that somewhere in your heart you have love for me. She said that the second shot hit her in the back as she turned to avoid it, and that she fell onto the road for the duration of the gunfight before crawling back into the backseat of the Pontiacwhich Acoli drove 5 miles (8km) down the road and parked. [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. The great African American revolutionary, Assata Shakur, turned 73 on July 16. The United States District Court for the District of New Jersey denied the petition and also denied Shakur an injunction against the holding of trial proceedings on Fridays. Farley, Anthony Paul (March 2001). - The Washington Post", "Black Liberation Army: Understanding - Monitoring - Controlling", "Joanne Chesimard First Woman Named to Most Wanted Terrorists List", "Wanted by the FBI Fugitive Joanne Deborah Chesimard", "FBI makes Joanne Chesimard the first woman to appear on most-wanted list", "Woman Shot in Struggle With Her Alleged Victim", "Death of cop Richard Rainey could have been due to 1981 shooting, could mean life in jail for shooter Abdul Majid", Jury in Chesimard Murder Trial Listens to State Police Radio Tapes, Chesimard Jury Asks Clarification of Assault Charges, Mrs. Chesimard, on Stand, Denies Having Weapon in Turnpike Shooting, Joanne Chesimard Is Acquitted In Robbery of a Bank in Queens, Doctor Testifies On Bullet Scars in Chesimard Trial, "Assata Shakur: from civil rights activist to FBI's most-wanted", Chesimard Murder Trial Opens in New Brunswick, "Raymond A. [112] On April 26, while Shakur was pregnant,[108] New Jersey Governor Brendan Byrne signed an extradition order to move Shakur to New Jersey to face two counts of attempted murder, attempted assault, and possession of dangerous weapons related to the alleged ambush; however, Shakur declined to waive her right to an extradition hearing, and asked for a full hearing before Middlesex County Court Judge John E. "Prosecution Rests Case on Chesimard Robbery Trial; Defendant Ejected". Montgomery, Paul L. (February 20, 1972), "3D Suspect Linked To Police Slayings". [28] In 1987, when asked in Cuba about police allegations that the BLA gained funds by conducting bank robberies and theft, Shakur responded, "There were expropriations, there were bank robberies. Members of the State Troopers Fraternal Association of New Jersey expressed their anger over Common's "A Song For Assata". See Kirsta, Alix (May 29, 1999), "A black and white case Investigation Joanne Chesimard". [20][21][22], She began using the name Assata Olugbala Shakur in 1971, rejecting Joanne Chesimard as a "slave name". "The Soul Survivor; Assata Shakur on the Making of a Radical". Krebs, Alan (February 3, 1978), "Notes on People". 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. [176] At Alderson, Shakur was housed in the Maximum Security Unit, which also contained several members of the Aryan Sisterhood as well as Sandra Good and Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme, followers of Charles Manson. [17] Specifically, documentary evidence suggests that Shakur was targeted by an investigation named CHESROB, which "attempted to hook former New York Panther Joanne Chesimard (Assata Shakur) to virtually every bank robbery or violent crime involving a black woman on the East Coast". [117] The text of Shakur's opening statement in the trial is reproduced in her autobiography. [149], Shakur testified that Trooper Harper shot her after she raised her arms to comply with his demand. In 1970-1981 the black liberation army was in full force. [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. Being an active member in the black libertarian army allowed Assata Shakur to have a powerful . [144] According to Kunstler's autobiography, the sizable contingent of New Jersey State Troopers guarding the courthouse were under strict orders from their commander, Col. Clinton Pagano, to completely shun Shakur's defense attorneys. Black brothers, black sisters, I want you to know that I love you and I hope . [184], In early 1979, "the Family", a group of BLA members, began to plan Shakur's escape from prison. "Mrs. Chesimard Bids U.S. Court Bar Trial Sessions on Her Sabbath". 