BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:-//InvisionCommunity Events 5.0.18//EN METHOD:PUBLISH CALSCALE:GREGORIAN REFRESH-INTERVAL:PT15M X-PUBLISHED-TTL:PT15M X-WR-CALNAME:RMCommunityCalendar NAME:RMCommunityCalendar BEGIN:VTIMEZONE TZID:Europe/London TZURL:https://tzurl.org/zoneinfo/Europe/London X-LIC-LOCATION:Europe/London BEGIN:DAYLIGHT TZOFFSETFROM:+0000 TZOFFSETTO:+0100 TZNAME:BST DTSTART:20250330T020000Z RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;BYMONTH=3;BYDAY=-1SU END:DAYLIGHT BEGIN:STANDARD TZOFFSETFROM:+0100 TZOFFSETTO:+0000 TZNAME:GMT DTSTART:20251026T020000Z RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;BYMONTH=10;BYDAY=-1SU END:STANDARD END:VTIMEZONE BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Assata Shakur spirit flew 09/26 in the year 2025 DTSTAMP:20250926T224031Z SEQUENCE:0 UID:523-7-c3fe8195a3dde498d013e477e2142422@aalbc.com ORGANIZER;CN="richardmurray":noreply@aalbc.com DESCRIPTION:\n \n\n Assata Shakur spirit flew 09/26 in the year 2025 \n \n correction she was born July 16\, 1947\, so she was 78.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\ n\n \n\n\n\n from Essence Magazine\n\n We are saddened to report that Assa ta Shakur\, revolutionary\, activist\, and author\, has passed away. \n\n Born JoAnne Chesimard\, she rose as a leading member of the Black Panther Party and the Black Liberation Army\, fighting for justice and freedom.  \n\n A political exile in Cuba since 1984\, her life embodied resistance\, resilience\, and the unyielding pursuit of liberation. Her legacy lives o n in the generations she inspired to stand tall in the face of oppression. \n\n The best way to honor here is with a quote we all should by: \n\n “It is our duty to fight for our freedom.  It is our duty to win. We mu st love each other and support each other. We have nothing to lose but our chains.”\n\n Rest in power\, Assata.\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n https://www.essen ce.com/cuba-says-returning-assata-shakur-us-off-the-table/\n\n\n\n Cuba Sa ys Returning Assata Shakur to U.S. Is 'Off the Table'\nAssata Shakur has b een living in Cuba since 1977\, when she escaped imprisonment after she wa s convicted of killing a U.S. state trooper\nBy Taylor Lewis · Updated Oc tober 27\, 2020\nDespite improved relations between the United States and Cuba\, Cuban officials have no plans to turn American fugitive Assata Shak ur over to the U.S.\n\nShakur\, the first woman to be placed on the FBI’ s most wanted list\, has been at large since 1977\, four years after she w as arrested on charges of killing a New Jersey State Trooper. However\, ma ny believe that Shakur\, who had strong affiliations with the Black Panthe r Party\, was framed by COINTELPRO\, an anti-liberation government organiz ation. After the shooting\, her fingerprints were never found on the gun\, and there was no trace of gunpowder on her hands. With the help of the Bl ack Panthers\, Shakur escaped prison and fled to Cuba\, where she has been living freely ever since. Cuba officially granted her political asylum in 1984\, though the United States is determined to see her back on American soil\, issuing multiple warrants for her arrest. \n\nPresident Obama ann ounced in December that the two countries have restored relations\, even r eleasing political prisoners from both sides. But\, the chances that Cuba will agree to turn over Shakur are slim. Earlier this week\, Gustavo Machi n\, deputy director for American affairs at the Cuban Ministry of Foreign Affairs\, told Yahoo! News\, “I can say it is off the table. There are v ery serious doubts about that case. We consider that a politically motivat ed case against that lady.”\n\nThe U.S. has not responded to Machin’s statement.\n\n\n\n\n\n \n\n \n\n https://www.essence.com/assata-shakur-fac ts-call-return-from-cuba/\n\n\n\n 8 Things to Know About Assata Shakur and the Calls to Bring Her Back from Cuba\nBy Paula Rogo · Updated October 2 6\, 2020\nEvery few years\, it’s not uncommon to see Assata Shakur’s n ame back in the news headlines.\n\nShakur is a revolutionary Black icon\, whose legend has evolved into making her a patron saint of Black rebellion in the last half-century. The Queens\, N.Y\, native has been living in Cu ba for over 30 years\, after having escaped from the prison where she was serving a sentence for allegedly killing a New Jersey state trooper in 197 3.\n\n5399089366001\nIn 2017\, President Trump announced that the US would impose new limits on US travelers to Cuba\, adding that the US would cons ider lifting those and other restrictions only after certain changes were made — including returning American fugitives like Shakur.