is blind\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

But not stupid.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

At midnight all the agents and the superhero crew\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Will round up all the people who Love more then they do<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Then they\u2019ll hook us to Alexis to publicize our dreams\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

And sell our souls to Facebook and the information machines.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Ain\u2019t I a woman, too?<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Asks justice\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Taking off her blindfold\u00a0
And baring her breasts.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Ain\u2019t I a fuckin\u2019 woman, too.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

 <\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

(Image Credit: LA Progressive<\/a>)<\/p>\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What Should I Do Assata: for the Ancestors\u00a0 What should I do Assata? They’re coming for my womb! Shouted Justice And, I won\u2019t know who is grabbing my pussy because I\u2019m blindfolded! But, I can guess. Is it quisling Alan Dershowitz forgetting the wisdom of \u201cwhen they came for…\u201d Is it the narco-trafficante\u00a0 Killing Isabel […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":306,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[489,6336,6337],"class_list":["post-23675","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general","tag-assata-shakur","tag-heidi-lindemann","tag-michael-perry","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.womeninandbeyond.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23675","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.womeninandbeyond.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.womeninandbeyond.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.womeninandbeyond.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/306"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.womeninandbeyond.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=23675"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/www.womeninandbeyond.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23675\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25634,"href":"http:\/\/www.womeninandbeyond.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23675\/revisions\/25634"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.womeninandbeyond.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=23675"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.womeninandbeyond.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=23675"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.womeninandbeyond.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=23675"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}