They won't leave Assata alone

I don't really get it. I suppose it's a combination of patriotism, the blind worship of police, racism, the hatred of all things radical, sexism, and some other things. Whatever the case, there are some (maybe more?) people who are so fucking fervent about Assata Shakur being recaptured. She's been in Cuba for twenty-five years. A few years back, in 2005, the state of New Jersey upped the reward for her capture to $1 million. The same day, the FBI put her on a "domestic terrorist watch list." Domestic terrorist. Living in Cuba since 1984/85. Convicted of shooting a cop. Lots of people shoot cops, but I don't think any of them has ever been deemed a terrorist before.

So now some people, the types who subscribe to/create/maintain the attitudes I mentioned at the top of this post, like politicians and police, are saying that if Barack Obama wants to cool things out with Cuba, then he has to arrange to have Assata sent back here. As usual, these people have media outlets doing their work for them.

This particularly troubling article, written by a man who is evidently quite conservative and at a minimum, fairly racist, does so much vile propagandizing for the masters. It's filled with so many problems. It's hard to determine where to start. Here are a few:

• "Then, four years ago, the State Police increased the American bounty on her once-Afro'd head to $1 million..."


• "Chesimard has reared her head now and then -- at times, it seems, to thumb her nose at the United States -- offering interviews to Newsday, among others, and writing books." - Reared her head? Why is she thumbing her nose by talking? I'm sure Newsday had a real black liberation agenda in mind when they put that piece together.


• "Authorites eluded convictions in several crimes in the early 1970s, including shootings, a bank holdup and a hand-grenade attempt that blew up a police car." - I'm pretty sure "eluded" is not really the right word choice for what he's trying to say, but his point is fucked nonetheless: this guy writes like he knows better than anyone, like he was there. They are not accusations, but "crimes" that she got away with. And what the hell is "a hand-grenade attempt that blew up a police car."? This guy cannot get his head around the idea that she didn't do these things.


• "She's been living under political asylum in Cuba the past 35 years. " She wasn't convicted until 1977. That's 32 years ago. Didn't make it to Cuba until 1984 at the earliest.


• "At trial, Harper (cop) said that Foerster (dead cop) reached into the vehicle, pulled out and held up an automatic pistol and ammunition clip, and said 'Jim, look what I found,' while facing Harper at the rear of the vehicle." - Why would someone do that? "Hey, I found some bullets in the car, I'm not gonna pay attention to the people in it for a little bit." That would never happen, unless you were the literal dumbest pig.


• "Harper testified that Acoli shot Foerster with a .38 caliber automatic pistol and then used Foerster's own gun to 'execute him.'" Harper also later testified that he lied.


• "Chesimard was caught five miles down the road across from the Joyce Kilmer Service area." - He doesn't tell you the part that she was near death in the back seat of the car, having been shot in the back.


• "Under cross-examination, Shakur was unable to explain how three clips of ammunition and 16 live shells had gotten into her shoulder bag." - That's a tough case to crack, huh?

Then the fool blows his case at the end by having to admit a fact - "Jurors convicted Chesimard as an accomplice in the murders of both Foerster and Shakur -- more than enough for the state of New Jersey, which penalizes such convictions with life prison terms." Yup. She got life for being at the scene. Not for doing anything.
Here are some points to consider, as related by one of her lawyers, Evelyn Williams:

The forensic evidence examined by both the New Jersey crime laboratory in Trenton, New Jersey and FBI crime laboratories in Washington, D.C. established the following:

1. The finger print analyses of every gun and every piece of ammunition found at the scene showed there were no fingerprints of Assata found on any of them. (The official analyses admitted into evidence) 

2. Neutron Activation Analysis taken immediately after Assata was taken to the hospital that night showed there was no gun power residue on her hands. Effectively refuting the possibility that she had fired a gun. (The official analyses were admitted into evidence) 

3. As a result of the bullet Harper shot under her armpit, while her arms were raised in, her median nerve was severed, immediately paralyzing her entire right arm, shattering her clavicle, and lodging in her chest so close to her heart that an operation to remove it was not feasible. A neurologist testified to that fact at the trial.

4. A pathologist testified that “There is no conceivable way that the bullet could have traveled over to the clavicle if her arm was down. That trajectory is impossible.”

5. A surgeon testified that “it was anatomically necessary that both arms be in the air for Ms. Chesimard to have received the wounds she did.”The state offered no expert witnesses to refute this medical testimony.

6. Photographs depicting the gunshot entry wound under her armpit and the entry would of the bullet Harper shot into her back were admitted into evidence during the trial.

The entire document is too long to post here, at three or four pages, but is totally worth a read. If nothing else, it can give you counterpoints, SOME kind of balance against this sensational trash making her out to be some kind of warlord or whatever.
She's in Cuba. She's been there for a long time. The Cuban government welcomes her and provides her with protection. If she did it, why would she still be saying that she didn't?