Several members of the New York City Council and black community activists assembled on the steps of City Hall in Manhattan Wednesday to condemn the federal government’s $1 million bounty on Black Liberation Army member Joanne Chesimard, who is now known as Assata Shakur, and living in Cuba.
 
“The bounty is absurd,” Councilman Charles Barron (D-Brooklyn), who initiated the press conference,  told BlackAmericaWeb.com Wednesday. “It’s a license to kill.”
 
Authorities earlier this month increased the bounty on Shakur’s head from $150,000 to $1 million. Law enforcement officials say they hope the large reward will now encourage someone to come forward with information that will lead to Shakur’s arrest.    
 
Shakur, a former member of the Black Panther Party, was convicted of fatally shooting a New Jersey state trooper 32 years ago. Authorities also added Shakur to the FBI's domestic terrorist list, where Osama Bin Laden’s name also appears.
 
In 1979, Shakur escaped from a women's prison in Hunterdon County after she was convicted of the 1973 slaying of Trooper Werner Foerster. She made her way to Cuba and was granted political asylum. New Jersey officials have failed to persuade Cuba to extradite the 57-year-old Shakur.    

But Barron said he believes Shakur is innocent and that her life is now in danger. He is calling on law enforcement officials to rescind the bounty.
 
“It’s a license for sick bounty hunters to go after her, and that would be murder,” Barron said in an interview Wednesday. “She is innocent, and she never should have been convicted.”
 
Barron said he is sponsoring a City Council resolution calling for Shakur to be returned to her family in the United States and taken off the FBI’s terrorist list.
 
“The bounty should go straight to hell,” Barron said. “They are calling for her murder.” Barron, a former member of the Black Panther Party, described Shakur as a “hero” in the New York community. 
 
Two New York City Council members -- Larry Seabrook (D-Bronx) and James Sanders (D-Queens) –-  joined Barron at the 45-minute press conference, as did hip-hop artist/actor Mos Def and rapper Talib Kweli, Def's partner in the group Black Star, who were on hand to support Barron’s efforts, according to Paul Washington, an aide to Barron. Washington said members of the Malcolm X Grass Roots Movement and the December 12 Movement also attended Wednesday’s event at City Hall. 
 
On May 2, 1973,  Trooper Foerster responded as backup when another trooper had stopped Shakur and two companions for a faulty tail light on the New Jersey Turnpike. Shots were fired and Foerster was hit. As he lay on the ground, authorities said, Shakur took his gun and shot him in the head and neck.
 
Shakur was interviewed by a New York television reporter in Havana in 1998, in which she denied killing Foster and said she lived in fear of the New Jersey State Police. New Jersey officials said Shakur was lying.
 
Her brother-in-law, Zayd Shakur, was killed in the 1973 gun battle and another man, Sundiata Acoli, was arrested. Acoli is serving a life sentence in a Pennsylvania prison and was denied parole last August.
 
“Assata was granted asylum in Cuba because they understood what many here understand,”  Kamau Karl Franklin, an attorney and member of the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement, said in a statement.
 
“The Cuban government understands that Assata was convicted in a climate where she and anyone who stood up for the human  rights of Black people were completely criminalized,” he said. “She never had a chance at a  fair trial in this country and Cuba understands that.”
 
Barron, who has served on the City Council since 2001, said he hoped many of his colleagues on the Council will support his resolution in support of Shakur, but he acknowledged in an interview that some legislators may be reluctant to embrace his cause.  
 
“It’s time for us to take a stand,” Barron said. “Twenty-five of the 51 council members are people of color, and New York is 65 percent people of color. We have to stop punk politics and not be scared to stand up because the imperialist system says this woman is a terrorist. We need to have some guts.”