Celebrating Black Panther Assata Shakur, Who Turns 77 Today, Is Celebrating Hope

Assata Shakur in Cuba, Source: asha bandele and Delphine Fawandu / Delphine Fawandu

The first shot severed her median nerve, the second her clavicle. At trial, medical testimony proved it was impossible for Assata Shakur to have fired a weapon on or about 1:00 AM on May 2nd, 1973 in a case that was one of the worst incidences of unchecked police violence and brutality. The court transcripts and documentation by Shakur’s attorney, Lennox Hinds in his 1978 work, Illusions of Justice, dispel any lingering doubts one might have.