In honor of Assata Shakur’s 75th birthday on July 16, Workers World reprinted this slightly edited version of her Oct. 5, 2013, open letter first posted on Workers World on Dec. 30, 2014. Shakur died on Sept. 25, 2025, in Havana, Cuba, at age 78. My name is Assata Shakur, and I am a 20th-century