$55.00 + $5.55 shipping. There were people [in the BLA] who absolutely took the position that it was just time to resist, and if black people didn't start to fight back against police brutality and didn't start to wage armed resistance, we would be annihilated. An activist in black radical groups such as the Black Panther Party and the Black Liberation Army, Shakur was convicted of murdering a New Jersey state trooper in 1977, but supporters helped her escape prison and take refuge in Cuba. (2001). [134][151] Five jurors had personal ties to State Troopers (one girlfriend, two nephews, and two friends). She became involved in political activism at Borough of Manhattan Community College and City College of New York. The name of Assata Shakur, a woman convicted in the 1973 killing of a New Jersey state trooper, has been used by Black Lives Matter to illustrate what the group called Cuba's "solidarity with. ". "Jury Deliberations Begin in Murder Trial of Squire". [15] In April 1967, she married Louis Chesimard, a fellow student-activist at CCNY. [219], On May 2, 2005, the 32nd anniversary of the Turnpike shootings, the FBI classified her as a domestic terrorist, increasing the reward for assistance in her capture to $1million,[193][220] the largest reward placed on an individual in the history of New Jersey. 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. Why Cuba will never send Assata Shakur to the U.S. Inadmissible Evidence: The Story of the African-American Trial Lawyer Who Defended the Black Liberation Army: Williams, Evelyn: 9780595141708: Amazon.com: Books Books Biographies & Memoirs Community & Culture Buy new: $13.40 List Price: $15.95 Details Save: $2.55 (16%) Get Fast, Free Shipping with Amazon Prime FREE Returns [122] The jury determined that a widely circulated FBI photo allegedly showing Shakur participating in the robbery was not her. [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". [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. Johnston, Richard H. (February 13, 1974). Assata Olugbala Shakurpolitical activist, author, fugitive, and step-aunt of the famed, slain hip-hop artist Tupac Shakur was born JoAnne Deborah Bryon on July 16, 1947 in New York City, New York. Chesimard was . [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 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. [81] The trial was delayed for a few days after Shakur was diagnosed with pleurisy. [8] In 1950, Shakur's parents divorced and she moved with her grandparents to Wilmington, North Carolina. negras y a sus lderes, Shakur pas cuatro aos en la crcel antes de su condena en 1977, sustentada en pruebas poco slidas. [62][12], On March 24, the jurors listened for 45minutes to a rereading of testimony of the State Police chemist regarding the blood found at the scene, on the LeMans, and Shakur's clothing. [134] All of the 15 jurorsten women and five menwere white, and most were under thirty years old. Pace, Eric (December 27, 1971). She has been on the FBI Most Wanted Terrorist list since 2013 as Joanne Deborah Chesimard and was the first woman to be added to this list. [127] She was the only one of the six suspects in the robbery to be brought to trial. In May 1973, Shakur was arrested after being wounded in a shootout on the New Jersey Turnpike. (May 3, 1973), "2 Die in Shootout; Militant Seized". Malcolm X told the truth when he stated, "Education is an important element in the struggle for human rights. [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. [90] Both defendants were repeatedly cited for contempt of court and eventually barred from the courtroom, where the trial continued in their absence. Shakur challenges traditional styles of literary autobiography and offers a perspective on her life that is not easily accessible to the public. "Gunfight Suspect Caught in Jersey". After elementary school, Shakur moved back to Queens to live with her mother and stepfather (her mother had remarried); she attended Parsons Junior High School. [87] White and Rivers, although having pled guilty, had not yet been sentenced for the robbery and were promised that the charges would be dropped in exchange for their testimony. "No Checking Was Done On Chesimard 'Visitors'; Identification Required of Visitors Security Review Ordered". [53] The JTTF would later serve as the "coordinating body in the search for Assata and the renewed campaign to smash the BLA", after her escape from prison. (February 14, 1974). [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. On May 2 1973, Black Panther activist Assata Shakur (fsn) Joanne Deborah Chesimard, was pulled over by the New Jersey State Police, shot twice and then charged with murder of a police officer. [216], The United States Congress passed a non-binding resolution in September 1998, asking Cuba for the return of Shakur as well as 90 fugitives believed by Congress to be residing in Cuba; House Concurrent Resolution 254 passed 3710 in the House and by unanimous consent in the Senate. Gupte, Pranay (July 21, 1973), "Joanne Chesimard Pleads Not Guilty in Holdup Here". Brown, Civil Rights Lawyer, Dies at 94", "Joanne Chesimard Convicted in Killing Of Jersey Trooper", Statement of Facts in the New Jersey trial of Assata Shakur, Assault Charges Add 26 Years To Mrs. Chesimard's Life Term, Chesimard Murder Case Dropped Because of Delay in Holding Trial, Trenton Topics; Court Absolves Felons in Killings Of Accomplices by Their Victims", Miss Chesimard Flees Jersey Prison, Helped By 3 Armed 'Visitors', 2 Ex-Fugitives Convicted of Roles In Fatal Armored-Truck Robbery, "Assata Shakur was convicted of murder. [165] The prosecutor was C. Richard Gibbons. According to police, Shakur knocked on the