The leftist Chicago Teachers Union is honoring the life of a woman convicted of killing a police officer in the 1970s.
In a social media post on Friday, the union shared an image of Assata Shakur, who was born as Joanne Deborah Chesimard, calling her a “revolutionary fighter.”
“Rest in Power, Rest in Peace, Assata Shakur. Today we honor the life and legacy of a revolutionary fighter, a fierce writer, a revered elder of Black liberation, and a leader of freedom whose spirit continues to live in our struggle,” the organization said.
“Assata refused to be silenced. She taught us that ‘It is our duty to fight for our freedom. It is our duty to win. We must love each other and support each other. We have nothing to lose but our chains,’” the post reads:
Shakur, who was on the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) list of “most wanted” terrorists,” died Thursday in Havana, Cuba, due to health issues and her “advanced age,” the Associated Press (AP) reported.
“Shakur’s case had long been a thorny issue in the fraught relations between the U.S. and Cuba. American authorities, including President Donald Trump during his first term, had demanded her return from the communist nation for decades,” the outlet said.
During a traffic stop in 1973, she and two other people were involved in a shootout with New Jersey State Police troopers, leaving one officer, Werner Foerster, dead and another officer wounded. Foerster was shot execution style during the violent incident.
At the time, authorities wanted Shakur on several felonies. Although she fled the scene, she was later apprehended and found guilty of murder and other crimes.
After being sentenced to life in prison, Shakur escaped in 1979 when “Members of the Black Liberation Army, posing as visitors, stormed the Clinton Correctional Facility for women, took two guards hostage and commandeered a prison van to break Shakur out,” the AP article said.
In the early 1980s Shakur reemerged in Cuba, where communist dictator Fidel Castro granted her asylum.
In 2021, an Indiana University department referred to her as a “social activist” and encouraged students to read her book, per Breitbart News. Her image also appeared on a Black Lives Matter (BLM) mural in California, and BLM in 2015 was reported to have invoked Shakur’s words at its events.
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