The U.S. abolitionist movement is not what “freed” insurgents and POWs before and during the civil war. The government relinquished “ownership” of human bodies because they needed to find a new way to further use our ancestors to build their capital. ALSO, “slavery” is still alive and kicking in America (read: prison industrial complex). Furthermore, very few people, if any, are actually “free.” You can’t equate social change to freedom. It’s not equivalent. So Assata’s sentiments are correct.

The abolitionist movement had a huge impact on the politics of the North, driving them to institute anti-slavery laws and eventually to attack the South when they separated.  I think it’s wrong to say that abolition was a plan. Yes, after slavery was abolished new forms of oppression were created. Wage slavery has been institutionalized and internalized just like chattel slavery was, but it is still an improvement. Freedom doesn’t come over night. The story of social change is a never ending struggle against oppression. Gains are made, and sometimes there is backsliding, but over all, mankind has progressed towards a more free society. 

The fundamental question is this. If you believe that many of our freedoms are taken by oppressors who are willing to use violence, how can you believe that using violence to get rid of these oppressors will lead to freedom?