Assata Shakur News

The million dollar bounty, now $2 million

Afro-Cuban Director Melina Matsoukas on ‘Queen & Slim’: “This Film Is to Speak to the African Diaspora”  11/22/2019 Remezcla: "In a conversation with Remezcla ahead of the release of her debut feature Queen & Slim, the Afro-Latina director – who gained prominence creating emblematic music videos for pop artists of great stature like Rihanna (“We Found Love”) and Beyoncé (“Formation”) – explains that her mother was born in Cuba and grew up a child of communism until she migrated to New York at age 10. Through her mother, the island and the ideologies that have defined its modern history were part of Matsoukas’ childhood even if from afar. “I was brought up to honor the icons of the Cuban revolution. Che Guevara is one of my heroes in life, and has so many of the values that I aspire to have, to uphold and maintain,” she shares."

Assata’s daughters: Meet the feminist black leaders fighting to change the South Side  8/15/2019 Alternet: "Assata’s Daughters is a Black women-led organization formed by Black feminists and organizers in the South Side of Chicago as a reaction to the violence in their neighborhoods. Under the shared respect for and study of Black Liberation Army member Assata Shakur, Assata’s Daughters provides mentorship for young people to participate in a meaningful way for Black lives. Members of Assata’s Daughters learn tactics and strategies to organize and address the many social issues that impact their world, such as gentrification, displacement, and police in schools."

Assata Shakur en Agosto Negro 2019  8/11/2019 La Haine: "Hecho en La Habana, Cuba, en 1997 por la directora Gloria Rolando, este documental de 47 minutos es de una visita con Assata Shakur, quien habla de su vida, su participación en el Partido Pantera Negra, su encarcelamiento, su fuga de prisión, y su exilio en Cuba, donde tiene asilo desde 1984. La conversación se ameniza con la música y danza del grupo cubano Vocal Baobab, Sweet Honey in the Rock, Junius Williams y su Harpa Mágica, y la Danza Nacional de Cuba. Desde el año 2013, hay una recompensa de dos millones de dólares por la captura de Assata Shakur, y ahora Trump aumenta la presión contra Cuba para que la entregue a las prisiones de Estados Unidos."

Sundiata Acoli’s “Affirmation”  2/27/2018 Black Agenda Radio: "Political prisoner Sundiata Acoli, who was arrested with fellow Black Panther Assata Shakur in 1973, is among a host of political prisoners and activists that took part in a reading of Shakur’s poem, “Affirmation,” written in exile in Cuba. Acoli will not be eligible for parole until 2032, when he will be 94 years old. “Affirmation” reads, in part: “I have been locked up by the lawless, handcuffed by the haters, gagged by the greedy, and if I know anything at all, it’s that a wall is just a wall…it can be broken down.”"

Colin Kaepernick Raises $20k In Celebrity Donations For Assata’s Daughters  2/6/2018 Black America Web: "The former San Francisco 49ers quarterback announced that comedian Hannibal Buress and actress Yara Shahidi would both donate $10,000 to Assata’s Daughters, which says it “carries on the tradition of radical liberatory activism encompassed by Assata Shakur.” The charity is a “collective of radical Black women’ affiliated with Black Lives Matter.”"

Colin Kaepernick Donated $25,000 to Black Women, and Conservatives Lost Their Minds  10/2/2017 Mother Jones: "The outrage suggests conservatives are threatened by what might happen when black women are empowered to organize cop watches and engage in direct action. And especially when those black women take pride in outlaws like Shakur, who make a mockery of America’s criminal justice system. And especially especially black women who flex their political muscle."

Assata Shakur: She who struggles  7/30/2017 SF Bay View: by the New Jersey Black Panther Party Commemoration Committee: "On Sunday, July 16, a cross section of activists, artists and humanitarians came together to salute Assata Shakur, the long exiled Black Panther who resides in Cuba, to mark her 70th birthday. The gathering was called For the Love of Freedom: Assata Is Always Welcome Here, An Honoring of 70 Years of a Committed Life."

Ferguson Activist Ashley Yates Talks Oakland, Assata Shakur and Black Woman Leadership  7/15/2017 Truth Out: "I hope they feel the resistance, the ancestors, and unapologetically Black. You're not only wearing Assata Shakur, you're also wearing the Black Liberation Army. They were the ones who rescued Assata."

8 Things To Know About Assata Shakur And The Calls For Her Return From Cuba  6/26/2017 Essence: "Many prominent Black thinkers and leaders have also maintained her innocence. Angela Davis, for example, has said that Shakur is a little threat to the U.S. government: "Assata is not a threat. She is innocent," she has said. "People really don't know the details and are not aware of the extent to which [Shakur] was targeted by the FBI and the COINTEL programme.""

Cuban Government: We Will Never Return Assata Shakur to U.S.  6/21/2017 All Black Media: "Gustavo Machin, the deputy director of American affairs at the Cuban Ministry of Foreign Affairs, told Yahoo News that he has no intention of returning Joanne Chesimard, more notably as Assata Shakur, to the United States. “I can say it is off the table,” Machin said."

Trump Demands Cuba Return Assata Shakur  6/17/2017 All Black Media 

US Media Claim Cuba Could Extradite Assata Shakur, Despite All Evidence to the Contrary  6/6/2016 teleSUR: "Cuba and the U.S. are currently negotiating a prisoner swap deal as part of the normalization of relations but Shakur’s name has not been mentioned and no official source has confirmed the rumors. But despite this, news outlets like New York Post and NBC news have rushed to suggest the former Black Panther will be included in a potential prisoner swap."

Angela Davis Calls To Exonerarte Ex Black Panther Assata Shakur  4/18/2016 Chicago Defender: "ANGELA DAVIS: Well, yeah, Assata has not seen her grandchildren. It’s horrendous, the extent to which the repression associated with the era of the late 1960s and 1970s continues to this day. And we might also mention the fact that vast numbers of people are still behind bars from that era, members of the Black Panther Party—Mondo we Langa, Ed Rice. My co-defendant, Ruchell Magee, has been in prison for over 50 years. So I think that when we put all of these things together, they create a kind of invitation for increased radical activism for trying to resolve these issues that have been decades in the making."

Hands Off Assata Shakur: Angela Davis Calls for Radical Activism to Protect Activist Exiled in Cuba  3/28/2016 Democracy Now: "Assata has not seen her grandchildren. It’s horrendous, the extent to which the repression associated with the era of the late 1960s and 1970s continues to this day. And we might also mention the fact that vast numbers of people are still behind bars from that era, members of the Black Panther Party—Mondo we Langa, Ed Rice. My co-defendant, Ruchell Magee, has been in prison for over 50 years. So I think that when we put all of these things together, they create a kind of invitation for increased radical activism for trying to resolve these issues that have been decades in the making."

Will The United States Ask Cuba To Extradite Assata Shakur?  3/22/2016 News One: "Roland Martin reminded viewers that Cuban officials have stated they will not turn Assata Shakur over to their jurisdiction."

Kelly: N.J. cop killer Chesimard living as a ‘ghost’ in Havana  10/4/2015 North Jersey Record: "Soandry Del Rio, a popular Cuban hip-hop artist who was featured in the documentary “East of Havana,” said he met Chesimard three times, usually in small groups of other hip-hop artists and Afro-Cuban activists. But he quickly noticed that she often seemed skittish and fearful of coming to any meeting in which she was not familiar with everyone who attended. Sitting recently in a Havana restaurant, Del Rio, 39, described how Chesimard abruptly left a meeting when she became uncomfortable in the presence of an American."

N.J. cop killer Chesimard living as a ‘ghost’ in Havana  10/4/2015 Cubaverdad: "Soandry Del Rio, a popular Cuban hip-hop artist who was featured in the documentary “East of Havana,” said he met Chesimard three times, usually in small groups of other hip-hop artists and Afro-Cuban activists. But he quickly noticed that she often seemed skittish and fearful of coming to any meeting in which she was not familiar with everyone who attended."

Former Black Panther Kathleen Cleaver on Assata Shakur and #BlackLivesMatter  9/1/2015 The Root: "Many people were concerned that she would not be able to stay alive in prison after being convicted of killing a cop. An escape was planned; it was successful."

Inspiration Behind ‘Black Lives Matter’ is on the FBI’s ‘Most Wanted Terrorists’ List  8/28/2015 Infowars: "The inspiration behind the ‘Black Lives Matter’ movement – the individual cited by its founder and regularly quoted by its supporters – is a convicted cop killer who is on the FBI’s ‘Most Wanted Terrorists’ list. ‘Black Lives Matter’ was founded by militant feminists Alicia Garza, Patrisse Cullors and Opel Tometi, with Garza widely recognized as the most influential of the three. In an article which details the philosophical foundation of ‘Black Lives Matter’, Garza cites, “Assata’s powerful demand in my organizing work.”"

