Throwback Thursday: Common - "Song For Assata"

In case you are wondering why Common's "Song For Assata" is our Throwback for this particular Thursday, the FBI announced today that it has put the black activist icon who gave the song its name--Assata Shakur,AKA Joanne Deborah Chesimard--on its Most Wanted List and is offering a $2 Million reward for information leading to her capture. Shakur, the step-aunt of deceased rap icon Tupac Shakur and a former member of the Black Panther party and the Black Liberation Army, has been classified as a "domestic terrorist" since 2005 and is presumed to be living in Cuba, where she received political asylum beginning in 1984.

A Song For Assata (Album Version)

Assata's story--she was incarcerated after a shootout with NJ state troopers resulted in the death of both her BLA comrade Zayd Malik Shakurand trooper Werner Foerster, and subsequently her conviction on first degree murder charges--will be well familiar to many Okayplayers. But it is painted vividly in Com's verbal narrative (Com also shouted out Assata in his recent "Open Letter Pt. 2" freestyle) for those that need a refresher. Find below the FBI announcement in text and video form--and to all that we'll just add the words of OKP frienddream hampton(via twitter):

Assata is also a mother and a Cancer and a painter and a poet who trains in martial arts

Frustrating that blk people are generally "post-movement" while the FBI will not only never forget, but they stay upping the ante.

#HandsOffAssata

On the 40th anniversary of the cold-blooded murder of a New Jersey state trooper, the fugitive convicted of the killing, Joanne Chesimard, has been named a Most Wanted Terrorist by the FBIthe first woman ever and only the second domestic terrorist to make the list.

Officials from the FBI and the New Jersey State Police made the announcement this morning during a press conference, noting that the FBI is offering a reward of up to $1 million for information leading to the apprehension of Chesimard, who is believed to be living in Cuba under political asylum. Additionally, the state of New Jersey is offering an independent reward of up to $1 million, bringing the total maximum reward to $2 million.