door of a guest's room, asked "Is there a party going on here? Perlmutter, Emanuel (January 29, 1973), "Extra Duty Tours For Police Set Up After 2D Ambush", According to Churchill and Vander Wall (2002): "What had emerged in the 1980s was a formal amalgamation of FBI COINTELPRO specialists and New York City red squad detectives known as the Joint Terrorist Task Force (JTTF), consolidating the more, Sullivan, Joseph F. (May 3 or 4th, 1973). The film premiered at the San Diego Black Film Festival and starred Assata Shakur herself. Assata Shakur: from civil rights activist to FBI's most-wanted A leading figure in the 70s Black Liberation Army, Shakur was given life for murder in 1977. [138] When Judge Appleby told the court attendants to "remove the prisoner", Shakur herself replied: "the prisoner will walk away on her own feet". [81], Sundiata Acoli, Assata Shakur, Trooper Harper, and a New Jersey Turnpike driver who saw part of the incident were the only surviving witnesses. [234] In 2008, a Bucknell University professor included Shakur in a course on "African-American heroes"along with figures such as Harriet Tubman, Sojourner Truth, John Henry, Malcolm X, and Angela Davis. "[79] Morris County, had a far smaller black population than Middlesex County. [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. Her trial and conviction were a result of the government conspiracy to destroy Black freedom fighters and the movement for liberation from capitalism. She escaped from prison in 1979 and is currently wanted by the FBI, with a $1 million reward for her apprehension. She was right up my alley because i [sic] was forever asking all kinds of questions. . Johnston, Richard J. H. (March 9, 1974). [63] In his opening statement to a jury, Hamlin said that Acoli shot Foerster with a .38 caliber semiautomatic pistol and used Foerster's own gun to "execute him". "Neurosurgeon's Testimony Backs Mrs. Chesimard". [201] Her autobiography was republished in Britain in 2014[129] and a dramatized version performed on BBC Radio 4 in July 2017.[209]. 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. 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 . She later became a member of the Black Liberation Army and was involved in several Black organizing groups, including the Black Panther Party. Kaufman, Michael T. (February 9, 1972), "9 in Black 'Army' Are Hunted in Police Assassinations". [165] Shakur was accused of attempting to rob a Michigan man staying at the hotel of $250 of cash and personal property. The official BLM statement points out that the Cuban government has acted in solidarity with historically oppressed Black people, including offering political asylum to the American Assata Shakur . The FBI put out a $2 million bounty for her recapture almost 50 years ago. [99] Kennedy objected to this identification on the grounds that the prosecutor, assistant United States attorney Peter Truebner, had offered to stipulate that Shakur was not depicted in any of the photographs. Allen-Mills, Tony (May 27, 2007). 781 likes, 20 comments - Jermaine (@therealblackhistorian) on Instagram: "Tupac Shakur was under the radar because of his life long connection with the Black Panther Party." Jermaine on Instagram: "Tupac Shakur was under the radar because of his life long connection with the Black Panther Party and other militant revolutionaries. [7] She lived for three years with her mother, school teacher Doris E. Johnson, and retired grandparents, Lula and Frank Hill. [59] The vehicle was "slightly" exceeding the speed limit. [58][60] Recordings of Trooper Harper calling the dispatcher were played at the trials of both Acoli and Assata Shakur. Farley, Anthony Paul (March 2001). Shakur was identified as wanted for questioning after a September 1, 1972, bank robbery in the Bronx. With connections to the Weather Underground, the Black Liberation Army and the Black Panther Party, this "anti-imperialist" organization executed a number of attacks well into the mid-1980s, inspired by the revolutionary left-wing tradition of pursuing "peace" through violent means. Shakur was charged with two bank robberies, the kidnapping of a Brooklyn heroin dealer, the attempted murder of two Queens police officers stemming from a January 23, 1973, failed ambush, and eight other felonies related to the Turnpike shootout. [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. She surfaced in Cuba in 1984, where she was granted political asylum. [134], Shakur's attorneys sought a new trial on the grounds that one jury member, John McGovern, had violated the jury's sequestration order. [12] She attended for a while before dropping out. Prial, Frank J. [113], Shakur was extradited to New York City on May 6,[114] arraigned on May 11 (pleading not guilty), and remanded to jail by Justice Albert S. McGrover of the State Supreme Court, pending a pretrial hearing on July 2. "Squires Jurors Hear Chase Tape". [62] Mutulu Shakur and Marilyn Buck were convicted in 1988 of several robberies as well as the prison escape. [38][78] Of these trials, three resulted in acquittals, one in a hung jury, one in a change of venue, one in a mistrial due to pregnancy, and one in a conviction. [232] As of April 7, 2010, the presiding judge has ruled that the issues of students' free speech and administrators' immunity from suit "deserve a trial". She spent 6 and a half years in prison before . [99] Although both White and Rivers testified that Shakur was wearing overalls during the robbery, the person identified as Shakur in the photograph was wearing a jacket. "[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. [163] To become eligible for parole, Shakur would have had to serve a minimum of 