#BlackLivesMatter and Cuba  8/24/2015 Progressive Pupil: ""In July a group of Black Lives Matter activists visited Cuba with the 46th Contingent of the Venceremos Brigade. Included in this group was Progressive Pupil’s own, Shannon Shird, Outreach Director for Black and Cuba and former Community Outreach Specialist in our New Leaders for Social Change Program, Anita Moore, Chapter Coordinator and Community Organizer with Black Lives Matter, and Amity Paye, the BYP100 NYC Communications Co-chair.""

Video — Black Lives Matter Founder Rants at Netroots: ‘Burn Everything Down!’  7/27/2015 Breitbart: "Last week, Breitbart News exposed that convicted cop killer Assata Shakur is one of the heroes of the Black Lives Matter founders. Black Lives Matter pays homage to Cuban exile Shakur and quotes the Communist Manifesto at every single Black Lives Matter event."

BlackLivesMatter Pays Homage to Marxist Cop Killer at Every Event It Holds  7/23/2015 Breitbart: "BlackLivesMatter—the activist group that demands a “racial justice agenda” that includes constant criticism and activism against police—invokes the words of convicted cop killer Assata Shakur at “all its events.” At a recent event for female bloggers, BlackLivesMatter leaders had a crowd of thousands repeating lines from a letter written by Shakur that include an explicit reference to the Communist Manifesto."

Gloria Rolando films in Richmond, CA: Reembarque/Reshipment and Assata, June 15, 2015  6/2/2015 AfroCubaWeb: "This is a rare showing of Assata in a remastered version which is not commercially available. Cuba update by Walter Turner, host of Africa Today on KPFA"

Here's What People All Around the World Really Think About America's Police Violence  5/28/2015 Identities.mix: "Black advocates and family members of people killed by law enforcement have testified before the United Nations in Geneva, condemning racist police violence at home. Assata Shakur — an activist living in Cuba since 1984 after escaping from prison for what some believe was a trumped up murder conviction related to the death of a police officer — has new political relevance in this era of black resistance."

Why Cuba won’t extradite Assata Shakur  4/21/2015 Progreso Weekly: "The comments by Vidal and Castro could be interpreted as empty bluster, or as a way to save face while privately planning to sacrifice the principles they publicly profess. But a look at the actions of Cuban politicians and officials since the revolution show they have simply never operated this way."

Cubans to open talks about US fugitives as ties warm  4/15/2015 AP: [Cuba has long been open to returning criminals and have done so on a number of occasions. She will not return Assata or Morales, depsite what Mssrs Weissenstein and Lee might daydream about.]

Kean University Cancels Common’s Appearance As Their Graduation Speaker  4/1/2015 All Hip Hop: "State Police union president Chris Burgos said that having the Chicago rapper as a speaker is a “slap in the face” because Shakur, born Joanne Chesimard. is portrayed as the victim when she was in fact the killer. “What is troubling here is that a state university that is subsidized with state taxpayer funds, is once again being questioned on their decision-making at the highest levels,” Burgos said in an emailed statement to NorthJersey.com"

Black Students at UC Berkeley Want a Hall Renamed After Assata Shakur  3/20/2015 The Root: "The Black Student Union at Berkeley would like Barrows Hall to be renamed “Shakur Hall.” “We want the renaming for someone—Assata Shakur—who we feel … represents us as black students,” Cori McGowens, spokesman for the school’s black student union, said. “We’re at a crisis on campus.” McGowens says that black students at Berkeley are isolated and marginalized."

Cuba-USA Try to Skirt Dead Ends  2/12/2015 OnCuba: "Some politicians from the Cuban émigré community demand that Havana hand over fugitives from US justice like Joanne Chesimard, aka Assata Shakur, an African-American woman who was a Black Panther leader and is sought by US authorities for the murder of a police officer in the 1970s. They seem to be unaware of the fact that an extradition agreement is reciprocal and would force the United States to deport many Cuban exiles accused of crimes, including Luis Posada Carriles, sought for the bombing of a Cuban commercial airliner that killed 73 people."

No Charges For New Jersey Cop’s Daughter After She Dressed As Hitler And Threatened To Kill Jews  2/7/2015 Alternet: "The teenage daughter of a New Jersey state trooper will not be charged with any crimes after posting and sharing online threats against Jews with her friends –including threatening to bomb a popular gathering place for Orthodox Jews — reports the Asbury Park Press."

Cuba–US Talks and the Fate of Assata Shakur and Nehanda Abiodun  2/2/2015 Havana Times: "Unlike Assata (whose whereabouts are unknown and is believed to be at a secret location, owing to the US police effort to capture her), since the 90s Nehanda has organized a series of campaigns in her home to encourage the creation of a black and Afro-Cuban awareness movement. Her home has become a center for cultural and socio-political projects and the venue of Cuba’s first hip hop gatherings. She has also organized debates on contemporary issues and African history which have seen the participation of activists and artists, such as the Cuban rap band Anonimo Consejo."

Republican senators want Tupac Shakur's aunt back from Cuba  1/23/2015 Local 10, Miami: "During the two days of U.S.-Cuba diplomatic talks in Havana this week, the issue of human rights was a cause for friction. "They [U.S. diplomats] have views about the exercise of human rights in Cuba," said high-ranking Cuban diplomat Josefina Vidal, who was leading the Cuban delegation. She added that the U.S. doesn't have the authority on human rights problems, as the country is currently dealing with a wave of police brutality. And that she said is "something you never see in Cuba."

Movement grows to pardon freedom fighter Assata Shakur  12/24/2014 Final Call 

Despite Warming Relations, Cuba Will Not Hand Over Assata Shakur  12/23/2014 Vibe: "Josefina Vidal, head of Cuba's North American Affairs told the Associated Press the country has no plans of giving Shakur up despite warming relations between the two nations who were once at odds for nearly half a century. "Every nation has sovereign and legitimate rights to grant political asylum to people it considers to have been persecuted. ...That’s a legitimate right,” Vidal said. “We’ve explained to the U.S. government in the past that there are some people living in Cuba to whom Cuba has legitimately granted political asylum. There’s no extradition treaty in effect between Cuba and the U.S.,” she added."

Cuba Won’t Hand Over Assata Shakur  12/23/2014 The Root: "Vidal pointed out that the U.S. has also sheltered wanted Cuban citizens. “We’ve reminded the U.S. government that in its country they’ve given shelter to dozens and dozens of Cuban citizens,” she said. “Some of them accused of horrible crimes, some accused of terrorism, murder and kidnapping, and in every case, the U.S. government has decided to welcome them.”"

Cuba and the Garden State: Assata Shakur, Abolition and the Problem of Pardon  12/22/2014 Critical Legal Thinking: "My skin is black/?My arms are long/?My hair is woolly/?My back is strong/? Strong enough to take the pain/?inflicted again and again/? What do they call me/?My name is Aunt Sarah/?My name is Aunt Sarah — Nina Simone, “Four Women”"

Hands Off Assata: Protests Can Protect the Revolutionary Fugitive Again  12/22/2014 Truth Out: "But according to a former Black Panther Party leader, a protest movement that erupted in October 1998 organized by the Ad Hoc Coalition to Keep Assata Free forced two members of the Black Congressional Caucus, California Rep. Maxine Waters and Rep. Barbara Lee, to write a letter to Fidel Castro apologizing for their vote. The two congresswomen also traveled to Cuba in December 1998 to meet personally with Cuban officials and distance themselves from the resolution. "If it wasn't for the protests we organized in Washington, DC, that year, Assata may have been captured then," said JoNina Ervin, a former Black Panther Party leader, during an exclusive interview with Truthout on December 18. "We have to stand up and speak out now to protect Assata again.""

Cuba says it has a right to grant asylum to US fugitives  12/22/2014 AP: "Obama’s announcement included a very general list of reforms and left a series of open questions about how far the U.S. could go to create deeper economic ties with Cuba. The Commerce and Treasury departments are expected to begin publishing details of the new measures in coming weeks, changes that will include relaxation of the stringent rules governing American travel to Cuba."

Christie Wants Obama to Push Cuba to Return New Jersey Trooper’s Killer  12/21/2014 NYT: "Mr. Christie asked that she be returned to New Jersey before any further consideration is given to restoring diplomatic relations."

