When I heard that Assata Shakur had gone to join the ancestors from a network of trusted comrades, I cringed at the news. I did not think for a second that this shocking revelation was a mere rumor or a part of some half-baked conspiracy. None of the people that I consider allies would share such important information had it not been independently verified.

I intuitively realized that I was not alone in considering this moment bittersweet. Although revolutionary-minded Blacks around the globe mourned Assata’s demise, a part of us celebrated at the fact that the monsters who pursued her to the grave had failed at their foremost desire to see the Black woman that they propagated as “the mother hen that kept them shooting” rot away inside a jail cell. Yet, the feeling that Black revolutionaries had somehow failed a basic assignments of protecting  Assata from the monsters that they continue to defy remains.

In the wake of her demise, I am hoping that we do not continue to fail Assata like we have so many of other revolutionaries by allowing their contributions to drift into a sea of forgetfulness. Particularly concerning is the fact that the sea of forgetfulness will swallow the legacies of our ancestors and make them irretrievable in due time. Black America has never had a generation that did not possess the potential of forgetting our past.

Feelings of inadequacy and failure regarding Assata and a host of other Black Power icons flows from the fact that we have yet to subdue our enemy in a significant manner. Although it is common to hear that misery loves company, I pray that I have much company in my bothered state from fellow educators, particularly those possessing the ability to impact K – 12 school curriculums.

Those curriculum and development leaders that I speak of should focus on providing a well-balanced intellectual diet for Black students that prods them forward. I am afraid that Black school administrators will continue the unfortunate tradition of failing to create curriculum that serves as a usable intellectual diet for Black children mired in a failing public school system. There should be little disagreement against the assertion that school curriculums possess the ability to bolster or stunt the intellectual curiosity of Black children.

Unfortunately for Black America, the curriculum development necessary for Black children to know the difference between Assata Shakur and Afeni Shakur is not evident. So, Black America stands in a familiar space, mourning the loss of a significant figure in our mighty walk and in danger of rushing forward too quickly as we seek to gain some semblance of closure.

We must NEVER forget Assata, her contributions, and the way that her opponents hunted her. The pain derived from examining Assata’s life, particularly her forced exile from the Black community that she worked so diligently to save must serve as fuel for future fights. Fights that we must ensure that our children understand and participate in as a result of the lessons and values that we have instilled in them. Our children are our only real hope to one day make America the welcoming nation that it has rarely been for our kind.

Dr. James Thomas Jones III

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