25years, which would have included her four years in custody during the trials. [161], According to Angela Davis, neutron activation analysis that was administered after the shootout showed no gunpowder residue on Shakur's fingers and forensic analysis performed at the Trenton, New Jersey, crime lab and the FBI crime labs in Washington, D.C., did not find her fingerprints on any weapon at the scene. While serving a life sentence for murder, Shakur escaped in 1979, with assistance from the BLA and members of the May 19 Communist Organization, from the Clinton Correctional Facility for Women in Union Township, NJ, now the Edna Mahan Correctional Facility for Women. [51][52], According to Cleaver and Katsiaficas, the FBI and local police "initiated a national search-and-destroy mission for suspected BLA members, collaborating in stakeouts that were the products of intensive political repression and counterintelligence campaigns like NEWKILL". On May 2, 1973, Assata was driving with Zayd Malik Shakur and Sundiata Acoli on the New Jersey Turnpike when New Jersey state troopers stopped them. [122] Andrew Jackson and two others indicted for the same robbery pleaded guilty; Jackson was sentenced to five years in prison and five years' probation; another was shot and killed in a gunfight in Florida on December 31, 1971, and the last remained at large at the time of Shakur's acquittal. A student group won the right to use the lounge after a campus shutdown over proposed tuition increases. [41], Some sources identify Shakur as the de facto head of the BLA after the arrest of co-founder Dhoruba Moore. [89] While in the holding pen, they listened to the proceedings over loudspeakers. [124] Shortly after deliberation began, the jury asked to see all the photographic exhibits taken from the surveillance footage. Butler, Vincent (August 24, 1973). The students had chained and locked the entrance to a college building to protest the low numbers of black faculty and the lack of a black studies program. [10] Shakur has said that her aunt was the heroine of her childhood, as she was constantly introducing her to new things. "[225] In 2013, the FBI announced it had added Shakur to its list of 'most wanted terrorists', the first time that a woman was so designated. She then joined the BLA, a loosely knit offshoot of the Black Panthers, which engaged in an armed struggle against the US government through tactics such as robbing banks and killing police officers and drug dealers.[4]. Judge Lee P. Gagliardi denied a postponement, and the Second Circuit denied Shakur's petition for mandamus. 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. Browse, borrow, and enjoy titles from the Minuteman Library Network digital collection. At least 12 aging members of the Black Panthers are still imprisoned in the US. Judge Starkey said, "People have constitutional rights, and you can't shuffle them around. New Jersey v. Chesimard, 555 F.2d 63 (3d Cir. With the questioning of Acoli, accounts by participants of the confrontation begin to differ (see the witnesses section below). [239], The largely Internet-based "Hands Off Assata!" 1977) (en banc). They have called us gangsters and gun molls and have compared us to such In 2005, SUNY Press released The New Abolitionists (Neo)Slave Narratives and Contemporary Prison Writings, edited and with an added introduction by Joy James, in which Shakur's Women in Prison: How We Are 1978 is featured. and convicted cop-killer Assata Shakur. Esta autobiografa intensamente personal y poltica desmiente la temible Sundiata Acoli, 85, the oldest former member of the Black Panthers still to be incarcerated for acts of violence during the 1970s Black liberation struggle, is finally to be released from. [18], After returning to New York City, Shakur led the BPP chapter in Harlem, coordinating the Free Breakfast Program for children, free clinics, and community outreach. [155] Judge Appleby rejected Kunstler's claim that the juror had violated the order. (December 12, 1973). In her 320-page memoir, Shakur gave one paragraph to her marriage, saying that it ended over their differing views of gender roles. My name is Assata . Two years later, she escaped. Trooper Harper was wounded in the left shoulder, reported in "good" condition, and given a protective guard at the hospital. [202] She has praised Fidel Castro as a "hero of the oppressed"[12] and referred to herself as a "20th century escaped slave". On April 6, 1971, Shakur was shot in the stomach during a struggle with a guest at the Statler Hilton Hotel in Midtown Manhattan. In 1984, she was granted political asylum by the socialist Republic of Cuba then under the leadership of President Fidel Castro. [138], At the post-trial press conference, Kunstler blamed the verdict on racism, stating that "the white element was there to destroy her". Batista, Carlos (March 18, 2002). While forensic evidence backed up her account, Assata Shakur was sentenced to life plus 33 years in prison for the murder of a police officer, a crime she didn't commit. 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. Shakur has lived in Cuba since, despite US government efforts to have her returned. Dos aos despus de ser condenada, Assata Shakur escap de la crcel y obtuvo asilo poltico en Cuba, donde vive en la actualidad. [133], Shakur was identified as a political prisoner as early as October 8, 1973, by Angela Davis,[180] and in an April 3, 1977, The New York Times advertisement purchased by the Easter Coalition for Human Rights. She has been on the FBI Most Wanted Terrorists list since 2013 as Joanne Deborah Chesimard and was the first woman to be added to this list. 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