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. [227], A documentary film about Shakur, Eyes of the Rainbow, written and directed by Cuban filmmaker Gloria Rolando, appeared in 1997. Judge Lee P. Gagliardi denied a postponement, and the Second Circuit denied Shakur's petition for mandamus. Johnston, Richard J. (1975). [12][10][201], In an open letter, Shakur has called Cuba "One of the Largest, Most Resistant and Most Courageous Palenques (Maroon Camps) that has ever existed on the Face of this Planet". Chambers, Marcia (December 28, 1973). She surfaced in Cuba in 1984, where she was granted political asylum. At the rally, a statement from Shakur was circulated condemning U.S. prison conditions and calling for an independent "New Afrikan" state. [138], At Shakur's sentencing hearing on April 25, Appleby sentenced her to 26 to 33years in state prison (10 to 12 for the four counts of assault, 12 to 15 for robbery, 2 to 3 for armed robbery, plus 2 to 3 for aiding and abetting the murder of Foerster), to be served consecutively with her mandatory life sentence. The New York Clearing House Association paid for full-page ads displaying material about Shakur. [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. Bachman. [10] According to her attorney Lennox Hinds, Shakur "understates the awfulness of the condition in which she was incarcerated", which included vaginal and anal searches. 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). [27], Following an August 23, 1971, bank robbery in Queens, Shakur was sought for questioning. 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. Her trial and conviction were a result of the government conspiracy to destroy Black freedom fighters and the movement for liberation from capitalism. 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. After the vehicle was pulled over, two men stepped out of the vehicle and opened fire on NYPD officers John Scarangella and Richard Rainey. [145] On May 6, 1977, Judge Clarkson Fisher, of the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey, denied Shakur's request for an injunction requiring her transfer from the all-male facility to Clinton Correctional Facility for Women; the Third Circuit affirmed. 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. Assata Shakur was born JoAnne Bryon. Browse, borrow, and enjoy titles from the Minuteman Library Network digital collection. Under cross-examination, Shakur was unable to explain how three magazines of ammunition and 16 live shells had gotten into her shoulder bag; she also admitted to knowing that Zayd Shakur carried a gun at times, and specifically to seeing a gun sticking out of Acoli's pocket while stopping for supper at a Howard Johnson's restaurant shortly before the shooting. [240], In 2015, New Jersey's Kean University dropped hip-hop artist Common as a commencement speaker because of police complaints. [43] Years later, some police officers argued that her importance in the BLA had been exaggerated by the police. [59] The vehicle was "slightly" exceeding the speed limit. [11][23] Assata is a West African name, derived from the Arabic name Aisha, said to mean "she who struggles", while Shakur means "thankful one" in Arabic. [203], In 1987, she published Assata: An Autobiography, which was written in Cuba. [90] Both defendants were repeatedly cited for contempt of court and eventually barred from the courtroom, where the trial continued in their absence. [188][189] In part for his role in the event, Mutulu was named on July 23, 1982, as the 380th addition to the FBI's Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list, where he remained for the next four years until his capture in 1986. [119][122], By the time she was retried in 1977, Acoli had already been convicted of shooting and murdering Foerster. Daly, Michael (December 13, 2006). [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. Chesimard v. Mulcahy, 570 F.2d 1184 (3d Cir. Shakur converted to Catholicism as a child and attended the all-girls Cathedral High School, for six months before transferring to public high school. Revolution, the Black Liberation Army, escape from prison and seeking political refuge in Cuba- Assata Shakur writes about her life. [17] In Oakland, Shakur worked with the BPP to organize protests and community education programs. 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. [165] The prosecutor was C. Richard Gibbons. [70] Ball's questioning ended with the following exchange: On that night of May 2[n]d, did you shoot, kill, execute or have anything to do with the death of Trooper Werner Foerster? Army allowed Assata Shakur on the Making of a Radical '' in Queens, Shakur testified that Trooper Harper her. 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