Why black Americans love Fidel Castro  12/20/2014 Quartz: "It was I who in 1987 first reported that Shakur had actually escaped to Cuba and was residing there, protected by Castro. I spent several days with Shakur at her apartment and walking along the Malecón; my Newsday colleague, photographer Ozier Muhammad, photographed her as she posed provocatively outside the US Interests Section, hands up in victory."

Here's Why the #BlackLivesMatter Campaign Needs to Think About Cuba  12/19/2014 Identities.mic: "The #BlackLivesMatter campaign might begin to redirect its attention southward, after the U.S. agreed to "normalize" talks with Cuba in order to re-establish diplomatic relations. The reason? Assata Shakur."

Assata Shakur: What Does New U.S.-Cuba Pact Mean for Exiled Black Panther Wanted in New Jersey?  12/19/2014 Democracy Now: "Well, New Jersey has been outrageous about these cases. I mean, think about Assata’s case. And think about driving while black in New Jersey. Think about what’s happened from Ferguson to Garner in New York. And I ask you, "What do we think about what happened to Assata?" And I agree with Marty: There is a 100 percent chance that she will not be forced out of Cuba. A hundred percent. I don’t even question it. But, of course, you see New Jersey. They’ve raised the reward on her to $10 million. The FBI put her on their most wanted list, etc. So they’re clearly after her. But I’m completely confident, as Marty is, that the Cubans will not have her extradited to the United States."

After US and Cuba Announce Normalized Relations, Law Enforcement Officials Eager to Bring Assata Shakur Back to US  12/18/2014 Atlanta Black Star: "“We view any changes in relations with Cuba as an opportunity to bring her back to the United States to finish her sentence for the murder of New Jersey State Trooper Werner Foerster in 1973,” Col. Rick Fuentes, head of the state’s largest law enforcement agency, said in a statement. “We stand by the reward money and hope that the total of two million dollars will prompt fresh information in the light of this altered international relationship.” Fuentes told the Los Angeles Times in a phone interview that he has already discussed the issue with federal law enforcement officials. “Chesimard isn’t the only fugitive down there wanted for a violent crime, and she’s already been convicted, so it’s a matter of bringing her back and sending her back to jail,” he said. “There’s other people that surround her that Castro has taken a liking to and it’s been very, very difficult in their particular cases to have discussions to get them out.”"

New Jersey hopes Cuba-US relations thaw will help extradite former Black Panther  12/18/2014 The Guardian: "“We remain ever hopeful in our resolve to bring Joanne Chesimard to justice,” said Paul Loriquet, a spokesperson for the New Jersey attorney general’s office. He said his office is working closely with federal authorities to secure Shakur’s “rightful place in a New Jersey prison”."

US-Cuban Friendship Might Mean Prison for Assata Shakur  12/18/2014 Jezebel: "Hopefully in this time of cops shooting black men with their hands up, choking them to death on camera and gassing those speaking out, President Obama and the U.S. State Department can think of a better use for their diplomatic conversations than 'Hey, let's finally imprison that woman America framed nearly 50 year ago.'"

As U.S.-Cuba tension thaws, the fate of a fugitive is in question  12/18/2014 MSNBC: "Whether or not Cuba decides to extradite Shakur, of course, remains to be seen. The country has had an extradition treaty with the U.S. since 1904, but it hasn’t really been enforced during the Castro reign. There’s also a clause in the treaty that says a fugitive criminal shall not be surrendered if the “offense in respect of which his surrender is demanded be of a political character,” which could apply to the Shakur case, said Douglas McNabb, an international criminal defense lawyer who specializes in extradition. But “any state can do anything they want, even if there is an extradition treaty,” said McNabb. “From a policy standpoint, Cuba is going to have to make a decision.” Stephen Vladeck, an expert on national security law at American University College of Law, echoed that sentiment, saying “So much of extradition law Is just politics. The real question is whether the Cuban government decides it’s in its interest to cooperate with New Jersey through the Justice Department.”"

Obama Restores Diplomatic Relations With Cuba; Greenlight To Hunt Assata Shakur?  12/17/2014 YouTube: from Democracy Now

Today in Hip Hop History: Assata Shakur Escapes From Federal Prison  11/3/2014 The Source 

New Jersey Parole Board Files To Block Release Of Trooper Werner Foerster’s Killer  10/8/2014 AP: "New Jersey’s parole board has filed in court to stop the release of a man convicted of killing a state trooper more than 40 years ago. A two-member panel of the state parole board denied Sundiata Acoli’s parole in 2011, but an appeals court reversed the ruling last month and ordered Acoli released."

A Herstory of the #BlackLivesMatter Movement by Alicia Garza  10/7/2014 The Feminist Wire 

Sundiata Acoli, Man Who Murdered State Trooper, To Be Released On Parole  9/29/2014 Huff Post: "A man convicted in the shooting death of a New Jersey state trooper in a crime that still provokes strong emotion among law enforcement more than 40 years later was ordered released on parole by a state appeals court Monday. Sundiata Acoli was known as Clark Edward Squire when he was convicted of the 1973 slaying of state trooper Werner Foerster during a stop on the New Jersey Turnpike. Now in his mid-70s, he was denied parole most recently in 2011, but the appellate judges reversed that ruling Monday. In a 28-page opinion, the panel wrote that the parole board ignored evidence favorable to Acoli and gave undue consideration to past events such as a probation violation that occurred decades earlier."

Will Cuba extradite Assata Shakur to the US?  8/14/2014 The Grio: "According to the National Lawyers Guild, who represented Shakur in her final trial, the proceedings were plagued with constitutional violations, including an all-white jury of 15 people, including five jurors who had personal connections to state troopers. A state Assemblyman spoke to jurors while they were sequestered, urging them to convict. “The judge cut funding for additional expert defense testimony after medical testimony demonstrated that Ms. Shakur—who had no gunpowder residues on her fingers, and whose fingerprints were not found on any weapon at the crime scene—was shot with her hands up and suffered injury to a critical nerve in her right arm, making it anatomically impossible for her to fire a weapon,” the Guild said in a statement."

Today’s activists should heed the story of Assata Shakur  7/21/2014 The Guardian: "This history of systematic injustice provides the real context for Shakur’s conviction and subsequent escape from prison, and explains why the Cuban government continues to grant her political asylum. When we acknowledge the scale of surveillance and covert policing that we face today, the FBI’s renewed attempt to “recapture” Assata should disturb every single one of us."

Assata Shakur: from civil rights activist to FBI's most-wanted  7/13/2014 Guardian: by Bim Adewunmi , whose blog is Yoruba Girl Dancing

Assata Shakur to be honored at the fifth annual Freedom Dance  10/31/2013 Amsterdam News 

CUNY City College Students Protest After Morales-Shakur Center, Hub of Campus Political Activity, Is Abruptly Closed  10/22/2013 Village Voice 

Assata Shakur, FBI's white whale?  6/11/2013 Progreso Weekly 

¿Coincidencia o Conspiración?  5/14/2013 Cuba Encuentro: "Treinta años después parece un poco tarde la decisión de incluir a Joanne Chessimard en la lista del FBI de terroristas más buscados."

Sister Assata: This Is What American History Looks Like  5/11/2013 Alice Walker: "I don’t know why, given where we are with dronefare, but I didn’t expect the man making the announcement about Assata Shakur being the first woman “terrorist” to appear on the FBI’s most wanted list to be black. That was a blow. I was reminded of the world of “trackers” we sometimes get glimpses of in history books and old movies on TV. ...And then there were the “trackers” who helped the pattyrollers during our four hundred years of enslavement. When pattyrollers (or patrols) caught run-away slaves in those days they frequently beat them to death. I’ve often thought of the black men whose expertise at tracking fugitives helped bring these terrors, humiliations and deaths about. When I was younger I would have been in a rage against them; not understanding the reality of invisible coercion, and mind and spirit control, that I do now."

Target Assata: How the FBI and Cuba Bashers Are Going After a Black Liberation Activist  5/9/2013 Alternet: by Bill Fletcher Jr - "In the aftermath of the reelection of President Obama whispers started to be heard suggesting that there might be efforts to take Cuba off the list of countries that support terrorism. There were other whispers that further suggested that there may be efforts aimed at normalizing relations with Cuba. The frenzy in connection with Assata Shakur is precisely the sort of step that those who wish to derail such efforts could either implement or celebrate."

