Take Two translates the day’s headlines for Southern California, making sense of the news and cultural events that affect our lives. Produced by Southern California Public Radio and broadcast from October 2012 – June 2021. Hosted by A Martinez.
In 1973 a young woman by the name of Joanne Chesimard was involved in the fatal shooting of a police officer in New Jersey.
Chesimard, who was a member of the Black Panther Party claimed her innocence, but was convicted to a life sentence a few years later.
But she escaped and made her way into Cuba, where she has lived ever since. Since then she changed her name to Assata Shakur and became a kind of vigilante folk hero of sorts.
But with the thawing of diplomatic tensions between the US and Cuba, New Jersey officials, including governor Chris Christie, have called for her capture and return.
We talk about her story with Joshua Guild, Associate professor of History and African American Studies at Princeton.