Did you shoot or assault Trooper James Harper? (February 20, 1974). [165] The prosecutor was C. Richard Gibbons. 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". 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. Three indictments were dismissed without trial. Janson, Donald (February 19, 1977). [44], As of February 17, 1972, when Shakur was identified as one of four BLA members on a short trip to Chattanooga, Tennessee, she was wanted for questioning (along with Robert Vickers, Twyman Meyers, Samuel Cooper, and Paul Stewart) in relation to police killings, a Queens bank robbery, and the grenade attack on police. If one were to examine, closely, the hegemonic discourses of black American history, one would be surprised to . [134] The Roots TV miniseries adapted from the book and shown shortly before the trial was believed to have evoked feelings of "guilt and sympathy" with many white viewers. [12] She attended for a while before dropping out. [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. [134][151] Five jurors had personal ties to State Troopers (one girlfriend, two nephews, and two friends). As long as we expect amerika's schools to educate us, we will remain ignorant." [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". [107], Before jury selection was complete, it was discovered that Shakur was pregnant. ". [37], In 1972, Shakur became the subject of a nationwide manhunt after the FBI alleged that she led a Black Liberation Army cell that had conducted a "series of cold-blooded murders of New York City police officers". [219] In the letter, Waters explained her opposition, calling COINTELPRO "illegal, clandestine political persecution". From 1971 to 1973, the Black Liberation Army was held responsible for a series of sniper attacks and bank robberies in New York, New Jersey, St. Louis, and Detroit. [23] She identified as an African and felt her old name no longer fit: "It sounded so strange when people called me Joanne. [239], The largely Internet-based "Hands Off Assata!" Assata Olugbala Shakur is a political activist, author, fugitive and aunt of hip-hop artist, Tupac Shakur. Assata Shakur, Joanne Byron, Barbara Odoms, Joanne Chesterman, Joan Davis, Justine Henderson, Mary Davis, Pat Chesimard, Jo-Ann Chesimard, . [148] Her lawyers also claimed that their offices were bugged. - 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. [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. Assata Shakur was found guilty of the murder of both Foerster and her companion Zayd Shakur, . 1973) (per curiam). The largest arrest of members affiliated with the Black Liberation Army came much later, in 2007. 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. Director and Others to Testify on Program Aimed at Harassing Activists". Quick Reference. A student group won the right to use the lounge after a campus shutdown over proposed tuition increases. [7] She lived for three years with her mother, school teacher Doris E. Johnson, and retired grandparents, Lula and Frank Hill. [3], Born in Flushing, Queens, she grew up in New York City and Wilmington, North Carolina. Her trial and conviction were a result of the government conspiracy to destroy Black freedom fighters and the movement for liberation from capitalism. Fast Facts: Assata Shakur Also Known As: JoAnne Chesimard Born: July 16, 1947, in New York City [124] Shortly after deliberation began, the jury asked to see all the photographic exhibits taken from the surveillance footage. 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. [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. [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". [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. ", Seedman, Albert and Peter Hellman. "Squires Jurors Hear Chase Tape". Nehanda Abiodun, a radical black nationalist who was charged in the deadly botched robbery of a Brink's armored truck in 1981 and then spent decades as a fugitive in Cuba, a hero to would-be. From: Black Liberation Army in Encyclopedia of African American History 1896 to the Present . 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). Her defense had argued medical evidence suggested her innocence since her arm was damaged in the shootout. Due to the possibility of miscarriage, the prosecution successfully requested a mistrial for Shakur; Acoli's trial continued. "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. [205] The book does not give a detailed account of her involvement in the BLA or the events on the New Jersey Turnpike, except to say that the jury "[c]onvicted a woman with her hands up! 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. [237], Black NJ State Trooper Anthony Reed (who has left the force) sued the police force because, among other things, persons had hung posters of Shakur, altered to include Reed's badge number, in a Newark barracks. [212] Shakur later published an extensive criticism of the NBC segment, which inter-spliced footage of Trooper Foerster's grieving widow with an FBI photo connected to a bank robbery of which Shakur had been acquitted. [149], A total of 408 potential jurors were questioned during the voir dire, which concluded on February 14. Pace, Eric (December 27, 1971). "F.B.I. On April 6, 1971, Shakur was shot in the stomach during a struggle with a guest at the Statler Hilton Hotel in Midtown Manhattan. [41], Some sources identify Shakur as the de facto head of the BLA after the arrest of co-founder Dhoruba Moore. In it she calls herself a revolutionary seeking freedom for "my people." Shakur's 1977 conviction and later escape from prison have made her an icon of black power enthusiasts. [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. [164] Three other defendants were indicted in relation to the same holdup: Melvin Kearney, who died in 1976 from an eight-floor fall while trying to escape from the Brooklyn House of Detention, Twymon Myers, who was killed by police while a fugitive, and Andrew Jackson, the charges against whom were dismissed when two prosecution witnesses could not identify him in a lineup. [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. [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 two men were charged with the murder of Officer Scarangella and attempted murder of Officer Rainey. "Cuba seeks deals with US to fight terror, migrant smuggling". [92] Gagliardi denied requests by the jurors to pose questions to the witnesseseither directly or through himand declined to provide the jury with information they requested about how long the defense had been given to prepare, saying it was "none of their concern". Assata Olugbala Shakur (born July 16, 1947), as JoAnne Deborah Byron , married name Chesimard is an African-American activist and escaped convict who was a member of the Black Panther Party (BPP) and Black Liberation Army (BLA). Prial, Frank J. She fought for human rights in the 1960s and 1970s. [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. In her autobiography, she wrote: "I didn't know what a fool they had made out of me until I grew up and started to read real history". 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. Assata spent six and a half years in prison under brutal circumstances before escaping out of the maximum security wing of the Clinton Correctional Facility for Women in New Jersey in 1979 and moving to . I felt like an African woman".[24]. [189] Shakur has been described as a "rap music legend"[222] and a "minor cause celebre". 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. [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. She said she was taught a sugar-coated version of history that ignored the oppression suffered by people of color, especially in the United States. [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. 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