Why add woman to terrorist list now?  5/9/2013 The Tennesean: by DeWayne Wickham - "The three people in the car were members of the Black Liberation Army, one of many black organizations whose activities the FBI distorted in a secret campaign of disinformation that lasted 15 years until COINTELPRO was exposed and ended in 1971. While the FBI created its list of most wanted terrorists in 2002, it waited 11 years to put her on it. Why? Probably because the agency’s decision was as politicized as when Director J. Edgar Hoover launched the controversial COINTELPRO.

Not Your Daddy's COINTELPRO: Obama Brands Assata Shakur "Most Wanted Terrorist"  5/8/2013 Black Agenda Report: "It's been a week now since the $2 million dollar bounty and “most wanted terrorist” announcement. In that time, not a single nationally noted African American “leader” has raised his or her voice. Not Ben Jealous. Not a single black mayor or member of the Congressional Black Caucus. Not Rev. Jesse L. Jackson, and certainly not the presidential lap dog Al Sharpton. Sharpton has worn wires for the FBI more than once, and is credibly accused of trying to get close to people who were rumored to be close to Assata Shakur in the 1980s. Those people wisely avoided Rev. Al. Such is the pressure of subservient conformity among the black political class that not a single African American politician, religious leader, or personage of national note has opened his or her mouth in Assata Shakur's defense, with the solitary exception of Angela Davis, once a political prisoner and fugitive in the days before the word “terrorist” had been coined. Lockstep conformity like this is hard to shake. In their 45 minutes in an otherwise excellent Democracy Now show mostly devoted to Assata Shakur's case, neither Shakur's attorney Lennox Hinds nor Angela Davis could bring themselves even to hint that the president and attorney general were responsible for branding her as the nation's “most wanted terrorist.”

Reflections on Anti-Cuban Terror  5/8/2013 MRZine: "The United States recently simultaneously announced that Cuba will remain on its list of terror-sponsoring states and that, conveniently enough, Assata Shakur was being placed on the FBI's ten "most wanted terrorist" list, as well as that the bounty for her capture and return to the United States was raised to $2 million. Many legal observers, however, remain highly critical of the prosecution and trial in 1977 through which she was convicted of murdering a New Jersey policeman. Considering that Cuba is quite blameless, refusing to engage in tit-for-tat, one may ask: Why have terror attacks against Cuba continued?"

TONIGHT 5/7 10 PM Pacific Time: Internet radio discussion of Assata  5/8/2013 CubaNews: HANDS OFF ASSATA!

Assata Shakur Is Not a Terrorist  5/7/2013 The Nation: "“It’s incredibly frustrating that the first woman to be on the FBI’s most wanted terrorist list, the same list as Osama bin Laden, would be a 65 year-old grandmother in Cuba,” writer and filmmaker dream hampton told radio host Davey D. I would add that it’s also incredibly frightening. We have seen the way this country has prosecuted the “war on terror,” even after moving away from using that specific phrase, with a blatant disregard for civil liberties, human rights, international law and the rights of sovereign countries. It’s enough to make one very concerned for the safety of Shakur and those around her. If deemed dangerous enough, could an invasion of Cuba be far behind? A drone strike? How far is this government willing to go to capture (kill?) someone whose guilt in the crime for which she was convicted is not clear and poses no threat to the country’s security?"

FBI calls political exile Assata Shakur a ‘terrorist’  5/7/2013 SF Bay View 

How to find a most wanted terrorist  5/7/2013 Renew America: "In a press release attacking the FBI, a group called the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) asked, "Should the many who support Assata Shakur now expect to be targeted for providing her 'material support?'" The question is a serious one. It is against the law to harbor a fugitive. In the United States, it is also against the law to provide material support to terrorists, with "material support" defined as including expert advice or assistance and communications equipment. This is why the CCR is concerned about her designation as a Most Wanted Terrorist. The CRR, funded by George Soros, is part of the "Hands off Assata Shakur!" movement which wants to protect Chesimard's status as a fugitive cop-killer living in Communist Cuba. In effect, they are supporting a terrorist. To understand how the law works, consider that Lynne Stewart was convicted of providing illegal support to a client, terrorist Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman, responsible for the bombing of the World Trade Center in 1993. She is now serving 10 years in prison. Her legal defense was underwritten in part by the Open Society Institute of George Soros."

NLG Urges FBI to Respect Political Asylum Status of Assata Shakur  5/7/2013 CubaNews: “Through her writing, Assasta Shakur has educated generations about how the FBI operated with impunity to neutralize the Black Panther Party. Labeling Assata a terrorist and putting a bounty on her head is a clear attempt by U.S. authorities to hide this chapter in history,” said NLG Executive Director Heidi Boghosian."

What’s behind renewed attacks on African American freedom fighter Assata Shakur?  5/7/2013 Pambazuka News: "This latest provocation against Shakur, 65, is directed not only against the veteran Black Panther Party (BPP) and Black Liberation Army (BLA) member, but represents an overhaul attack on the struggle of African Americans against racism and national oppression in the United States."

National Lawyers Guild Urges FBI to Respect Political Asylum Status of Assata Shakur  5/7/2013 NLG: "“Clearly, the federal government is continuing the unrestrained abuse of power by which it attempted to destroy Assata Shakur and other Black individuals and groups by surveillance, rumor, innuendo, eavesdropping, arrest and prosecution, incarceration, and murder throughout the sixties and seventies,” said Lennox Hinds, Shakur’s lawyer and a longtime NLG member."

Assata Shakur Pt 1 Interview from Democracy Now  5/6/2013 Democracy Now: "Shakur, formerly Joanne Chesimard, was a member of the Black Panther Party and Black Liberation Army. In addition to being the first woman placed on the "Most Wanted Terrorists," Shakur, the godmother of slain Hip-Hop artist, poet, actor and activist, Tupac Shakur, is only the second person from inside the United States to placed on the list. In an unexpected move, the state of New Jersey announced it was adding $1 million to the FBI's $1 million reward for her capture."

Assata Shakur Pt 3 with Lennox Hinds and Angela Davis  5/6/2013 Democracy Now: "One day after the exiled former Black Panther Assata Shakur became the first woman named to the FBI's Most Wanted Terrorists list, we're joined by another legendary African-American activist, Angela Davis, as well as Shakur's longtime attorney, Lennox Hinds. Davis, a professor at the University of California, Santa Cruz, is the subject of the recent film, "Free Angela and All Political Prisoners." She argues that the FBI's latest move, much like its initial targeting of Shakur and other Black Panthers four decades ago, is politically motivated. "It seems to me that this act incorporates or reflects the very logic of terrorism," Davis says. "I can't help but think that it's designed to frighten people who are involved in struggles today. Forty years ago seems like it was a long time ago. In the beginning of the 21st century, we're still fighting around the very same issues — police violence, healthcare, education, people in prison." A professor of criminal justice at Rutgers University, Hinds has represented Shakur since 1973. "This is a political act pushed by the state of New Jersey, by some members of Congress from Miami, and with the intent of putting pressure on the Cuban government and to inflame public opinion," Hinds says. "There is no way to appeal someone being put on the terrorists list.""

Assata Shakur Pt 2 with Angela Davis and Lennox Hinds  5/6/2013 Democracy Now: "One day after the exiled former Black Panther Assata Shakur became the first woman named to the FBI's Most Wanted Terrorists list, we're joined by another legendary African-American activist, Angela Davis, as well as Shakur's longtime attorney, Lennox Hinds."

Assata Shakur 40 Years On  5/5/2013 Huff Post: Video interviews.

Assata Shakur: Understanding the politics behind the FBI's new attack  5/4/2013 Liberation: "Assata had been, following police instructions, standing with her hands in the air, when she was shot by Trooper Harper more than once, including a bullet to the back. Trooper Harper lied and said he had seen Shakur reach for a gun, a claim he later recanted. He also claimed she had been in a firing position, something a surgeon who examined her said was “anatomically impossible." The same surgeon said it was “anatomically necessary” for her arms to have been raised for her to receive the bullet wounds she did. Tests done by the police found that Shakur had not fired a gun, and no physical or medical evidence was presented by the prosecution to back up their claim that she had fired a gun at Trooper Harper."

Finally, Cuba Is Harboring a Terrorist!  5/4/2013 Havana Times: "It seems unlikely that the announcement of her transformation from criminal to terrorist coincidently occurred the day after the State Department was supposed to release its annual report “justifying” the continued inclusion of Cuba on its list of countries that “provide critical support to non-state terrorist groups and repeatedly provides support for acts of international terrorism.” The publication of this report has been delayed; perhaps to update it with this new information."

Why Is ‘Assata Shakur’ On The FBI’s Most Wanted Terrorists List?  5/3/2013 Roland Martin Reports: "Roland Martin talks with journalist Dream Hampton about ‘Assata Shakur’ being placed on the FBI’s Most Wanted Terrorists List."

