A private Catholic university in Washington, D.C., plans to hold a "full-day" campus-wide "remembrance" event Tuesday in honor of a woman who fled to Cuba after murdering a New Jersey state trooper.
It was reported recently that Joanne Chesimard, also known as Assata Shakur, had died in Cuba, according to her daughter and the Cuban government.
Chesimard was a Black liberation activist given political asylum in Cuba after her 1979 escape from a U.S. prison where she had been serving a life sentence. She had been living in exile since 1984.
Trinity Washington University, where former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., studied, is hosting a celebration of the "life, work, and enduring legacy of Assata Shakur," The Washington Free Beacon reported Tuesday.
The university is hosting the Chesimard event in conjunction with the Teagle Foundation, a liberal philanthropy founded by the late Standard Oil president and chair Walter Teagle.
"Assata's story is rare because she not only survived white supremacy — she escaped it," Trinity Washington University Professor Kimberly Monroe told Essence.
"That survival, and her ability to narrate it, is a model for young organizers and Black women today. It's why she remained a threat in the eyes of the U.S. government — because a free Black woman, telling her truth, and fighting for others to be free, is the most powerful story of all."
Progressive Reps. Yvette Clarke, D-N.Y., Summer Lee, D-Pa., and Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass., honored Shakur after her death, as did the NAACP and Democratic Socialists of America, the party of New York City Democrat mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y.
However, New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy, a Democrat, said the tributes for one of the FBI's most-wanted fugitives were "shameful and depraved."
Pelosi, who recently donated $1.5 million in Apple Inc. stock to establish a political center at Trinity in her name, has not commented on Chesimard's death or her House colleagues' support for the convicted killer, the Free Beacon noted.
Trinity Washington President Patricia McGuire praised Pelosi as "an icon" for the school's students after the lawmaker's "extraordinary gift" to the school.
"Nancy Pelosi's devotion to Trinity is also amazing — during her years as Speaker and as a member of Congress, she has come to campus often, and always remembers to invite students to events on the Hill, especially those honoring women's achievements," said McGuire, the Free Beacon reported.
Pelosi and McGuire headlined a "Democracy on the Ballot Symposium" at Trinity Washington weeks before the 2024 general election. At the event, Pelosi said, "We're about to elect a Black woman president of the United States."
President Donald Trump went on to defeat former Vice President Kamala Harris in the presidential election.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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