assata shakur black liberation armyassata shakur black liberation army

The correspondence sub-series consist of letters written to or from McCreary ranging in date from 1963-1998. . [115] Shakur and co-defendant Ronald Myers were accused of entering the bar with pistols and shotguns, taking $50 from the register, kidnapping the bartender, leaving a note demanding a $20,000 ransom from the bar owner, and fleeing in a rented truck. For the book, see, Black Panther Party and Black Liberation Army, Howell, Ron (October 11, 1987) "'On the Run With Assata Shakur' -, "Hands Off Assata Shakur: Angela Davis Calls for Radical Activism to Protect Activist Exiled in Cuba. [102] During the retrial, the defendants repeatedly left or were thrown out of the courtroom. As long as we expect amerika's schools to educate us, we will remain ignorant." In 1987, her presence in Cuba became widely known when she agreed to be interviewed by Newsday. Shakur later wrote that teachers seemed surprised when she answered a question in class, as if not expecting black people to be intelligent and engaged. Williams often took the girl to museums, theaters, and art galleries.[11]. One issue that was not raised publicly during his visit was the fate of Assata Shakur, the legendary figure within the Black Panther Party and the Black Liberation Army who now lives in Cuba . In 1977, she was convicted of the murder of State Trooper Foerster and of seven other felonies related to the 1973 shootout. Shakur, Assata (1987, New edition November 1, 1999). "Bounty hunt for US cop killer on Cuba". [63] At this trial, Harper said that Foerster reached into the vehicle, pulled out and held up a semi-automatic pistol and ammunition magazine, and said "Jim, look what I found",[63] while facing Harper at the rear of the vehicle. [16], After graduation from CCNY, Shakur moved to Oakland, California, where she joined the Black Panther Party (BPP). Montgomery, Paul L. (February 20, 1972), "3D Suspect Linked To Police Slayings". Assata was a Black Panther then a Black Liberation Army (BLA) leader in the early '70s, so she was a target of the FBI's COINTELPRO operation. Being an active member in the black libertarian army allowed Assata Shakur to have a powerful . "Mrs. Chesimard Is Ousted Again as 2d Trial for Robbery Begins". She often ran away, staying with strangers and working for short periods of time, until she was taken in by her mother's sister Evelyn A. Williams, a civil rights worker who lived in Manhattan. [64] A shootout ensued in which Trooper Foerster was shot twice in the head with his own gun and killed,[59][64] Zayd Shakur was killed, and Assata Shakur and Trooper Harper were wounded. "[12], On May 2, 1973, at about 12:45a.m.,[58] Assata Shakur, along with Zayd Malik Shakur (born James F. Costan) and Sundiata Acoli (born Clark Squire), were stopped on the New Jersey Turnpike in East Brunswick for driving with a broken tail light by State Trooper James Harper, backed up by Trooper Werner Foerster in a second patrol vehicle. The FBI and the NYPD further charged her as being a leader of the Black . With the questioning of Acoli, accounts by participants of the confrontation begin to differ (see the witnesses section below). It really had nothing to do with me. [94] This trial resulted in a hung jury and then a mistrial, when the jury reported to Gagliardi that they were hopelessly deadlocked for the fourth time. [81][82] In light of the pending murder prosecution against Shakur in New Jersey state court, her lawyers requested that the trial be postponed for six months to permit further preparation. "Chesimard still stirs admiration and scorn,", Edna Mahan Correctional Facility for Women, United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York, United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, United States District Court for the District of New Jersey, United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, Rikers Island Correctional Institution for Women, United Nations Commission on Human Rights, 380th addition to the FBI's Ten Most Wanted Fugitives, It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back, List of fugitives from justice who disappeared, "Cuba still harbors one of America's most wanted fugitives. [89] While in the holding pen, they listened to the proceedings over loudspeakers. [91], Sadiki's lawyer, Robert Bloom, attempted to have the trial dismissed and then postponed due to new "revelations" regarding the credibility of White, a former co-defendant by then working for the prosecution. At that time, eight men who came to be known as the San Francisco 8 were accused of killing Sgt. [123], One bank employee testified that Shakur was one of the bank robbers, but