\n\n“The har boring of criminals and fugitives will end\,” Trump said to Cuba. “You have no choice. It will end.”\n\nCuba pushed back\, refusing to hand he r over\, and adding another chapter to Shakur’s revolutionary life. The island has long been a haven for African-Americans who’ve committed “p olitical crimes” or domestic “terrorism” (In the 1960s\, Black Panth ers such as Eldridge Cleaver\, Huey Newton and Raymond Johnson all spent t ime in Cuba).\n\nA mystic lore now surrounds Shakur\, both in her four-dec ade evasion of law enforcement — she was the first woman to ever make th e FBI’s most wanted terrorist list — as well as her proximity to hip-h op royalty — she is step-aunt and godmother to the late Tupac Shakur.\n\ nHere are eight things to know about her:\n\n1. What’s in a Name?\n\nSha kur was born Joanne Deborah Chesimard\, in Jamaica\, Queens. She changed h er name to Assata Shakur in 1971. “The name JoAnne began to irk my nerve s\,” she writes in her autobiography. “I had changed a lot and moved t o a different beat. I didn’t feel like no JoAnne\, or no Negro\, or no A merikan. I felt like an African woman. My mind\, heart\, and soul had gone back to Africa but my name was still stranded in Europe somewhere.”\n\n 2. The Revolution\n\nArticle continues after video.\nShakur joined the Bla ck Panthers in the late 1960s while in her 20s\, but eventually became dis illusioned with the direction of the organization and left. She then becam e a member of the Black Liberation Army (BLA)\, another militant Black org anization that believed in open resistance.\n\n3. Her Alleged Crimes\n\nOn May 2\, 1973\, Shakur and two members of the BLA were pulled over by stat e troopers in New Jersey. State Trooper Werner Foerster and one BLA member were killed. While police maintain that Shakur is responsible in Foerster ’s death\, she has consistently denied the accusation. In 1977\, Shakur was convicted on one murder charge and six assault charges and sentenced t o life in prison. But there is much evidence to suggest the trial was not fair\; her lawyer called the trial “a legal lynching and a kangaroo cour t.”\n\nShe escaped in 1979 with the assistance of BLA members posing as visitors to the prison.\n\n4. Fidel Steps In\n\nShakur was granted asylum by Fidel Castro in 1984.\n\n5. FBI’s Most Wanted\n\nIn May 2013\, the 40 th anniversary of her arrest\, she became the first woman ever to be named on the FBI’s Most Wanted Terrorists list. There is a $2 million federal and state reward for her arrest.\n\n6. Extradition\n\nOver the years\, po liticians have called for her extradition from Cuba\, including Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey\, and most recently President Trump.\n\n7. ‘She Is Innocent’\n\nMany prominent Black thinkers and leaders have also main tained her innocence. Angela Davis\, for example\, has said that Shakur is a little threat to the U.S. government:\n\n“Assata is not a threat. She is innocent\,” she has said. “People really don’t know the details and are not aware of the extent to which [Shakur] was targeted by the FBI and the COINTEL programme.”\n\n8. Hip-Hop Loves Her\n\nShakur is an icon within hip-hop lore\, having been cited in songs like Public Enemy’s “Rebel Without A Pause” to Common’s “A Song for Assata.” Being t he godmother and step-aunt to Tupac Shakur also adds to her intrigue.\n\n\ n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n from NewsOne\n\n\n\n Activist\, revolutionary\, Black P anther Party leader and member of the Black Liberation Army (BLA)\, Assata Olugbala Shakur\, has died at age 78\, according to her daughter\, Kakuya Shakur\, meaning the ancestors have gained a fierce warrior in the fight against white supremacy. May she rest in power. ✊🏾\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n https://newsone.com/6489574/revolutionary-fighter-for-black-libe ration-assata-shakur-dies-at-78/\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Revolutiona ry Fighter For Black Liberation Assata Shakur Dies At 78\nBlack Liberation Party member Assata Shakur\, born JoAnne Deborah Byron\, has died at the age of 78\, according to family members.\n\nSource: Delphine Fawandu / Del phine Fawandu\nActivist\, revolutionary\, Black Panther Party leader and m ember of the Black Liberation Army (BLA)\, Assata Olugbala Shakur\, has di ed at age 78\, according to her daughter\, Kakuya Shakur\, meaning the anc estors have gained a fierce warrior in the fight against white supremacy.\ n\nShakur\, born JoAnne Deborah Byron on July 16\, 1947\, in the Flushing neighborhood of Queens\, New York\, was the sister of fellow Black liberat ion movement icon Mutulu Shakur\, who died in 2023 at 72\, and the godmoth er and step-aunt of late legendary rapper and actor Tupac Shakur\, whose m other\, Afeni\, was Mutulu’s wife.