Assata Shakur in Her Own Words (1998) by Democracy Now! published on 2013-05-02T17:43:43Z In 1998, New Jersey state troopers sent Pope John Paul II a letter asking him to call for the extradition of former Black Panther Assata Shakur, who was convicted and sentenced to life in prison for the 1973 murder of a New Jersey state trooper. In 1979, she broke out from prison, and now lives in exile in Cuba. In this open letter addressed to the Pope, Assata tells her side of the story. Democracy Now! aired Shakur reading aloud this letter in 1998. Democracy Now!, is an independent global news hour that airs weekdays on 1,100+ TV and radio stations Monday through Friday. FOLLOW DEMOCRACY NOW! ONLINE: Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/democracynow Twitter: @democracynow Subscribe on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/democracynow Listen on SoundCloud: http://www.soundcloud.com/democracynow Daily Email News Digest: http://www.democracynow.org/subscribe Genre Archive