three other bank employees (including two tellers) testified that they were uncertain. Hershberger, James (March 24, 2006). Bachman. [233], Following controversy, in 1995, Borough of Manhattan Community College renamed a scholarship that had previously been named for Shakur. Johnston, Richard J. H. (March 9, 1974). campaign is coordinated by Chicago-area Black Radical Congress activists. [77], Between 1973 and 1977, in New York and New Jersey, Shakur was indicted ten times, resulting in seven different criminal trials. [125], Shakur was acquitted after seven hours of jury deliberation on January 16, 1976,[122] and was immediately remanded back to New Jersey for the Turnpike trial. Assata Shakur, whose real name is Joanne Chesimard, is a Black Panther activist, a member of the left-wing Black Liberation Army, who was convicted of murder in 1977. She spent 6 and a half years in prison before . Trump specifically called for the return of "the cop-killer Joanne Chesimard". [10] The official premiere of the film in Havana in 2004 was promoted by Casa de las Amricas, the main cultural forum of the Cuban government. [92] Bloom had been assigned to defend Sadiki/Hilton over the summer, but White was not disclosed as a government witness until right before the trial. [132], The nine-week trial was widely publicized, and was even reported on by the Telegraph Agency of the Soviet Union (TASS). The Black Liberation Army (BLA) was an underground Marxist-Leninist, black-nationalist militant organization that operated in the United States from 1970 to 1981. . [147] Until obtaining a court order, Kunstler was forced to strip naked and undergo a body search before each visit with Shakurduring which Shakur was shackled to a bed by both ankles. [122] The jury determined that a widely circulated FBI photo allegedly showing Shakur participating in the robbery was not her. Assata Shakur has been living in Cuba since 1986, after escaping from prison where she was serving a life sentence imposed in a highly disputed trial. In 2013 Assata Shakur, founding member of the Black Liberation Army, former Black Panther and godmother of Tupac Shakur, became the first ever woman to make the FBI's most wanted. [19] Shakur joined the Black Liberation Army (BLA), an offshoot whose members were inspired by the Vietcong and the Algerian independence fighters of the Battle of Algiers. The reward for her capture and return was also doubled to $2 million. "[79] Polls of residents in Middlesex County, where Acoli had been convicted less than three years earlier,[80] showed that 83% knew Shakur's identity and 70% believed that she was guilty. (December 15, 1973). [3], Born in Flushing, Queens, she grew up in New York City and Wilmington, North Carolina. [59][61], The stop occurred 200 yards (183m) south of what was then the Turnpike Authority administration building. My name is Assata . Assata Shakur, otherwise known as Joanne Chesimard, an organizer who had been described as "the soul of the Black Liberation Army," had been arrested for the execution-style killing of a state trooper in May 1973, via the New York Times. Beginning in 1971, Shakur was allegedly involved in several incidents of assault and robbery, in which she was charged or identified as wanted for questioning, including attacks on New York City police and bank robberies in the area. [213] On March 10, 1998[214] New Jersey Governor Christine Todd Whitman asked Attorney General Janet Reno to do whatever it would take to return Shakur from Cuba. Assata Shakur, Joanne Byron, Barbara Odoms, Joanne Chesterman, Joan Davis, Justine Henderson, Mary Davis, Pat Chesimard, Jo-Ann Chesimard, . "[12], On December 21, 1971, Shakur was named by the New York City Police Department as one of four suspects in a hand grenade attack that destroyed a police car and injured two officers in Maspeth, Queens. When a witness identified Shakur and Andrew Jackson from Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) photographs, a 13-state alarm was issued three days after the attack. [165] The charges were dismissed without trial. And in my own mind, only someone who has been so intimately a victim of this madness as I have can do justice to what I have to say. Judge Lee P. Gagliardi denied a postponement, and the Second Circuit denied Shakur's petition for mandamus. The BLA's most notorious attack, however, came in 1972, when it carried out perhaps the most gruesome assassination of police officers in the history of New York, killing two patrolmen, Greg Foster. One officer said that they had created a "myth" to "demonize" Shakur because she was "educated", "young and pretty". Shakur a former member of the Black Liberation Army had been injured during the