Back in 2016, some of us asked a simple question: Why doesn't the Obama administration demand the return of police killer Joanne Chesimard, who was hiding in Cuba? No Joanne, no embassy! Well, as you may remember, President Obama and Raul Castro did the wave at a baseball game and Joanne never came home to face justice.

We learned this week that Joanne Chesimard died in Cuba. Here is the story:

Cuba’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced Joanne Chesimard, a member of the Black Liberation Army convicted in the 1973 murder of New Jersey State Trooper Werner Foerster, died Thursday at age 78. 

She became one of the state’s most infamous criminals after Foerster’s murder and her subsequent escape to Cuba. New Jersey officials have sought to extradite Chesimard from Cuba for years; she topped the New Jersey State Police’s Most Wanted List until her death.

The Cuban ministry said she died in Havana of health complications and old age.

After graduating from college, she began using the name Assata Shakur. She and two other members of the Black Liberation Army were stopped by a pair of state troopers on the Turnpike on May 2, 1973. Chesimard was the subject of a multi-state manhunt at the time. Foerster and James Costan, another member of the BLA, died in the ensuing gunfight. State Trooper James Harper was also wounded.

Chesimard was convicted of murder and seven other felonies stemming from the shootout and sentenced to life in prison in 1977. She was also shot in the gunfight; she insisted she was innocent of the murder and had her arms in the air when she was shot. She escaped from prison in 1979 with the help of the BLA and the May 19 Communist Organization. She made her way to Cuba, where she was granted political asylum in 1984.

As you can image, Joanne became a hero in Cuba and would often appear in public to remind the world that the U.S. was a racist and imperialistic country.

Her death was greeted by some in an outrageous way. The Chicago teachers' union once again demonstrated that they do not know history or care to learn.

On Friday, Sept. 26, the Chicago Teachers Union posted on X: “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.”

Leader of freedom? What struggle? Hiding from the law after killing a police officer? I guess we know now why the Chicago public schools are a disaster.

Going forward, every Democrat should be asked about Joanne Chesimard and her crime. The Democrat running for governor and the other one over the bridge who is running for mayor. Let them choose sides: police killer or support of the police who must be outraged that this woman is getting such accolades for hiding in Cuba.

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Image: Public Domain