FBI Director Condemns Mourning Of Assata Shakur

FBI Director Kash Patel Condemns Mourning Of “Terrorist” Assata Shakur, X Spits In His Face

Source: Tom Williams / Getty

FBI Director Kash Patel doesn’t want Americans, mainly Black Americans, mourning the death of freedom fighter Assata Shakur, calling her a “terrorist” and cop killer.

In a Sunday morning post on X, Patel called 2Pac’s godmother by her birth name, Joanne Chesimard, and denounced any idea that she was a revolutionary whose death should be memorialized. Instead Patel wanted everyone to remember that the FBI saw Shakur as a wanted felon and a convicted cop killer who escaped.

“She murdered New Jersey State Trooper Werner Foerster in cold blood, then fled to Cuba to escape accountability. The FBI never stopped calling her what she was: a terrorist,” Patel wrote. “Mourning her is spitting on the badge and the blood of every cop who gave their life in service.”

Shakur’s daughter, Kakuya Shakur, confirmed her mother’s death, noting that she died in Havana, Cuba, at age 78. The Cuban Ministry of Foreign Affairs also released a statement acknowledging Shakur’s death, citing health complications and advanced age.

“The former Black Liberation Army member was convicted in 1977 for Foerster’s killing and sentenced to life in prison. Just two years later, she escaped from prison with help from allies in the movement and eventually made her way to Cuba, where Fidel Castro granted her political asylum,” Complex reports.

Until her death, Shakur was still one of the FBI’s most wanted, having evaded capture by leading a seemingly normal life in Cuba. For years she would serve as a beacon for activists and a hip-hop inspiration for her resilience and bravery.

Patel made it clear that the bureau has no plans to soften or reframe her legacy in the wake of her death. His pointed remarks served as a reminder that, even in death, Shakur remains a deeply polarizing figure—reviled by many in law enforcement as a fugitive who evaded justice, yet celebrated by others as a fearless revolutionary who embodied the struggle for Black liberation. The bluntness of Patel’s message not only reaffirmed the bureau’s stance but also highlighted the long-standing rift between government institutions that cast her as a criminal and the communities who continue to honor her as a hero of resistance.