It wasn’t a big story at the time, but it had a happy ending. A couple of years ago, Marquette University in Milwaukee unveiled its new mural adorning the school’s Gender and Sexuality Resource Center: a portrait of Assata Shakur and two of her most famous quotes.
The plus side: when senior leadership at the school were made aware of the mural, they ordered it painted over, immediately.
After tweeting birthday wishes to Assata Shakur Monday, the organizers of the Women’s March took exactly the opposite approach, doubling down ten times over in a 20-tweet exposition on why Shakur is considered a feminist icon, or should be in their minds.
Reading the timeline of @womensmarch justifying their praise for Assata Shakur, wanted for domestic terrorism, is sad & laughable.
— Kathleen McKinley (@KatMcKinley) July 17, 2017
That it is.
Women's March is a nonviolent movement. We have never and will never use violence to achieve our goals. (1/20)
— Women's March (@womensmarch) July 17, 2017
https://twitter.com/politicalelle/status/887085258650206208
"She was a cop killer but it was for the right cause" https://t.co/3OCBtaspL8
— Ben McDonald (@Bmac0507) July 17, 2017
You just happen to support terrorists and criminals who do exactly that… https://t.co/3e0HS8YDhc
— (((AG))) (@AG_Conservative) July 17, 2017
Non violent? Then why dont you condemn Rasmea Odeh killing two Israelis? Or Linda Sarsour calling for FGM? Or Assata Shakur murdering a cop? https://t.co/SoBviP9MKh
— Liz Wheeler (@Liz_Wheeler) July 17, 2017
Hang on, there’s more … a lot more.
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The far right is threatened by our movement, and by our solidarity with other movements. (2/20)
— Women's March (@womensmarch) July 17, 2017
Our power—your power—scares the far right. They continue to try to divide us. Today's attacks on #AssataShakur are the latest example (3/20)
— Women's March (@womensmarch) July 17, 2017
Here is a brief refresher on who #AssataShakur is and why we consider her a feminist figure: (4/20)
— Women's March (@womensmarch) July 17, 2017
#AssataShakur is a civil rights leader who used her leadership position to challenge sexism within the Black Liberation Movement. (5/20)
— Women's March (@womensmarch) July 17, 2017
#AssataShakur's resistance tactics were different from ours. That does not mean that we do not respect her anti-sexism work. (6/20)
— Women's March (@womensmarch) July 17, 2017
#AssataShakur took a militant approach. We do not. That does not mean we don't respect and appreciate her anti-racism work. (7/20)
— Women's March (@womensmarch) July 17, 2017
Like many activists during the 60s and 70s, #AssataShakur was under constant FBI surveillance through a program called COINTELPRO. (8/20)
— Women's March (@womensmarch) July 17, 2017
Via @ACLU: COINTELPRO was "an effort to suppress domestic political dissent through an array of illegal activities." (9/20)
— Women's March (@womensmarch) July 17, 2017
COINTELPRO used illegal techniques to monitor & discredit civil rights groups and even kill civil rights leaders like Fred Hampton. (10/20)
— Women's March (@womensmarch) July 17, 2017
COINTELPRO targeted MLK until his assassination. Once he was killed & no longer a threat to FBI, they went after the Black Panthers. (11/20)
— Women's March (@womensmarch) July 17, 2017
COINTELPRO repeatedly tried to imprison Assata, attempting to link her to every east coast bank robbery involving a Black woman. (12/20)
— Women's March (@womensmarch) July 17, 2017
This is the terrifying climate #AssataShakur's resistance work took place in—when the govt was killing her friends and colleagues. (13/20)
— Women's March (@womensmarch) July 17, 2017
In 1973, #AssataShakur was involved in a shoot-out in which she was wounded & a NJ State Trooper & several of her colleagues killed. (14/20)
— Women's March (@womensmarch) July 17, 2017
That sounds pretty violent. Did Shakur fire any of those shots? It’s not clear from the tweet.
Assata was arrested, tortured and charged for the death of the State Trooper. As further punishment, she was held in a men's prison. (15/20)
— Women's March (@womensmarch) July 17, 2017
We see the decision to place Assata in a men's prison as state-sponsored sexual assault—using rape as legal punishment for a crime. (16/20)
— Women's March (@womensmarch) July 17, 2017
After two years, #AssataShakur escaped from prison. She has been living with political asylum in Cuba ever since. (17/20)
— Women's March (@womensmarch) July 17, 2017
In 2013, #AssataShakur became the first woman added to the FBI Most Wanted Terrorists list. She'd been implicated in no new crimes. (18/20)
— Women's March (@womensmarch) July 17, 2017
We say all this not to say that #AssataShakur has never committed a crime, and not to endorse all of her actions. (19/20)
— Women's March (@womensmarch) July 17, 2017
We say this to demonstrate the ongoing history of government & right-wing attempts to criminalize and discredit political activists. (20/20)
— Women's March (@womensmarch) July 17, 2017
The ones who murder cops. https://t.co/zUvVH2nLAT
— Phil Kerpen (@kerpen) July 18, 2017
Hmm … with all this talk about “the far right” being afraid of the Women’s March and these “right-wing attempts” to discredit political activists like them, we’d be tempted to suspect the Women’s March isn’t what it presented itself to be back in January — an event for all women (well, except pro-life women) and men too.
Just for the record, there was a time before the march when co-president Tamika Mallory insisted the event was “not anti-Trump” but simply “pro-women” … which explains Madonna fantasizing on stage about blowing up the White House. Yeah, the Women’s March wasn’t anti-Trump, and Assata Shakur is a feminist hero, too.
You are garbage, and you just tweeted happy birthday to a terrorist cop-killer. https://t.co/6YFH5rYfdO
— Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) July 17, 2017
https://twitter.com/notwokieleaks/status/887080530621206528
https://twitter.com/notwokieleaks/status/887081011032543232
https://twitter.com/CheeseForEvery1/status/887081452067840001
Imagine the media reaction if a Tea Party group tweeted about how they don't agree with Timothy McVeigh about everything BUT…
— Licensed Genderist (@satoshiksutra) July 17, 2017
https://twitter.com/SethAMandel/status/887088649157980162
Nice to know they "do not endorse all her actions". Bold, brave.
— The Amazing Criswell (@xwellpredicts) July 17, 2017
"Hey, Hitler massacred millions but how about his dedication to vegetarianism, right?! What a great symbol for the cause!" https://t.co/4pVtwcvRpr
— NeoN: Automataster (@neontaster) July 17, 2017
We're not saying that we support everything that Charles Manson did, just that some of his song lyrics were really groovy.
— Licensed Genderist (@satoshiksutra) July 17, 2017
Stalin was excellent at mitigating overpopulation. Let's not get hung up on the details here, folks.
— Westly Penny (@westlypenny) July 17, 2017
https://twitter.com/nihilistmets/status/887089153455861760
It's rare to see an explanation/response actually make it worse.
— Kron (@Kronykal) July 17, 2017
as long as the left celebrates cop killers, the right will never lose. https://t.co/AlHxXdnOhU
— GregGutfeld (@greggutfeld) July 17, 2017
* * *
Related:
BINGO! Women’s March ‘happy birthday to…’ earns slam-tastic response from Katie Pavlich https://t.co/cgfn0JzNdE
— Twitchy Team (@TwitchyTeam) July 17, 2017
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