shootout, which involved two other BLA members and State Troopers James Harper and Werner Foerster, the latter of which was killed. Submitted by Juan Conatz on October 8, 2012. Assata Shakur was a member of the Black Liberation Army (BLA) which operated as an underground militant revolutionary organization in the U.S. throughout the 1970s. What happens to Assata Shakur now? By Assata Shakur (guest author) posted on July 15, 2022 In honor of Assata Shakur's 75th birthday on July 16, Workers World is reprinting this slightly edited version of her open letter, first posted on WW on Dec. 30, 2014. [81] In her autobiography, Shakur recounts being beaten, choked, and kicked on the courtroom floor by five marshals, as Williams narrated the events to ensure they would appear on the court record. I wanted to know everything." [33][34][35], Shakur was wanted for questioning for wounding a police officer on January 26, 1972, who was attempting to serve a traffic summons in Brooklyn. Black Liberation activist Assata Shakur was found guilty of killing a police officer in 1977, only to escape prison two years later and become a political refugee in Cuba. to Aid Search for Miss Chesimard; Jersey Authorities Tell Magistrate She Apparently Fled the State After Her Prison Escape Visitors Were Not Searched Drove Across a Field Visitation Policies Under Review Official Account of Escape". Parry, Wayne (May 24, 2005), "NY councilman plans rally against Chesimard bounty". Her trial and conviction were a result of the government conspiracy to destroy Black freedom fighters and the movement for liberation from capitalism. The FBI circulated wanted posters throughout the New York New Jersey area; her supporters hung "Assata Shakur is Welcome Here" posters in response. "Assata Shakur: Case of oppression in U.S". Her other texts in the book are a July 4, 1973, speech ("To My People"), which was broadcast on many radio stations, an exposition on the theory of "armed revolutionary struggle", and many poems. [198] Since her escape, Shakur has been charged with unlawful flight to avoid imprisonment. [23] She identified as an African and felt her old name no longer fit: "It sounded so strange when people called me Joanne. [62] Judge Appleby also refused to investigate a burglary of her defense counsel's office that resulted in the disappearance of trial documents,[135] amounting to half of the legal papers related to her case. Assata Shakur. However, Appleby dismissed the second-degree murder of Zayd Shakur, as the New Jersey Supreme Court had recently narrowed the application of the law. Director and Others to Testify on Program Aimed at Harassing Activists". "Militant Autobiography: The Case of Assata Shakur," in. [158] After her escape, Shakur lived as a fugitive for several years. "[164] The case was delayed in being brought to trial as a result of an agreement between the governors of New York and New Jersey as to the priority of the various charges against Shakur. [100] Louis Chesimard (Shakur's ex-husband) and Paul Stewart, the other two alleged robbers, had been acquitted in June. [62] Mutulu Shakur and Marilyn Buck were convicted in 1988 of several robberies as well as the prison escape. [115] In November 1974, New York State Supreme Court Justice Peter Farrell dismissed the attempted murder indictment because of insufficient evidence, declaring "The court can only note with disapproval that virtually a year has passed before counsel made an application for the most basic relief permitted by law, namely an attack on the sufficiency of the evidence submitted by the grand jury. McFadden, Robert D. (February 19, 1972). But one issue not raised during his visit was the fate of Assata Shakur, the legendary figure within the Black Panther Party and the Black Liberation Army who now lives in Cuba, where she has political asylum. (blackhistorymonth.org.uk) A Troubled Childhood Assata Shakur was born JoAnne Deborah Byron in Queens in 1947. Batista, Carlos (March 18, 2002). [128][160], Judge Appleby eventually cut off funds for any further expert defense testimony. One man involved in the killing was still wanted at the time of the arrests. [185] On November 2, 1979, Shakur escaped the Clinton Correctional Facility for Women in New Jersey, when three members of the Black Liberation Army visiting her drew concealed .45-caliber pistols and a stick of dynamite, seized two correction officers as hostages, commandeered a van and (with the assistance of members of the May 19 Communist Organization) made their escape. After she ran away from home several times, her aunt, who would later act as one of her lawyers, took her in. "[242], The Chicago Black activist group Assata's Daughters is named in her