Angela Davis, Jamal Joseph, rapper Common, and Shakur’s daughter Kakuya were among the many who honored the Black Liberation icon at The Riverside Church.
If someone were to ask how the memorial for Assata Shakur was, as Black people are wont to do, I’d say that in a lot of ways it was like the services for any beloved family member. Shakur’s celebration of life took place at Harlem’s historic Riverside Church. Her family members, accessorized in black shades, were escorted to the front row. Church workers asked attendees if they were there to attend the repast (with a silent t). Ushers guarded the doors of the sanctuary, keeping guests out until the appropriate time.
But there were signs that we had gathered to honor a Black Liberation icon. Outside, the line of attendees stretched down the block. Zulu warrior security guards, in black leather vests, guarded the church’s entrances. More than an hour before the service began, a white-haired woman appealed to one of the overwhelmed ushers at the sanctuary doors, informing her that she needed to be granted entry because she was one of the event organizers. It was another icon, Angela Davis.
The breathtaking Riverside sanctuary is decorated with a hanging quilt and an altar to Shakur. The pictures of the late freedom fighter, who died on September 25, 2025, in Havana, Cuba, filled the altar alongside sunflowers, candles, and a sampling of Shakur’s artwork. During her remarks, Davis, a longtime friend and fellow veteran Black Panther, reminded the crowd that Shakur began as a reluctant warrior and struggler.
“She embraced that role, she said, as the only viable response to prevailing conditions of oppression,” Davis explained. “Otherwise, she said, ‘I would be a sculptor, or a gardener, a carpenter. I would be free to be so much more. But I do it because I am committed to life.’”…