\n\nAssata represents one of the most iconic names associated with the Black Panthers and the fight to truly lib erate Black people from white overseers.\n\nThat is how Black American peo ple see and celebrate her.\n\nFor America\, she’s a far more controversi al figure\, and to many\, she’s a notorious criminal who broke out of pr ison and fled the country after murdering a police officer\, an act that k ept her on the FBI’s Most Wanted List and New Jersey’s Most Wanted Lis t until her dying day. According to EBSCO Knowledge Advantage\, she was th e first woman to be placed on the FBI’s Most Wanted List.\n\nOn May 2\, 1973\, Shakur and two other BLA members were pulled over on the New Jersey Turnpike by State Trooper Werner Foerster and another highway officer. A confrontation occurred between the officers and Shakur’s group\, which r esulted in a shootout that left Forrester and another individual dead. In 2019\, FBI’s Special Agent in Charge Gregory Ehrie characterized the sho oting as “a heinous execution of a law enforcement officer\, cut and d ry.”\n\n“This is without dispute\,” Ehrrie continued.\n\nOh\, but th is certainly has been disputed.\n\nIn fact\, supporters of Shakur have and continue to argue that the trial was flawed\, citing a lack of physical e vidence and eyewitness inconsistencies\, and the history of efforts by law enforcement\, including the FBI\, to undermine and outright sabotage the civil rights movement and Black power movements.\n\nAt any rate\, Shakur e scaped from prison in 1979 and ultimately sought asylum in Cuba\, where sh e lived out her life.\n\nAs written by our sister site\, Bossip:\n\nBut de spite the government’s efforts to silence her\, Assata Shakur’s words and work lived on. Her 1988 autobiography Assata became a blueprint for re sistance and self-determination\, widely studied by activists\, scholars\, and young people searching for a voice in the struggle. Her life inspired movements like Assata’s Daughters in Chicago\, and her name was shouted in protests in Ferguson and across the world. Assata was a human rights a ctivist and freedom fighter who stood in solidarity with oppressed people worldwide — and for that\, her legacy will endure.\n\n“People get used to anything. The less you think about your oppression\, the more your tol erance for it grows. After a while\, people just think oppression is the n ormal state of things. But to become free\, you have to be acutely aware o f being a slave\,” Shakur once said\, according to her book\, Assata: An Autobiography.\n\nIn honor of her legacy\, here’s the beautiful tribute to Assata Shakur\, her story and her legacy\, “A Song for Assata\,” b y Common.\nhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HaqXrT9bU10\nRest well\, Assata \, and be free.\n\n\n\n\n A SONG FOR ASSATA by COMMON\n\n https://www.yout ube.com/watch?v=HaqXrT9bU10\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n \n\n https://newso ne.com/2436064/angela-davis-fbi-assata-shakur/\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Angela D avis: FBI Targeting Assata Shakur ‘Reflects Very Logic Of Terrorism’ [ VIDEO]\nIn an interview from 2013\, Angela Davis and Lennox Hinds\, Assata Shakur's attorney\, discuss Assata being added to the FBI's Most Wanted l ist.\n\nWritten by\nKirsten West Savali\nPublished on\nSeptember 26\, 2025 \n\nUPDATE — Friday\, Sept. 26\, 2025\, 11:12 a.m. EST: Assata Shakur jo ined the ancestors on Thursday\, Sept. 25\, 2025. In rememberance of her l ife and her work to liberate Black people\, NewsOne is republishing this a rticle and video about her being placed on the FBI’s Most Wanted List.\n \nIn an interview on Democracy Now with Amy Goodman and Juan González\, D avis said that the FBI placing Shakur on its “Most Wanted Terrorists” list\, the first  woman to be so designated\, “reflects the very logic of terrorism.”\n\n“It seems to me that this act incorporates or reflec ts the very logic of terrorism\,” Davis says. “I can’t help but thin k that it’s designed to frighten people who are involved in struggles to day. Forty years ago seems like it was a long time ago. In the beginning o f the 21st century\, we’re still fighting around the very same issues — police violence\, healthcare\, education\, people in prison.”\n\nDav is was joined by Lennox Hinds\, Assata Shakur’s attorney since 1973 and professor of criminal justice at Rutgers University\, who also said the ac t is politically motivated:\n\n“This is a political act pushed by the st ate of New Jersey\, by some members of Congress from Miami\, and with the intent of putting pressure on the Cuban government and to inflame public o pinion\,” Hinds says. “There is no way to appeal someone being put on the terrorists list.”