The FBI’s Political Decision to Put Assata Shakur on Its List of ‘Most Wanted Terrorists’  5/3/2013 The Dissenter: "If we look at the trial, we’ll find that she was victimized, she was shot. She was shot in the back. The bullet exited and broke the clavicle in her shoulder. She could not raise a gun. She could not raise her hand to shoot. And she was shot while her hands were in the air. Now, that is the forensic evidence. There is not one scintilla of evidence placing a gun in her hand. No arsenic residue was found on her clothing or on her hands. So, the allegation by the state police that she took an officer’s gun and shot him, executed him in cold blood, is not only false, but it is designed to inflame."

Assata Shakur on FBI List 'Reflects the Very Logic of Terrorism  5/3/2013 The Root 

Supporters Say 'Hands Off Assata' Shakur  5/3/2013 The Root: "Many prominent blacks, from Angela Davis to Roland Martin, are speaking out in support of Shakur, and many folks on Twitter are expressing displeasure at the FBI as well. The hashtag #HandsOffAssata is being used to show support for Shakur online. Some of the tweets from the hashtag are below."

Angela Davis and Assata Shakur’s Lawyer Denounce FBI’s Adding of Exiled Activist to Terrorists List  5/3/2013 Democracy Now: "It seems to me that this act incorporates or reflects the very logic of terrorism," Davis says. "I can’t help but think that it’s designed to frighten people who are involved in struggles today. Forty years ago seems like it was a long time ago. In the beginning of the 21st century, we’re still fighting around the very same issues — police violence, healthcare, education, people in prison."

Assata Shakur in Her Own Words: Rare Recording of Activist Named to FBI Most Wanted Terrorists List  5/3/2013 Democracy Now: "As a result of being targeted by [the FBI program] COINTELPRO, I was faced with the threat of prison, underground, exile or death," Shakur said at the time. "I am not the first, nor the last, person to be victimized by the New Jersey system of 'justice.' The New Jersey State Police are infamous for their racism and brutality." Hear Shakur read the letter in full on SoundCloud."

Political calculus keeps Cuba on U.S. list of terror sponsors  5/3/2013 LA Times: "But nothing that Cuba has done suggests its government is plotting harm against Americans, national security experts say. And they criticize as counterproductive the State Department’s decision, disclosed this week, to keep Cuba on its list of “state sponsors of terrorism.” “We ought to reserve that term for nations that actually use the apparatus of statehood to support the targeting of U.S. interests and civilians,” said Juliette Kayyem, a former assistant secretary for intergovernmental affairs at the Department of Homeland Security and now writing and lecturing on national security in the Boston area. “Yes, Cuba does a lot of bad things that we don’t like, but it doesn’t rise to anything on the level of a terrorist threat.”

Hip-hop’s Infatuation With Assata Shakur: It’s Complicated  5/3/2013 All Hip Hop: "Shakur holds a major distinction that probably contributes to the ire of her detractors. Simply put, she got away."

Why the Hunt for Assata Shakur Matters  5/3/2013 Huff Post: "First, by elevating this 40-year-old case to top priority, Obama's Justice Department is actively memorializing the struggle for black freedom of that era, but in a way that offers us a criminalized, even militarized interpretation of it. How we understand the past has bearing on our political present, and making Shakur, a symbol of black militancy of the 1960s and '70s, into a high-level national security threat serves to criminalize the greatest movement for democracy in the 20th century. What's more, fashioning this morality tale erases the central role of the FBI's COINTELPRO in her controversial case, a willed forgetting of the well-documented framings, murders, and false imprisonments aimed at the black liberation movement and others of that era, as opposed to a clear-eyed assessment of the disputed facts on the ground."

Angela Davis and Assata Shakur’s Lawyer Denounce FBI’s Adding of Exiled Activist to Terrorists List  5/3/2013 Democracy Now: "Davis, a professor at the University of California, Santa Cruz, is the subject of the recent film, "Free Angela and All Political Prisoners." She argues that the FBI’s latest move, much like its initial targeting of Shakur and other Black Panthers four decades ago, is politically motivated. "It seems to me that this act incorporates or reflects the very logic of terrorism," Davis says. "I can’t help but think that it’s designed to frighten people who are involved in struggles today. Forty years ago seems like it was a long time ago. In the beginning of the 21st century, we’re still fighting around the very same issues — police violence, healthcare, education, people in prison."

CCR Condemns FBI's Adding of Former Black Panther Assata Shakur to Its "Most Wanted Terrorist" List  5/3/2013 Center for Constitutional Rights: "Forty years later, the government continues to bend the law to silence dissent, from increased surveillance, to the occupation of Black and Latino communities by aggressive police forces, to the passage of vague and overbroad material support laws and the expanding use of the term terrorist to redefine what should be state-level crimes. Should the many who support Assata Shakur now expect to be targeted for providing her “material support”? Now that our government routinely targets and kills people around the world without any due process, what can we expect next? "Forty years later, the government continues to bend the law to silence dissent, from increased surveillance, to the occupation of Black and Latino communities by aggressive police forces, to the passage of vague and overbroad material support laws and the expanding use of the term terrorist to redefine what should be state-level crimes. Should the many who support Assata Shakur now expect to be targeted for providing her “material support”? Now that our government routinely targets and kills people around the world without any due process, what can we expect next?"

FBI Billboards not about Assata Shakur, it is about politically repressing the Black community  5/3/2013 Black Talk Radio: "Is Assata Shakur in New Jersey? No, she is not and the FBI and the Obama administration know exactly where she is, in Cuba where she has lived since being granted political asylum by its government in 1979 after escaping from prison. This is not about Assata Shakur, it is about sending a message to the Black community and those that live within it who stand up to police violence, oppression and murder of residents, one of the very reasons for the formation of the Black Panthers. It is about the political repression of those who advocate on the behalf of the many political prisons being held by the United States government often in torturous conditions. It is about sending a message to anyone who would take up arms in defense of life, liberty and true freedom in a country that is home to the largest prison population in the world which the federal government and various corporations use as slave labor."

Tupac Shakur’s Godmother Assata Shakur Is First Woman on FBI’s Most Wanted Terrorists List  5/3/2013 The Drop: "Assata Shakur, who is the godmother and aunt of the late Tupac Shakur, has been recognized as a “political prisoner,” and praised for her activism by rappers like Common and Chuck D of Public Enemy."

Woman Makes Most-Wanted List 40 Years After Murder  5/2/2013 Newser: "The reward for the former member of the Black Liberation Army has been doubled to $2 million, reports the Record, which spoke with the State Police superintendent, who reveals he still has two detectives on the case. What officials know: She enjoys "rock star status" in Cuba, complete with a free place to live, thanks to her willingness to be an anti-American "propaganda specialist" for the Castro regime; she has even been invited to greet foreign delegations that arrive in the country."

Mujer entra a la lista de terroristas más buscados  5/2/2013 Nuevo Dia: "El Negociado Federal de Investigaciones (FBI) incluyó por primera vez a una mujer en la lista de los terroristas más buscados. Se trata de Joanne Chesimard, acusada y convicta en ausencia por el asesinato de un policía de Nueva Jersey exactamente hace 40 años, informó el FBI en un comunicado."

40-year fugitive is first woman on FBI's 'Most Wanted Terrorists' list  5/2/2013 All Voices 

Why Assata? Why now?  5/2/2013 Al Jazeera 

U.S. officials: Cuba will be kept on list of nations that sponsor terrorism  5/1/2013 Miami Herald: "Opponents of U.S. sanctions on the island’s communist government have been lobbying hard for months to remove Cuba from the State Department’s list of state sponsors of terrorism as a gesture toward improved bilateral relations. The Boston Globe reported in February that U.S. diplomats had concluded Cuba should be taken off the list. Another news report a month later said Cuba’s removal might be announced when the Country Report on Terrorism, also managed by the State Department, is issued."

Diluting the terror watch lists  4/29/2013 Boston Globe: "The Boston Globe’s Bryan Bender reported this year that Secretary of State John Kerry was reviewing the policy, hoping to thaw relations with Cuba and make the terrorist state sponsor list be about terrorism. It’s not clear if Kerry’s views will prevail."

Assata Shakur: Terrorist or victim of terrorism?  3/27/2013 Mumia Abu Jamal on YouTube 

32 Years of Assata Shakur and The Prison Industrial Complex  11/2/2011 Black Youth Project: Assata - “Never in our history has critical resistance to the status quo been more important. The growth of the Prison-Industrial complex has been appallingly rapid and the escalating repression that has accompanied it is totally alarming. What future lies ahead of us? What are the implications for our children?”

