Safiya Bukhari
"Safiya was a warrior-Black woman who did everything she could to free her people and to free political prisoners." ~ Assata Shakur
Safiya Bukhari, revolutionary, mother, grandmother, singer, writer, comrade, sister and friend died on Sunday, August 24, 2003 from complications due to prolonged illness. She was only 53.
Safiya was a conscious citizen of the Republik of New Afrika and served as a Vice President of the PGRNA. She was a dedicated, nationally known Black liberation fighter, longtime WBAI producer (Where We Live), and Co-Chair of The Jericho Movement.
Safiya joined the Black Panther Party in 1969 after witnessing a vicious police beating of another Panther standing on a Harlem street corner selling the Party’s newspaper. “I tell people straight up that it was the New York Police Department that made me decide to join the Black Panther Party.” She said, “In college I supported the war in Vietnam. I was so far to the right it was ridiculous. But by the time the summer of 1969 was over, in November, I was in the Party.”
A disciplined and dedicated revolutionary, Safiya went on to join the Black Liberation Army. She spent close to nine years in prison for clandestine actions on behalf of the BLA. After her release, Safiya dedicated her life to the freedom of her comrades she left behind, and used every means at her disposal.
In 'We Too Are Veterans: Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and the Black Panther Party', " she lambastes the government repression that not only left many Panthers dead, but also led to psychic trauma in those who survived. "We had not just mouthed the words 'revolution in our lifetime,' but had believed them," she confesses. "We sincerely believed the Black Panther Party would lead us to victory." Instead, activists like Clark and Hampton, Timothy "Red" Adams, Fred Bennett, Alprentice "Bunchy" Carter, John Huggins, Little Bobby Hutton, Twymon Myers, Sandra Pratt, Robert Webb, and Anthony "Kimu" White were murdered. This reality, in addition to "the constant shoot-outs, the infiltration and set-ups that left you leery of strangers or of anyone getting too close or acting too friendly," took a terrible toll on the BPP members left to bear witness, Bukhari concludes. "As I looked over the list of PTSD symptoms, I recognized myself," she writes. "And the first step in resolving the problem is recognizing that it exists." Indeed. To her credit, Safiya refused to wallow in bitterness and chose to focus her energies on the struggle for self-determination that comes from fighting back.
Safiya wrote prolifically about individual cases, designed and made political prisoner T-shirts, buttons, bumper stickers, and mouse pads, wrote fact sheets on each individual case and in 1992 co-founded the New York Free Mumia Abu-Jamal Coalition which she co-chaired until her death.
In 1998, Safiya became the co-chair of The Jericho Movement to Free U.S. Political Prisoners and Prisoners of War. She co-chaired the historic Tear Down the Walls March on Washington, DC. She established a website and traveled throughout the country organizing people to the cause of those Black political prisoners still behind the walls.
Safiya left us a valuable book about her life - 'The War Before: The True Life Story of Becoming a Black Panther, Keeping the Faith in Prison & Fighting For Those Left Behind'.
* Click Youtube video below on the legacy of Safiya Bukhari by Mumia Abu Jamal
"Safiya was a warrior-Black woman who did everything she could to free her people and to free political prisoners." ~ Assata Shakur
Safiya Bukhari, revolutionary, mother, grandmother, singer, writer, comrade, sister and friend died on Sunday, August 24, 2003 from complications due to prolonged illness. She was only 53.
Safiya was a conscious citizen of the Republik of New Afrika and served as a Vice President of the PGRNA. She was a dedicated, nationally known Black liberation fighter, longtime WBAI producer (Where We Live), and Co-Chair of The Jericho Movement.
Safiya joined the Black Panther Party in 1969 after witnessing a vicious police beating of another Panther standing on a Harlem street corner selling the Party’s newspaper. “I tell people straight up that it was the New York Police Department that made me decide to join the Black Panther Party.” She said, “In college I supported the war in Vietnam. I was so far to the right it was ridiculous. But by the time the summer of 1969 was over, in November, I was in the Party.”
A disciplined and dedicated revolutionary, Safiya went on to join the Black Liberation Army. She spent close to nine years in prison for clandestine actions on behalf of the BLA. After her release, Safiya dedicated her life to the freedom of her comrades she left behind, and used every means at her disposal.
In 'We Too Are Veterans: Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and the Black Panther Party', " she lambastes the government repression that not only left many Panthers dead, but also led to psychic trauma in those who survived. "We had not just mouthed the words 'revolution in our lifetime,' but had believed them," she confesses. "We sincerely believed the Black Panther Party would lead us to victory." Instead, activists like Clark and Hampton, Timothy "Red" Adams, Fred Bennett, Alprentice "Bunchy" Carter, John Huggins, Little Bobby Hutton, Twymon Myers, Sandra Pratt, Robert Webb, and Anthony "Kimu" White were murdered. This reality, in addition to "the constant shoot-outs, the infiltration and set-ups that left you leery of strangers or of anyone getting too close or acting too friendly," took a terrible toll on the BPP members left to bear witness, Bukhari concludes. "As I looked over the list of PTSD symptoms, I recognized myself," she writes. "And the first step in resolving the problem is recognizing that it exists." Indeed. To her credit, Safiya refused to wallow in bitterness and chose to focus her energies on the struggle for self-determination that comes from fighting back.
Safiya wrote prolifically about individual cases, designed and made political prisoner T-shirts, buttons, bumper stickers, and mouse pads, wrote fact sheets on each individual case and in 1992 co-founded the New York Free Mumia Abu-Jamal Coalition which she co-chaired until her death.
In 1998, Safiya became the co-chair of The Jericho Movement to Free U.S. Political Prisoners and Prisoners of War. She co-chaired the historic Tear Down the Walls March on Washington, DC. She established a website and traveled throughout the country organizing people to the cause of those Black political prisoners still behind the walls.
Safiya left us a valuable book about her life - 'The War Before: The True Life Story of Becoming a Black Panther, Keeping the Faith in Prison & Fighting For Those Left Behind'.
* Click Youtube video below on the legacy of Safiya Bukhari by Mumia Abu Jamal