Nikole Hannah-Jones, a prominent figure at the New York Times known for her “1619 Project,” recently wrote an obituary for Joanne Chesimard, also known as Assata Shakur. Chesimard was convicted in 1977 for the murder of a New Jersey state trooper.
Hannah-Jones’s piece raises questions about Chesimard’s guilt, stating that she was convicted by an “all-white jury” and that Chesimard claimed she didn’t shoot anyone and had her hands up when the shooting occurred. However, the article omits key details.
The Times piece mentions the name of Chesimard, but fails to mention the name of the state trooper she killed. He was Werner Foerster, a Vietnam veteran with a wife and child.
While Hannah-Jones mentions the racial makeup of the jury, she fails to mention that it was President Barack Obama who added Chesimard to the list of most wanted terrorists in 2013. The Times also doesn’t mention Aaron Ford, the FBI special agent in charge who called Chesimard a “domestic terrorist” who murdered a law enforcement officer “execution-style.”
Another New York Times obituary of Chesimard, written by Clyde Haberman, included Foerster’s name as well as the name of another trooper, James Harper, who was wounded in the incident. Haberman’s piece also noted that Chesimard referred to police as “pigs” in her autobiography and that she took on the name Assata Olugbala Shakur, with Assata meaning “she who struggles,” Olugbala meaning “savior,” and Shakur meaning “thankful one.”
Hannah-Jones describes Chesimard as having “died free” in Cuba, where she was granted asylum after being smuggled out of the United States. This is consistent with Hannah-Jones’s previous favorable writings about Cuba, where she praised the country’s high literacy rate, low HIV infection rate, and free healthcare system. She wrote that Cuba is not the “great evil we are led to believe.”
It’s worth noting that Hannah-Jones’s trip to Cuba was funded in part by a grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
The New York Times also included a piece about Max Frankel, a former editor who encouraged the magazine to publish an end-of-year issue on notable deaths. The piece notes that the issue was created to honor both luminaries and “fascinating scoundrels.”
In light of these details, it’s fair to question the New York Times‘ decision to publish Hannah-Jones’s obituary of Chesimard, which omits key facts and seems to portray a convicted murderer in a sympathetic light. This raises concerns about the newspaper’s commitment to fair and balanced reporting, especially when it comes to sensitive issues involving law enforcement and political ideology.