Hip-Hop N' Politics: The Anniversary Of Black Panther Assata Shakur Escaping Prison And Fleeing To Cuba - Video & Text  11/2/2011 Hip Hop Wired 

How Fox News Uses "Big, Scary Hip-Hop" to Race-Bait Its Viewers  5/19/2011 Truth Out 

The Frivolous Attacks on Obama and Common .  5/18/2011 Black Voice News 

Jon Stewart and Bill O'Reilly faceoff over White House's poetry invitation to rapper Common  5/17/2011 NY Daily News: "Stewart argued that the Grammy-winning artist wasn't "celebrating" Assata Shakur, who was involved in a deadly New Jersey shootout, but simply believed she was convicted unjustly and expressed that in the song. Further, the Comedy Central host argued, O'Reilly's standard of outlawing White House performances by any musical defender of convicted killers would mean that Bob Dylan, Bono and Bruce Springsteen couldn't perform at the White House either."

Common gets a bad rap on Assata Shakur  5/14/2011 Guardian: "So, cue conservative outrage over Michelle Obama's inviting rapper Common to a White House poetry reading, because Common wrote an adulatory song about Black Panther Assata Shakur. The New Jersey state police protested. Is it possible that the vile New Jersey police – just this week it was announced that Newark's police department is being investigated by the justice department for multiple civil rights violations – and their rightwing puppetmasters do not know about COINTELPRO? That while Soviet tanks crushed Prague's spring, in America, police assassins, provocateurs and slanderers felled our saints as they slept?"

NJ Cops Protest Common's White House Visit Over Assata Shakur Track  5/11/2011 All Hip Hop: "The head of the union that represents the New Jersey State Police has spoken out against Common's visit to the White House tonight (May 11th). Common is among the guests to attend the White House's celebration of American poetry, which is being hosted by President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama... During an interview with NBC New York, David Jones, President of the State Troopers Fraternal Association Union, took offense to the lyrics in Common's track "A Song for Assata."

White House Defends Invite of Political Rapper to Poetry Event  5/11/2011 Fox News 

Common A SonG for Assata Shakur (2pac's aunt)  11/5/2010 YouTube: "assata shakur (2pacs aunt) had to flee to cuba after being charged of crimes she did not commit, she fled to cuba under political asylum. and the u.s. gov't poasted a 1 million dollar reward for the return of assata, who fled the country in the 80's. a million dollar reward calling her a terrorist. common prety much sums up the truth in this song."

Ask the President if Assata Shakur is a Political Prisoner Too  5/1/2009 Black America Web: "Ah, political prisoners in Cuba! Is Obama sure he wants to go down that road? It might get kind of embarrassing for us here in the United States. What if the Cubans ask, rightly, “What happens to Assata Shakur and other Americans now residing in Cuba who were political prisoners in the United States?” And make no mistake about it, Shakur – also known as Joanne Chesimard – was a political prisoner when she was held by the state of New Jersey."

President Obama Asked to Extradite Assata Shakur  4/23/2009 Blackademics: "Nothing enrages the American injustice system more than an escaped slave. When Harriet Tubman was liberating Black people from institutionalized genocide, rape and servitude, the state offered a reward of $40,000 to any bounty hunter who could bring her to “justice.” And if you think $40,000 goes a long way now, imagine what it did in 1875. Tubman was so vigorously desired by the state, not only because she broke the laws of chattel slavery (she was legally a thief, who ran away with thousands of dollars worth of what they considered to be stolen property), but also because she represented a revolutionary ideology."

ASSATTA SHAKUR (LIVE FROM CUBA) rare pt1  4/26/2008 YouTube 

Happy Birthday Assata Campaign  3/28/2008 Scheme: "On November 2 2006, Mos Def, Sonia Sanchez and the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement helped to kick off the Happy Birthday Assata Campaign, a national mobilization effort to commemorate the revolutionary icon’s 60th birthday. Well over one hundred supporters gathered at SEIU 1199 in midtown Manhattan to rally support for Assata and for the many political prisoners detained throughout the United States and abroad."

Letter from Assata on her 60th Birthday Celebration  3/27/2008 HOA: "I am 60 years old and I am proud to be one of those people who stood up against the ruthless, evil, imperialist policies of the U.S. government. In my lifetime I have opposed the war against the Vietnamese people, the illegal contras – war in Nicaragua, the illegal coup in Chile, the invasion of Haiti and of Granada, and every other illegal, immoral and genocidal war the U.S. government has ever waged. I have never been a criminal and I never will be one. I am 60 years old and in spite of government repression, in spite of the media’s lies and distortions, in spite of the U.S, government’s COINTELPRO Program to criminalize and demonize political opponents, I feel proud to count myself as someone who believes in peace and believes in freedom. I am proud to have been a member of the Black Panther Party although the U.S. government continues try to distort history and continues to persecute ex-members of the Black Panther Party. Just recently, the U.S. government has indicted and arrested 8 ex-Black Panthers in a case that was dismissed 30 years ago. The case was dismissed some 30 years ago when it became obvious that the most vicious forms of extreme torture were used to extract false confessions from some of the so-called defendants."

Assata Shakur  3/26/2008 Gazette, Langston University: "On Common's "Like Water for Chocolate" album, released in 2000, there is a song titled "A Song for Assata," which shines light on Shakur's life. There are also many videos available on Youtube.com that depicts this strong, yet unheard of woman whose resilience led to her freedom."

Common's "A Song for Assata"  5/1/2007 YouTube 

Joanne Chesimard Still a Priority  10/3/2006 Police News: published 5/06 - interestingly enough, all the blogged comments on this police site are favorable to Assata…

An Interview with His Lawyer, Stephen Bingham - The Murder of George Jackson  2/23/2006 CounterPunch: "I suspect the governor himself was relatively clueless about who George was, as he was winning bodybuilding contests in the 1970s and beginning his decidedly unpolitical acting career. The question is who were the minions in the state Department of Justice (run by top Democcrat Bill Lockyer) or the governor's office itself who decided it was important to mention Williams' admiration for George, as well as Nelson Mandela, Angela Davis, Malcolm X, Assata Shakur, Geronimo Pratt, Ramona and John Africa, Leonard Peltier and Dhoruba al-Mujahid. It's significant that these people of color with highly advanced political agendas--whether you agree with the politics of some of them or not--are clearly viewed as a real threat to our governmental institutions, even though several are still in prison. That the governor refused clemency in part because Williams admired these people makes his execution one of the most political executions in modern history."

Assata Shakur: The government's terrorist is our community's heroine  10/2/2005 Socialism and Liberation: by Mos Def - "For those of us who either remember the state of the union in the 1960s and 1970s or have studied it, when we consider Assata Shakur living under political asylum in Cuba, we believe that nation is exercising its political sovereignty, and in no way harboring a terrorist. Cubans sees Assata as I, and many others in my community do: as a woman who was and is persecuted for her political beliefs. When the federal government raised the bounty on her head this May 2, one official declared that Assata was merely "120 pounds of money." For many of us in the Black community she could never be so reduced. For many of us in the Black community, she was and remains, to use her own words, an "escaped slave," a heroine, not unlike Harriet Tubman."

What Is The Hands Off Assata Campaign?  9/18/2005 HOA 

Assata Shakur: Woman, Exile, Artist, Mother  9/18/2005 HOA 

Hands Off Assata Chicago Petition to City Council, 8/05  9/17/2005 AfroCubaWeb 

Assata - Rap Icons Godmother Still Gaining Support  8/25/2005 Thug Life Army: "Dear Mayor Palmer: Let me introduce myself by saying that ASSATA SHAKUR is my sister, friend, and comrade in the struggle for human rights of all oppressed people. When three “Freedom Fighters” boldly took action in 1979 and entered the Clinton Correctional Facility and liberated Sister ASSATA from the chains and shackles of her jailers, I rejoiced. I was proud to be apart of a generation of young African Americans that were courageous and committed enough to go up against America and didn’t give a damn about odds."

