On its official Instagram account, the Indiana University Department of Information and Library Science referred to convicted cop killer Assata Shakur as a “social activist” while promoting her book.
“Winter Reading List recommendation time!!” read the caption, which went on to suggest a “staff pick” from an apparent faculty member. “Lelah is reading Assata by Assata Shakur. This book is an autobiography of Assata Shakur, social activist and former member of the Black Liberation Army, as well as the godmother of Tupac Shakur.”
Shakur, whose real name is Joanne Deborah Chesimard, is a convicted cop killer who fled the United States in 1979 after a prison break. She is also the first woman to make it onto the FBI’s Most Wanted Terrorist list, on which she still remains.
The Instagram post also features a photo of Shakur’s book, which features a foreword by Marxist activist Angela Davis, who also has appeared on the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted List.
In 1977, Shakur was convicted on one murder charge and six assault charges and sentenced to life in prison for shooting New Jersey state trooper Werner Foerster execution-style in 1973. But in ’79, Shakur escaped with the help of Black Liberation Army members posing as visitors — and fled to Cuba.
In 2013, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Newark Division Aaron T. Ford said Shakur “is a domestic terrorist who murdered a law enforcement officer execution-style. We want the public to know that we will not rest until this fugitive is brought to justice.”