FBI Director Kash Patel Says Don’t Mourn Assata Shakur: “She Was a Terrorist”

FBI Director Kash Patel says that Americans should not mourn the late Assata Shakur. Posting on X (formerly Twitter), Patel referred to the former Black Liberation Army member as a “terrorist” in the wake of her death on Sept. 25. 

Referring to her by her birth name, Joanne Chesimard, Patel slammed the idea that Shakur was a freedom fighter.

“She murdered New Jersey State Trooper Werner Foerster in cold blood, then fled to Cuba to escape accountability. The FBI never stopped calling her what she was: a terrorist,” Patel posted. “Mourning her is spitting on the badge and the blood of every cop who gave their life in service.”

Shakur denied shooting Foerster. For decades, her supporters saw her as an activist jailed for crimes she did not commit.

Shakur’s daughter confirmed her passing in Havana at age 78. Shakur had been living in exile since 1984. The Cuban Ministry of Foreign Affairs also released a statement announcing Shakur’s death from health complications and age.

“Words cannot describe the depth of loss that I am feeling at this time. I want to thank you for your loving prayers,” her daughter Kakuya Shakur wrote in a Facebook post.

Shakur was convicted in 1979 in the killing of Foerster and she was sentenced to life in prison. Two years later, she escaped prison with help from allies and eventually wound up in Cuba, where Fidel Castro granted her political asylum.

Shakur remained one of the FBI’s most wanted fugitives for decades. But she became revered by a new generation of activists and artists who believed she was framed as part of the C.I.A.’s COINTELPRO initiative to discredit and dismantle Black revolutionary organizations. She was a godmother to the late rapper/actor 2Pac; and she was routinely referenced by hip-hop artists like Common and dead prez.