Assata Shakur coverage in the Black press by JR, Minister of Info of the POCC  8/17/2005 SF Bay View 

Assata Shakur’s appeal attorney explains her case Lies are being manufactured to convert Assata into a terrorist to justify the $1 million bounty on her head by Evelyn A. Williams  8/10/2005 SF Bay View: "New Jersey State Assembly Speaker Albio Sires, a longtime member of CANF (Cuban American National Foundation, representing Cuban exiles), said: “If Cuba’s citizenry could be informed of the $1 million bounty and the real story of Chesimard’s crimes, there is an increased likelihood of her being brought to justice…. We want the Cuban people to know the real story about Joanne Chesimard and not the deceptive representation advanced by the Castro regime. We want people to realize that she is not a hero and she is really a violent criminal who is wanted for killing a state trooper and escaping justice.” By falsely asserting that Assata shot Foerster in the head while he lay helplessly on the ground, killing him “execution style,” the U.S. Justice Department hopes to strip Assata of any of the sympathy and political support she now receives in the United States and from the citizens of Cuba. By labeling her a cold-blooded cop killer, the hope is that the real circumstances of the NJ Turnpike as well as all the years prior to that event, during which time Assata was relentlessly hunted with the stated purpose of killing her on sight for having committed crimes of which the government knew she was innocent, will be forgotten."

Black August ‘05 Tribute to Assata, Mumia, Evelyn Williams, Esq., Lynne Stewart, Esq., and Zolo Azania by Sundiata Acoli  8/10/2005 SF Bay View: "Lynne Stewart, Esq., our White comrade and a 65-year-old grandmother, not only commands our highest respect, but her present situation also demands our strongest support. She has been on the front lines over 30 years unflinchingly defending political people of all nationalities, particularly Black and other people of color, and oppressed peoples in general. Because of Lynne’s staunch defense of unpopular political defendants, her own freedom now hangs in the balance. She was recently convicted of violating “special administrative measures” in her defense of the blind Egyptian Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman and now faces up to 30 years in prison. Her sentencing date is scheduled for Sept. 23, 2005. Lynne urgently needs all the “letters to the judge” that we can write to try to convince him that Lynne’s age (65 and counting), her 30 years of service to communities that rarely see vigorous lawyering, and the weakness of the government’s charges and proof should lead to a sentence of no incarceration."

‘Hands Off Assata’ meeting held  7/23/2005 Worker's World 

M1 of dead prez on the case of Assata Shakur  7/20/2005 SF Bay View 

Hands Off Assata Seeks to Educate Black Community About Shakur Case  7/13/2005 Black America Web 

Rap Icons Godmother Target of Amendment  6/18/2005 Thug Life Army: "Many prominent and influential politicians, hip-hop and rap artists and community groups have stepped forward to show support for Assata and her struggle. There is an attempt to further the kidnapping of Tupac’s godmother and political activist Assata Shakur. We received the following from a member of the Congressional Black Caucus today."

Congress attempts to further Assata Kidnapping, 6/1505  6/15/2005 HOA: "Reps. Vito J. Fossella, R-N.Y., and Peter T. King, R-N.Y. will offer an amendment providing that, of the funds made available for diplomatic and consular affairs for the U.S. Interests Section in Havana, an appropriate amount of such funds would be used to disseminate the names of fugitives, such as Joanne Chesimard (Assata Shakur) and William Morales, who are residing in Cuba, as well as provide any rewards for their capture."

Rocky's policy on Cuba earns anger of Eastern mayors  6/14/2005 Salt Lake Tribune: "In seeking to pass a resolution to normalize U.S. relations with Cuba, Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson faced indignation - not from Cuban exiles, but from New Jersey mayors. During the U.S. Conference of Mayors annual meeting last week in Chicago, four mayors from the Garden State attacked the resolution while it was being discussed in the conference's international affairs committee, The Trentonian reports. Trenton Mayor Doug Palmer told the newspaper the resolution was a "slap in the face to law enforcement." The reason: A woman [Assata Shakur] who killed a New Jersey trooper in 1973 escaped from prison and fled to Cuba, where she has been protected from extradition, according to the newspaper. The mayors' committee eventually tabled Anderson's proposal, which says the U.S. economic embargo harms children and the elderly and that the policy has further isolated Cuba. It "urges the normalization of diplomatic and economic relations." "

Assata Shakur Offers Reward  6/8/2005 Rap News: “If Assata’s the Bandit Queen of the Black Liberation Army, then Donald Rumsfeld is the Bandit Queen of the U.S. Army,” declared Mary Margaret McNurtz, president of the new Hands Off Rummy Brigade, which has also come up with its own attractive t-shirt."

Castro Strikes a Nerve  6/3/2005 Alternet: Assata, Posada, the Cuban 5, and the US criminal justice system, by Soffiyah Elijah, Deputy director of the Criminal Justice Institute at Harvard Law School.

ASSATA: THE STAKES ARE RAISED, WEEK OF MAY 26-JUNE 1, 2005  5/31/2005 Wilmington Journal: a reprint of the Final Call article, with this note - "EDITOR’S NOTE: Assata is the granddaughter of the late Mr. Frank and Mrs. Lula Hill of Wilmington. She spent many summers here in Wilmington In the 500 block of South Seventh Street."

National Conference of Black Lawyers  5/27/2005 Black Commentator: "The announcement that a $1 million bounty has been placed on the head of exiled freedom fighter Assata Shakur sends a clear, unmistakable message that the U.S. government will stop at nothing to perpetuate the systemic denial of the most basic human rights of African people born and/or residing in the Americas. The National Conference of Black Lawyers (NCBL) demands that the U.S. government immediately withdraw the bounty offer, and permanently cease its pursuit of Assata Shakur as such is both illegal and unjustifiable under international human rights laws."

Barron Seeks Clemency for Cop Killer  5/26/2005 NY Sun: "Infuriating law-enforcement organizations and his colleagues, a City Council member, Charles Barron, introduced a resolution yesterday urging clemency for a convicted and escaped cop-killer, Assata Shakur, formerly known as Joanne Chesimard."

Mos Def, Talib Kweli, dead prez Speak Up For Assata Shakur  5/26/2005 All Hip Hop: "Rappers Mos Def, Talib Kweli and dead prez spoke in support of former Black Panther Assata Shukur at a press conference yesterday (May 25) at New York’s City Hall. Charles Barron, councilman from Brooklyn's East New York called the meeting as a response to a million dollar bounty on the political fugitive, who now resides in Cuba. Barron also introduced a resolution that seeks presidential clemency for Shakur, claiming that she the victim of “trumped-up charges and a kangaroo court with an all-white jury.” Both Mos and Kweli stated that they feel Shakur was unjustly convicted for the murder of a police officer in 1973."

N.Y. Politicians, Black Activists Rally in Support of Assata Shakur  5/25/2005 Black America Web: "Several members of the New York City Council and black community activists assembled on the steps of City Hall in Manhattan Wednesday to condemn the federal government’s $1 million bounty on Black Liberation Army member Joanne Chesimard, who is now known as Assata Shakur, and living in Cuba."

Hip-Hop Artist Get Involved For Assata  5/24/2005 Thug Life Army: "On Wednesday, May 25th at 1:30PM, Brooklyn City Councilmember Charles Barron, prominent hip-hop artists and community groups will hold a press conference on the steps of City Hall condemning a one-million-dollar bounty offered May 2nd for the capture of exiled Black Liberation fighter Assata Shakur; the godmother of the late rap icon Tupac Shakur. “I’m infuriated that a bounty has been put on her, placing her in danger,” said Councilmember Barron – who called for Wednesday’s press conference – “She is a shero to our community, its long overdue for her to receive clemency and come home.” "

Assata Shakur is No Terrorist By Hands Off Assata Campaign  5/20/2005 Political Affairs 

Assata Shakur: The Government's Terrorist Is Our Community's Heroine  5/19/2005 All Hip Hop: by Mos Def

Assata and Posada: Two different colors, two different stories  5/18/2005 SF Bay View: "The generally unacknowledged factor of Posada and Bosch’s blowing up of the Cubana airliner, however, is this. If tourists to Cuba take the time to visit Havana’s Sport’s Palace, guides will inevitably take them to the memorial wall. From there, visitors will be greeted by row after row of young, mostly Black faces staring back at them – photographs of Cuba’s Olympic athletes who were returning from the Pan American Games in Venezuela and were on board the airliner Posada and Bosch likely bombed. Therefore, by putting a $1 million bounty on Sister Shakur, who, they say, is linked to the killing of one white person, while allowing Posada and Bosch remain free in the U.S. after killing at least 73 mostly Black people, the U.S. has once again exposed itself as a government that continues to capitulate to and accommodate itself to racism."

Assata Shakur: The Government's Terrorist is Our Community's Heroine  5/18/2005 Pacific News 

Assata: The stakes are raised  5/16/2005 Final Call: "Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez, according to Newsday, personally approved the money from the Justice Department. It will be paid for information leading to her safe capture, but not if she is killed in the process."