\n\nShakur\, formerly Joanne Chesimard\, was a memb er of the Black Panther Party and Black Liberation Army\, and the first wo man placed on the “Most Wanted Terrorists” list. Shakur\, the godmothe r of slain Hip-Hop artist\, poet\, actor and activist\, Tupac Shakur\, is only the second person from inside the United States to be placed on the l ist. In an unexpected move\, the state of New Jersey announced it was addi ng $1 million to the FBI’s $1 million reward for her capture.\n\nThough the politically accepted version of events vilifies Shakur\, please read b elow for the facts.\n\nLiberation News reports:\n\nShakur was falsely conv icted of having killed an officer on May 2\, 1973. While driving on the Ne w Jersey Turnpike\, Assata\, Zayd Shakur\, and Sundiata Acoli were stopped by state troopers\, allegedly for having a “faulty taillight.” A shoo tout ensued where one state trooper killed Zayd Shakur\, and another troop er\, Werner Foerster\, ended up dead. Shakur was charged with both murders \, despite the fact that the other trooper\, James Harper\, admitted he ki lled Zayd Shakur.\n\nAssata had been\, following police instructions\, sta nding with her hands in the air\, when she was shot by Trooper Harper more than once\, including a bullet to the back. Trooper Harper lied and said he had seen Shakur reach for a gun\, a claim he later recanted. He also cl aimed she had been in a firing position\, something a surgeon who examined her said was “anatomically impossible.” The same surgeon said it wa s “anatomically necessary” for her arms to have been raised for her to receive the bullet wounds she did. Tests done by the police found that Sh akur had not fired a gun\, and no physical or medical evidence was present ed by the prosecution to back up their claim that she had fired a gun at T rooper Harper.\n\nWhile she was in trial proceedings\, the state attempted to pin six other serious crimes on her\, alleging she had carried out ban k robberies\, kidnappings and attempted killings. She was acquitted three times\, two were dismissed and one resulted in a hung jury.\n\nShakur was put on trial in a county where because of pre-trial publicity 70 percent o f people thought she was guilty\, and she was judged by an all-white jury. Without any physical evidence to present\, the prosecution had to rely to tally on false statements and innuendo aimed at playing on the prejudices of the jury pool against Black people\, political radicals\, and Black rev olutionaries in particular. Finally\, after years behind bars\, the state secured her conviction for the Turnpike shooting.\n\nIn 1979\, Shakur esca ped from jail and fled to Cuba where she received political asylum and has lived ever since.\n\nShe once wrote\, “I am a 20th century escaped slav e. Because of government persecution\, I was left with no other choice tha n to flee from the political repression\, racism and violence that dominat e the U.S. government’s policy towards people of color.”\n\nhttps://yo utu.be/ZCuj2pvFPY4?si=iv61Mja2MPAKZy5A\n\nIt speaks to the hypocrisy of th e United States that there are police officers who have not only killed un armed\, innocent people\, but are roaming free and lauded for their braver y. Based on the criteria\, there are certain police departments who should be characterized as domestic terror cells. But instead\, the FBI is going after a 65-year-old revolutionary who isn’t even guilty and — by inte rnational law — has the right to seek political asylum.\n\nIt is amazi ng — and pathetic — how swiftly the FBI felt compelled to frame the do mestic terrorism conversation around a Black revolutionary living in Cuba\ , instead of two White men from Boston.\n\nTiming is everything — and th e timing of this travesty of justice speaks volumes.\n\nTo show your suppo rt and say Hands Off Assata Shakur\, sign the Change.org here.\n\n\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Angela Davis and Assata Shakur's Lawyer Denounce FBI's Adding of Exiled Activist to Terrorist List\n\n https://youtu.be/ZCuj2pvFPY4?si=i v61Mja2MPAKZy5A\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n \n\n In 1987\n\n\n\n \n\n refe rral\n\n https://www.nbcnews.com/news/nbcblk/assata-shakur-black-liberatio n-army-figure-activist-dies-78-rcna233919\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n  \n\n DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250716 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;INTERVAL=1 END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR