Assata Shakur has become an idolized figure in the fight against racism and police brutality in many movements circling Third Wave Feminism in America. At a time when mainstream media outlets are picking up more and more stories of police brutality, and at the same time continuing to paint a picture of African Americans in a not-so-perfect light, Shakur’s story is just an example of how little has changed. In Assata: An Autobiography, Shakur discusses what life experiences brought her to the Black Panther Party, her historical arrest, four-year prison stint, conviction, and escape. Her story contains an exploration of inequalities of power in intersectional identities. Though remarkable, Shakur’s story is not unique to her only; police brutality and racial injustice are still realities in disenfranchised communities. Shakur stands as an…show more content… Her grandmother equated success or equality to having as much money and possessions as white people, and was determined Shakur would become of the Black bourgeoisie, the privileged class (21). Growing up, Shakur lived in a Jewish middle class neighborhood in New York City. She found the difference between her working class background and the middle and upper class students’ background evident, and saw class difference around the city with rich Manhattan residents (132). Shakur also witnessed racial prejudice at a young age as well. When visiting her grandparents in the South, white people from nearby towns harassed her grandparents and their black customers at their beach business (26). She even witnessed some self-hate, in being told to find a man with “good hair” and joining her peers in using “Black” as an insult: “Act your age, not your color” (30-31). Shakur’s first taste of the openness of gender occurred after running away from home, and finding support from a drag queen named Miss Shirley, whom she didn’t realize was a man until she amusingly caught her shaving