honor. [85], The prosecution's case rested largely on the testimony of two men who had pleaded guilty to participating in the holdup. [138] After Joseph W. Lewis, the jury foreman, read the verdict, Kunstler asked that the jury be removed before alleging that one juror had violated the sequestration order (see above). Shakur was arrested in 1973 and later sentenced to life in prison for the murder of a state trooper. Numerous musicians have composed and recorded songs about her or dedicated to her: Digable Planets, The Underachievers and X-Clan have also recorded songs about Shakur. [43] Years later, some police officers argued that her importance in the BLA had been exaggerated by the police. What happens to Assata Shakur now? [120][121] The trial was delayed until 1976,[119] when Shakur was represented by Stanley Cohen and Evelyn Williams. [195] In July 1980, FBI director William H. Webster said that the search for Shakur had been frustrated by residents' refusal to cooperate, and a New York Times editorial opined that the department's commitment to "enforce the law with vigorbut also with sensitivity for civil rights and civil liberties" had been "clouded" by an "apparently crude sweep" through a Harlem building in search of Shakur. Farley, Anthony Paul (March 2001). [58], According to a New Jersey Police spokesperson, Assata Shakur was on her way to a "new hideout in Philadelphia" and "heading ultimately for Washington". In July 1973, after being indicted by a grand jury, Shakur pleaded not guilty in Federal Court in Brooklyn to an indictment related to a $7,700 robbery of the Bankers Trust Company bank in Queens on August 31, 1971. [70] Shakur admitted to carrying an identification card with the name "Justine Henderson" in her billfold the night of the shootout, but denied using any of the aliases on the long list that Barone proceeded to read. "Cuba seeks deals with US to fight terror, migrant smuggling". [163], In October 1977, New York State Superior Court Justice John Starkey dismissed murder and robbery charges against Shakur related to the death of Richard Nelson during a hold-up of a Brooklyn social club on December 28, 1972, ruling that the state had delayed too long in bringing her to trial. Assata Olugbala Shakur (born JoAnne Deborah Byron; July 16, 1947; [a]) is an American political activist who was a member of the Black Liberation Army (BLA). [88], During the trial, the defendants were escorted to a "holding pen" outside the courtroom several times after shouting complaints and epithets at Judge Gagliardi. Johnston, Richard H. (February 13, 1974). [5][6], Assata Shakur was born Joanne Deborah Byron, in Flushing, Queens, New York City, on July 16, 1947. In 1979, she escaped from prison and made her way to Cuba, where she was granted political asylum and continues to live today. [87] White and Rivers testified that Shakur had guarded one of the doors with a .357 magnum pistol and that Sadiki had served as a lookout and drove the getaway truck during the robbery; neither White nor Rivers was cross-examined due to the defense attorney's refusal to participate in the trial. Shakur still frequently visited her grandparents in the south. John Young, in August, 1971. [38] According to later court testimony, Shakur lived in Pittsburgh until August 1980, when she flew to the Bahamas. [26] Shakur is alleged to have said that she was glad that she had been shot; afterward, she was no longer afraid to be shot again. ", "Trump calls on Cuba to return U.S. fugitives, including cop-killer Chesimard", "Like Water for Chocolate: Common's Recipe for Progressive Hip-Hop", "CUNY Chief Orders Names Stripped From Student Center", "First Amendment Violation Claim Proceeds Against College Over Removed Plaque", Two Scholarships Given New Names After Controversy, Superhero Inspiration for Course on 'Black Heroes', "Common Pulled From Kean University Commencement Speech After Police Complaints", "A Herstory of the #BlackLivesMatter Movement", "Activists of every stripe unite in ICE civil disobedience", "Assata Shakur birthday honored by Women's March organizers", "When the 'Resistance' Gets Reprehensible", "Six months after the Women's March on Washington, the Resistance Revival has a message for Trump", "County pays $15K to FBI fugitive, part of Freeman Park land deal", The Cointelpro papers: documents from the FBI's secret wars against dissent in the United States, "New Most Wanted Terrorist Joanne Chesimard; First Woman Added to List," May 2, 2013, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Assata Shakur Speaks website in support of Shakur, "The Story of Joanne Chesimard," May 2003 editorial, NJLawman.com. 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