ms: ...How were you empowered as a woman--a woman leader in the movement--and what things did you find empowering for yourself?

assata: Well actually, to tell you the truth, i don't feel em-pow-ered. i feel that i'm a woman who struggles in a society that is sexist, in a movement that is sexist, and that is an ongoing struggle. i feel that any leadership role that i have played, or may play in the future, has to do with the work i do and the historical role i will play (do play, hopefully). i tend to believe leadership should depend on one's ability, one's work. Period. And that too often people, men and women, are hung up on the leadership question. i think We should be more hung up on the work question. What is the quality of my work?

...you can eliminate sexism without eliminating, again, the roots of sexism; without building institutions that permit men and women to have non-sexist relationships. At this time, women are in a hell of a fix. The whole world is experiencing a crisis between men and women. The old way of relationships, the old division of work: men working in the field, women working in the home, is no longer valid. That is no longer real. Men and women have to find new ways to deal with each other that are not based on "me cookin' and you doin' whatever you do in the street". i mean there's no economic basis for those old relationships. The reality of the modern world is that men and women both have to work in most societies because of economic necessity; because of the objective conditions. Therefore, there must be new relationships between men and women based on equality. And that's gonna be a struggle because men are not going to give up those privileges without a fight. And right now men are privileged.

...In terms of African-American women and men, Our situation is one of oppression--serious oppression. The only kind of sane relationship We can have are relationships of partners, partnerships in struggle. Any human relationship, any human relationship with any kind of beauty, has to involve changing the definition of what relationships are, and change the reality of what We're dealing with in the context of the united states. So, We need to form a new aesthetic on how We relate to each other. We need to go to a new dimension in how We relate to each other out of necessity. Out of pure necessity. Because if We don't, We will be systematically wiped out. That's the reality.

**********THE SIG**********

i'm a tru pisces tryna flow in the direction of both of these okplayer quotes:

"I m raising a fuckin angelic being who is going to replenish this fuckin earths cuz in 2G all we fuckin do is talk.....im teachin my seed to turn his spirit inside out and spread beams of green light"
-nebbie

"GOd give me the strength to change the things i can, understanding for those i cannot and the muthafuckin heart to stand up for my beliefs and principles, so that when the government that is suppossed to protect me turns against me and my people we will have the means, the might and the muthafuckin gun power to blow away our oppressors
umm amen"
-earthqueen

and last but not least:

"all things considered, i'd rather be me"
-bfnh