“Assata taught me.” The cited and oft-referenced inspiration behind the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement – the individual cited as its guru, maharishi and founder and regularly quoted by its supporters – is a convicted cop killer who is on the FBI’s Most Wanted Terrorists list. Pay particular note, this is critical.
Spinning the lore. The story goes that Black Lives Matter was founded by militant feminists Alicia Garza, Patrisse Cullors and Opel Tometi, with Garza widely recognized and acknowledged by apostles and acolytes as the most influential of the troika. In an article which details the philosophical foundation of BLM, Ms. Garza cites “Assata’s powerful demand in my organizing work.” Just think about that. So, who exactly is she?
The George Washington of BLM. Assata is a reference to Assata Shakur, aka Joanne Deborah Chesimard, a radical feminist and Marxist revolutionary who escaped from prison in 1979 while serving a life sentence for the murder of New Jersey State Trooper Werner Foerster. It seems that on the night of May 2, 1973, Shakur, along with two other accomplices, killed Foerster execution-style at point-blank range during a routine traffic stop on the New Jersey Turnpike in East Brunswick. Now, I invite you to read the legions of commentary on the sufficiency of evidence as to her conviction and the bases for her conviction. But, remember, “Assata taught me.”
Pledging allegiance. For the beloved Assata, the shooting was the culmination of years of dedicated and devoted militant radicalism during which she joined and left the Black Panther Party because it was not violent enough, before subsequently joining the Black Liberation Army, a domestic terror outfit responsible for bombings and assassinations throughout the 1970’s which claimed the lives of 13 police officers.
Just imagine. Imagine an organization called White Lives Matter that listed as its inspiration Timothy McVeigh or David Duke or George Wallace – or, even better, a convicted escaped black cop killer or mass murderer. Can you imagine the media reaction? I can. There’d be no concomitant care and concern over speaking ill of the sincere and well-earned feelings of disconnect on the parts of its membership. Black lives do matter. But the organization whose name hijacks that expression and thought deserves a thorough and robust vetting of its historical antecedents. Especially when they