hands off assata, orange fool: trump demands the return of assata shakur

With little influence over his party’s majority in both chambers of Congress and his own self-destructive behavior blowing up his Presidency, Donald Trump is looking for yet another way to give his own citizens the finger. With our tentative removal from the Paris Climate Accord and the sabotage of the ACA both underway, Trumpy has ‘demanded’ the return of Assata Shakur, née Joanne Chesimard. During last Friday’s announcement to rollback the Obama-era’s normalization of Cuban relations, the Emperor With No Clothes told his excitable crowd, “Return the fugitives from American justice, including the return of the cop killer Joanne Chesimard.” Huh? “To the Castro regime, I repeat, the harboring of criminals and fugitives will end. You have no choice. It will end.” This is what’s at the tip-top of the President’s to-do list.

Assata, a Queens-born Black activist and former member of the Black Liberation Army, was convicted of killing a police officer in 1977. She escaped from prison and fled to Cuba in 1984, where she has been ever since.

During this time period, countless Black activists were wrongfully targeted by local and federal law enforcement and were blackmailed, framed, and convicted of crimes they didn’t commit. Many believe Assata is one such person.

*Erin White is an Atlanta-based writer and AFROPUNK’s editorial and social media assistant. You can follow her on Tumblr or friend her on Facebook. Have a pitch or an inquiry? Shoot her an email at erin@afropunk.com.

Photos: Assata Shakur, Donald Trump