Official Response to Announcement of $1 million Bounty and the Listing of ASSATA SHAKUR on Domestic Terrorist Watch List  5/15/2005 HOA: "Former New Jersey Governor, Christie Todd Whitman, curried political favor with the state’s police when she announced a bounty of $25,000 for Assata and later doubled it to $50,000. She was duly rewarded by President Bush who appointed her in 2001 to be the head of the Environmental Protection Agency. The bounty was quietly increased by the FBI to a million dollars as it crept around the country looking for relatives, friends and associates to enlist in its scheme to kidnap Assata and return her to the United States. Time and time again, the FBI offered them a million dollars for their services. To some, they stated that there was no limit to how much they would pay for Assata’s return."

New Campaign For Rap Icon's Godmother  5/6/2005 Thug Life Army: "The following information is provided by The Talking Drum Collective of Stone Mountain, Ga. The Hands Off Assata Campaign is a coming together of organizations and individuals who are outraged by the heightened attempts by the federal government, congress of the united states and the State of New Jersey to illegally force thru kidnapping a return of Assata Shakur from Cuba to the plantation United States…"

From Assata to Emmett, Timing of Old Cases’ New Emphasis Questioned  5/4/2005 Black America Web: "But Rev. Jesse Jackson and other civil rights activists question the timing and the motives of the Bush administration's efforts, maintaining that when it comes to the nation's priorities. there are more pressing issues to be considered. “It is interesting how they are exhuming these old cases,” Jackson told BlackAmericaWeb.com Wednesday afternoon. “While they are planning to exhume Emmett Till's body to find the killers 50 years later, they are refusing to deal with current issues -- like a five-year-old being handcuffed in St. Petersburg or a man shot four times by the police in Chicago.”"

Selling out Assata by Mumia Abu-Jamal  5/4/2005 SF Bay View: scroll down for this article originally published 9/98.

$1,000,000 bounty for Assata Shakur  5/4/2005 SF Bay View: “I’m going to jump on it,” said professional bounty hunter Louis Faccone, who attended the press conference Monday announcing the reward. “My guys can get (into Cuba) in the middle of the night by boat from the Florida Keys.”

Commentary: NJ Troopers Have Selective Amnesia About How They Victimized People Like Assata Shakur  5/3/2005 Black America Web: "I’m dubious because the New Jersey State Police had then –– and still have –– a reputation for being notoriously racist. In many cases, stopping someone for a busted tail light tends to be more of an excuse to target someone, namely black people, for harassment rather than to advise them to get the light fixed. And while neither I nor any of the white people who convicted Shakur were there when Foerster was shot, it’s rather interesting that up until that time, she only had a record of organizing free breakfast programs and other community empowerment programs, and not a record of provoking violence. I’m dubious because, as much as people like Fuentes are calling for justice for Foerster, some of their own are still doing the same injustices to black people as they did in Shakur’s day. In 1998, troopers on that same New Jersey turnpike upon which Shakur was stopped shot and wounded three unarmed black and Latino men whom they suspected were carrying drugs. They weren’t. The next year, the New Jersey Attorney General’s Office issued a report that found that racial profiling by the troopers was rampant. And as recent as 2003, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported that internal affairs officers for the New Jersey State Police looking into racial and sexual harassment allegations found a T-shirt with the letters LOD. The initials, which stand for “Lords of Discipline,” represent a secret society that many black and women officers say is sexist and white supremacist. I’m also dubious because Shakur was convicted by an all-white jury –– a jury that was, at that time, probably was more consumed with administering punishment to black people than in administering justice to them. Some bounty hunter in Florida said he plans to try and capture Shakur. I hope he fails. I hope he fails not only because I believe that Shakur was wrongly convicted, but because I believe it is the height of hypocrisy for the Bush administration to put her on the same terrorist watch list as Osama bin Laden. It is also hypocritical because right here in the United States, we are harboring a number of fugitives and murderers from other countries. And it’s sheer political lunacy to compare Shakur to bin Laden; she hasn’t killed 3,000 people, nor does she have the capability of carrying out terrorist attacks against the United States."

U.S. Government Declares $1 Million Bounty For Assata Shakur, Tupac's Godmother  5/2/2005 All Hip Hop News: "Rappers like Paris and Common have written sympathetic, reflective songs about Assata [“Assata’s Song” and “A Song For Assata” respectively]. Common explained his support of Shakur. “The reason I was even connected to this woman is because of her humanity and her passion for people,” the Chicago native told AllHipHop.com. “And when I met her on a Black August trip four years ago and I learned she was innocent and that all the pain and hate that had been placed upon her, she'd overcome. There's no way than anyone in this world should want to harm her. She’s such a beautiful human being.”"

Assata Shakur: Flight from justice  11/21/2004 New York Daily News 

Bard, Bound - Poet and political prisoner Marilyn Buck dreams beyond the walls of her cell.  10/6/2004 East Bay Express: Bucks is incarcerated for alleging having helped Assata Shakur to escape.

U.S., keep your hands off Assata! Interview with Assata Shakur, part 2  7/9/2003 SF Bay View 

U.S., keep your hands off Assata! Interview with Assata Shakur, part 1  7/2/2003 SF Bay View 

My interview with Assata Shakur  6/11/2002 Final Call: "I am moved by her commitment as expressed in a poem she wrote: "It is our duty to fight for our freedom. It is our duty to win. We must love each other and support each other. We have nothing to lose but our chains."

From exile with love - Former Black Panther Assata Shakur speaks to America from Cuba  6/11/2002 Final Call: "Final Call Staff Writer Nisa Islam Muhammad traveled to Cuba with a group of 15 journalists under the guidance of DeWayne Wickham and the Institute for Advanced Journalism Studies. They are documenting the African influence in the Americas. While there, she was granted an exclusive interview with exiled former Black Panther Assata Shakur."

Attorneys Visit With Sundiata/Reflections on Organizing!  12/23/2001 Afrikan Identity: Sundiata, along with many other political prisoners, was put in lockdown after 9-11. He is still heavily restricted, as per his attorney - "Sundiata was not informed that his social visits and mail was reinstated, so Soffiyah believe the administration may have lied to her. i'm encouraging everyone to continue to write Sundiata. He is only let out of his cage upon visits, he showers in the cage as well, anyone thats on his visiting list that can, please go and visit with him." Sundiata was in the car with Assata when they were assaulted by a Nazi cell in the NJ State Police.

New Jersey Trooper Billboards Ask for Praise, Not Profiling Complaints  11/13/2001 AP: We have documented the role of Nazi cells in the New Jersey State Police.

HER NAME IS ASSATA!!  7/21/2001 Afrikan I-dentity: "[Mr. Dunbar:] Your masters may find your bootlicking and pathetic stance becoming and reassuring, but we, the people who continue to resist, do not…"

What was Al Sharpton doing in Cuba?  12/1/2000 AfroCubaWeb: "What was the Reverend Al doing in Cuba? As is clear from his recent forays, he is trying to build up a national reputation. The news about the hip-hop ventures may also be seen as an effort to restore credibility on the streets and on the left. The Reverend Al appears to have gained ground in erasing his earlier career as an FBI informant, having lunch with Fidel Castro and organizing a large hip-hop exchange with InterScope records, among others. However, the road has sometimes been rocky: folks in Detroit prevented him from achieving much there by posting these Newsday articles below from 1988. Basically they outline how he was an FBI informant and tried to set up Assata Shakur for capture."

Is Cuba A “Racial Democracy?”  3/10/2000 Planete Afrique: "Columbia University historian Manning Marable visits Cuba frequently, meeting with Afro-Cuban leaders and American expatriates like former Black Panther Assata Shakur, who sought asylum in Cuba after escaping from prison on the United States. “Since Afro-Cubans have been at the bottom of the social and class hierarchy before the revolution, they have gained the most from the vast societal changes which have occurred,” Marable says. “A quarter-century after the revolution, employment, infant mortality, and life expectancy rates were better off for Blacks in Cuba than for Blacks anywhere in the world, even in the United States.” Although supportive of the Revolution’s progress, Marable is aware that it’s difficult to eradicate “old habits and attitudes” in a society in which slavery existed for centuries. “The struggle to destroy racism still remains a central challenge in Cuba,” he admits. “But on balance, the Cubans are far more honest about their shortcomings, and have achieved greater equality for Blacks than we have in the U.S.”"

Republican Bob Franks (NJ) sponsors bill on Assata  5/1/1998 AfroCubaWeb 

Poem to Assata in Exile by Comrade Askia M. Touré  4/27/1998 AfroCubaWeb