FBI director urges Americans not to mourn over late black militant, Assata Shakur
FBI Director Kash Patel on Sunday advised Americans against mourning over late black militant Assata Shakur, who he labeled a “terrorist”.
Shakur, who was the godmother of late rapper Tupac Shakur, died last week in Havana, Cuba, where she had been living in exile for decades after being convicted of killing a police officer in the United States.
Also known as JoAnne Chesimard, she died at the age of 78.
READ: Assata Shakur, wanted Black Liberation Army member, dies in Cuba
She was a member of the Black Liberation Army, a black nationalist militant organisation that largely operated in the United States in the 1970s.
She was accused, with two others, of killing a New Jersey state trooper during a shootout at a routine traffic stop in 1973.
She briefly escaped but was arrested, charged and convicted in 1977 with murder, and sentenced to life in prison.
Shakur maintained her innocence, saying that she never held a gun that morning and her arms were in the air when shots were fired.
Two years later, in 1979, she managed to escape again. FBI agents spotted her in Cuba in 1984, but she was never extradited to the US.
In 2013, federal officials added her to their list of most wanted terrorists, making her the first woman featured on the list.
The FBI was offering a US$1 million reward for information leading to her capture.
Patel has been hailed as a freedom fighter by many in the black community and there has been an outpouring of tributes on social media since her passing. However, on Sunday, in a fiery post on X, Patel said mourning Shakur – who he referred to by her birth name – is “spitting on the badge and the blood of every cop who gave their life in service”.
“Joanne Chesimard didn’t ‘fight for justice.’ She murdered New Jersey State Trooper Werner Foerster in cold blood, then fled to Cuba to escape accountability. The FBI never stopped calling her what she was: a terrorist,” he said.
