It was 224 years ago today that Gabriel and between 25-30 other courageous enslaved Afrikans were hanged to death for daring to rebel against the brutal system of slavery in Richmond, Virginia. In this speech prepared for the October 10 anniversary of the execution, Shaka A. Shakur makes the connection between Gabriel’s Rebellion in 1800 and the Attica Uprising, identifying the thread We continue to weave into a struggle capable of establishing an independent Republic of New Afrika.
Pick up that thread with us and:
- Send a letter in support of comrade Shaka
- Join the Shaka Shakur Freedom Campaign
- Sign the petition to demand clemency for Shaka
- Pick up Shaka’s latest works and merchandise at the Store
- Donate to or Sustain the Campaign
Hear Shaka Read the Statement
The Drum Beat Continues
From Shockoe Bottom to Gabriel’s Rebellion and The Republic of New Afrika!!
The Gabriel Rebellion, although betrayed and disrupted, it represented a significant stage in the ongoing resistance and struggle by Afrikan and New Afrikan people to be free and Independent.
In fact Gabriel was carrying on a tradition by Afrikan/New Afrikan people that began as soon as the first colonizer set foot on the shores of Afrika and began to kidnap, rape, and pillage.
This conspiracy to resist, to organize, to fight back began with a scream, a shout, a whisper, and even that of the beat and rhythm of a drum.
From the belly of the beast, from the holes of slave ships, to the cells and cages of amerika’s prisons.
From the Shockoe Bottom to Roselawn, to the liberated territory of the Maroons, We began to Organize and Resist. The identifying of Our Tribes and Nations and the language We speak, and seeking out others to learn and teach, establishing lines of communication. The breaking down and through the superficial barriers of difference… These were the building blocks of the New Afrikan Nation and its historical development. These were the first bricks laid in establishing not only the New Afrikan Independence Movement, but the very essence of the New Afrikan National Liberation Movement and Struggle.
From Gabriel to the Attica Rebellion to the Rebellions and The Fire the Next Time… after the vicious murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and soooooo many others, the drum beat continues.
Can you hear the heartbeat and rhythm from the Spirit of Our Ancestors?
Until We as a people are free and exercising the right to choose and control Our own destiny, the Right to not have a Nationality imposed upon Us or second-class citizenship; the Right to not be amended into a constitution, the Right to control Our own Means of Production and choose Our own Mode of Production and political system, until We have Land and are able to build Institutions on that land to meet Our collective needs, until We can declare Ourselves Free and Independent of u.s. imperialism and neo-colonialism:
We shall continue to create, organize and imitate the successful launch of Gabriel’s Rebellion until it leads to a full-fledged REVOLUTION!! We shall complete the Mission!!
FROM ONE GENERATION TO THE NEXT!!!
FREE HAITI!!
FREE AFRIKA!!
FREE PALESTINE!!
Shaka A. Shakur
shakashakur.org
Featured photo: The Shockoe Hill Burying Ground Historic District with a Portrait of Gabriel in acrylic, ink, mulberry paper on canvas, 2005 by Ana Edwards.
