The 2019 ‘We The People Summit’ in Washington, DC, which is set to host eight top Democrat candidates for president in 2020, kicked off their proceedings with a chant quoting fugitive cop-killer Assata Shakur.
Jamal Watkins, Vice President of Civic Engagement at the NAACP, led the crowd in a call-and-answer session shouting together: “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 chant is from Shakur, also known as Joanne Chesimard, who herself is referencing Karl Marx. She is a convicted and escaped cop-killer who, in 2013 was named to the FBI’s Most Wanted Terrorists list under Barack Obama.
According to Mediaite, top 2020 Democratic candidates slated to speak at this conference include former Texas Rep. Beto O’Rourke, former HUD Secretary Julián Castro, Governor Jay Inslee (WA), Senators Kirsten Gillibrand (NY), Elizabeth Warren (MA), Bernie Sanders (VT), Amy Klobuchar (MN), and Cory Booker (NJ).
Booker stands out in particular, as he hails from the state where Shakur murdered State Trooper Werner Foerster during a shootout on the New Jersey Turnpike in 1973.
Speaker at Dem. Candidates Forum Gets Crowd to Chant Cop-Killer Assata Shakur Quote
https://t.co/CR2mt5w97R— PJ Media (@PJMedia_com) April 1, 2019
Will any of these Democrats be asked to denounce the words of Shakur or the conference for reciting them? Do you think for one moment that had some moron kicking off a Trump rally recited words from a terrorist that it wouldn’t be on the news 24/7?
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JetBlue Apologizes Over Use of Shakur in Black History Month Tribute
While Democrats will likely avoid having to apologize for any association with the words of Shakur, JetBlue wasn’s quite as fortunate after featuring the cop-killer in a Black History Month tribute at a John F. Kennedy International terminal in New York.
@JetBlue Rumor has it that you are celebrating Black History month at LGA by celebrating Assata Shakur? She is a convicted cop killer. Please tell me this is not true. pic.twitter.com/McD9zUbFZl
— Jen (@Jennymz76Jenny) February 24, 2019
The company was forced to apologize, saying their “intention was always to unite our crewmembers and customers around the importance of Black History Month.”
Maxine Waters Has Defended Shakur as a ‘Political Activist’
In 1998, Rep. Maxine Waters sent a personal letter to Fidel Castro apologizing for a vote she took demanding Shakur be extradited.
In the letter, she refers to the cop-killer as nothing more than “a political activist” who was fleeing “political persecution” and said that Castro was right to grant her “political asylum.”
In 1998 Maxine Waters wrote this letter begging Fidel Castro not to extradite FBI Most Wanted Terrorist Joanne Chesimard aka Assata Shakur.
She didn’t mention that Chesimard was a convicted cop-killer, nor did she name slain NJ Trooper Werner Foerster. https://t.co/LQdFy6PeOo pic.twitter.com/E7brl7rq1u
— John Cardillo (@johncardillo) January 17, 2019
Trump Demands She Be Returned to the U.S.
As Democrats celebrate her words and declare her nothing more than a ‘political prisoner,’ President Trump has been very outspoken in having her extradited back to the United States.
In June of 2017, the President called on the Cuban government to “put an end to the abuse of distance.”
“Release the political prisoners. Stop jailing innocent people. Open yourselves to political and economic freedoms,” Trump demanded. “Return the fugitives from American justice including the return of the cop killer Joanne Chesimard.”
At the time, Senator Robert Menendez (D-NJ) praised Trump for calling on Shakur’s return.
“It sends a powerful message to the Cubans of the importance of returning her,” Menendez said in an interview. “When the president of the United States verbalizes her name as a focal point, I think it’s a very powerful moment.”
Anybody seeking to perform the duty of ‘journalist’ might want to ask Menendez how he feels about his colleagues’ association with a conference praising her words.
