The New York Instances reported on the loss of life of convicted cop killer Assata Shakur, however remembered her now as a “Convicted Revolutionary.” The Black Liberation Military extremist was convicted for the homicide of state trooper Werner Foerster in a 1973 shootout. She broke out of jail in 1979 and sought refuge in communist Cuba, the place she died.
However the prize for praising a cop killer went to….Nationwide “Public” Radio. Their obituary/appreciation on Friday night time was headlined “Black liberation activist Assata Shakur has died at 78.” They known as her a “towering determine.”
AILSA CHANG, HOST: For many years, Assata Shakur has been a towering determine in American actions for black liberation and racial justice. For the reason that Seventies, she’s additionally been one of many nation’s most needed fugitives after her conviction for a police officer’s homicide. She died in exile in Cuba yesterday at 78. NPR’s Adrian Florido has this remembrance.
ADRIAN FLORIDO: Assata Shakur was a central determine within the Black Liberation Military fashioned within the early 70s by former Black Panthers who took up arms within the combat towards the oppression of black folks.
NPR ran a video clip from an outdated NBC interview the place Shakur denied being a killer: “I used to be shot with my arms within the air, then shot once more within the again after which left on the bottom to die.” On All Issues Thought-about, there was no time to interview anybody who had an opposing view on Shakur. As an alternative, that view will get a sentence.
FLORIDO: The FBI known as Shakur, whose authorized identify was Joanne Chesimard, a cold-blooded killer. However Shakur’s supporters thought-about her a hero due to her unapologetic and radical activism towards racial oppression. She summed up her views in that NBC interview.
SHAKUR: Folks have the best to free themselves from oppression by no matter means they deem potential.
FLORIDO: In recent times, racial justice activists throughout the U.S. have began protests by chanting one thing Shakur wrote
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: It’s our responsibility to combat for our freedom.
UNIDENTIFIED CROWD: It’s our responsibility to combat for our freedom.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: It’s our responsibility to win.
UNIDENTIFIED CROWD: It’s our responsibility to win.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: We should love…
FLORIDO: Robyn Spencer-Antoine is an historian of the Black Energy motion at The Metropolis College of New York. She says Shakur grew to become an emblem of fierce dedication to withstand.
ROBYN SPENCER-ANTOINE: That she was incarcerated and persecuted however then had a life past the partitions of jail, a life past the borders of the US I feel actually captured the creativeness.
NPR’s radical “creativeness” additionally led them to the need to run jail commentaries from convicted Philadelphia cop killer Mumia Abu-Jamal in 1994, however that was upended after criticism from Republicans. Abu-Jamal sued NPR. Then taxpayer-funded radicals at Pacifica Radio aired Abu-Jamal commentaries, which misplaced them some affiliate stations.
