Politics
Assata Shakur Supporters Fight for Her Exoneration
Supporters of Assata Shakur say evidence shows she is innocent of murder. (Courtesy of ipowerrichmond.com)
by Barrington M. Salmon
Special to the NNPA from The Washington Informer
When President Barack Obama announced his intention to normalize relations with longtime nemesis Cuba, it wasn’t long before questions began to swirl about the fate of Assata Shakur.
Shakur, 67, the aunt and godmother of Tupac Shakur, has been a fugitive since 1979 and was spirited to Cuba where she has lived in exile since 1984. She’s sought by the Federal Bureau of Investigation for her alleged involvement in the shooting death of a New Jersey state trooper in 1973. In May 2013, the FBI placed a $10 million bounty on her head and added Shakur to their Terrorist Most Wanted List.
Convicted of murder in 1977 after five trials, Shakur – a member of the Black Panther Party and activist from in her 20s – was given a life sentence but and escaped while waiting for the appeal process to take its course.
Cuba’s Foreign Minister for North America affairs Josefina Vidal, said Cuba will not return Shakur following public requests by 2016 presumptive presidential candidate and N.J. Gov. Chris Christie, the FBI and acting state Attorney General John Hoffman.
“We’ve explained to the U.S. government in the past that there are some people living in Cuba to whom Cuba has legitimately granted political asylum,” said Vidal, citing the absence of an extradition treaty between the U.S. and Cuba.
Nkechi Taifa, a local attorney and longtime activist, said blacks who embrace the concepts of fairness and equality shouldn’t shy away from speaking up and advocating on Shakur’s behalf adding that Shakur’s case must be looked at against the backdrop of COINTELPRO, an FBI-sponsored program created and executed by J. Edgar Hoover.
“They wanted to stop the rise of a Messiah to unify black masses. The FBI was told to be very creative and come up with solutions to destroy you and your families. They sowed distrust, monitored families and spread widespread information of the day,” Taifa said.
Shakur, and members of the Black Liberation Army, got into a shootout with officers on the New Jersey Turnpike in 1973. State Trooper Werner Foerster died as did one of the revolutionaries. In 1977, a jury convicted Shakur of first degree murder for being an accomplice in Foerster’s killing, among other charges. She was sentenced to 25 years in prison despite Foerster’s partner’s admission that he lied in a police report when he said Shakur opened fire on Foerster. Like Michael Brown, forensic evidence showed that Shakur had her arms raised when she was shot.
Shakur’s lawyer Lennox Hinds and Angela Davis appeared on Democracy Now to denounce Shakur’s addition to the FBI list. Davis referred to the FBI’s actions as politically motivated.
“It seems to me that this act incorporates or reflects the very logic of terrorism,” she said. “I can’t help but think that it’s designed to frighten people who are involved in struggles today. Forty years ago seems like it was a long time ago. In the beginning of the 21st century, we’re still fighting around the very same issues – police violence, healthcare, education and people in prison.”
Hinds, a professor of criminal justice at Rutgers University in New Jersey, castigated the FBI and New Jersey authorities.
“This is a political act pushed by the state of New Jersey, by some members of Congress from Miami, and with the intent of putting pressure on the Cuban government and to inflame public opinion,” said Hinds, who has represented Shakur since 1973. “There is no way to appeal someone being put on the terrorists list.”
Noted author and lecturer Dr. Gerald Horne said the Cuban authorities should maintain their posture of not returning Shakur. The Castro government has argued that there are several men who committed acts of terror against the government and its people who the U.S. refuses to return. And as Hinds added, the Cuban government also maintains that if political exiles in the island nation are allowed to return, they would likely be subjected to racial and political repression.
Horne, author of more than 30 books, said Shakur should remain vigilant.
“We can’t rule out kidnapping. We can’t rule that out at all even though it would complicate U.S.-Cuba relations to detriment of the U.S.,” he said.
Activism
Oakland Post: Week of March 28 – April 1, 2025
The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of March 28 – April 1, 2025
To enlarge your view of this issue, use the slider, magnifying glass icon or full page icon in the lower right corner of the browser window.
Activism
Sen. Lola Smallwood-Cuevas Honors California Women in Construction with State Proclamation, Policy Ideas
“Women play an important role in building our communities, yet they remain vastly underrepresented in the construction industry,” Smallwood-Cuevas stated. “This resolution not only recognizes their incredible contributions but also the need to break barriers — like gender discrimination.
By Antonio Ray Harvey, California Black Media
To honor Women in Construction Week, Sen. Lola Smallwood-Cuevas (D-Los Angeles), a member of the California Legislative Black Caucus (CLBC), introduced Senate Concurrent Resolution (SCR) 30 in the State Legislature on March 6. This resolution pays tribute to women and highlights their contributions to the building industry.
The measure designates March 2, 2025, to March 8, 2025, as Women in Construction Week in California. It passed 34-0 on the Senate floor.
“Women play an important role in building our communities, yet they remain vastly underrepresented in the construction industry,” Smallwood-Cuevas stated. “This resolution not only recognizes their incredible contributions but also the need to break barriers — like gender discrimination.
Authored by Assemblymember Liz Ortega (D-San Leandro), another bill, Assembly Concurrent Resolution (ACR) 28, also recognized women in the construction industry.
The resolution advanced out of the Assembly Committee on Rules with a 10-0 vote.
The weeklong event coincides with the National Association of Women In Construction (NAWIC) celebration that started in 1998 and has grown and expanded every year since.
The same week in front of the State Capitol, Smallwood, Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis, Assemblymember Josh Hoover (R-Folsom), and Assemblymember Maggie Krell (D-Sacramento), attended a brunch organized by a local chapter of NAWIC.
Two of the guest speakers were Dr. Giovanna Brasfield, CEO of Los Angeles-based Brasfield and Associates, and Jennifer Todd, President and Founder of LMS General Contractors.
Todd is the youngest Black woman to receive a California’s Contractors State License Board (A) General Engineering license. An advocate for women of different backgrounds, Todd she said she has been a woman in construction for the last 16 years despite going through some trying times.
A graduate of Arizona State University’s’ Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law, in 2009 Todd created an apprenticeship training program, A Greener Tomorrow, designed toward the advancement of unemployed and underemployed people of color.
“I always say, ‘I love an industry that doesn’t love me back,’” Todd said. “Being young, female and minority, I am often in spaces where people don’t look like me, they don’t reflect my values, they don’t reflect my experiences, and I so persevere in spite of it all.”
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, only 11.2% of the construction workforce across the country are female. Overall, 87.3% of the female construction workers are White, 35.1% are Latinas, 2.1% are Asians, and 6.5% are Black women, the report reveals.
The National Association of Home Builders reported that as of 2022, the states with the largest number of women working in construction were Texas (137,000), California (135,000) and Florida (119,000). The three states alone represent 30% of all women employed in the industry.
Sen. Susan Rubio (D-Baldwin Park) and the California Legislative Women’s Caucus supported Smallwood-Cuevas’ SCR 30 and requested that more energy be poured into bringing awareness to the severe gender gap in the construction field.
“The construction trade are a proven path to a solid career. and we have an ongoing shortage, and this is a time for us to do better breaking down the barriers to help the people get into this sector,” Rubio said.
Bay Area
Five Years After COVID-19 Began, a Struggling Child Care Workforce Faces New Threats
Five years ago, as COVID-19 lockdowns and school closures began, most early educators continued to work in person, risking their own health and that of their families. “Early educators were called essential, but they weren’t provided with the personal protective equipment they needed to stay safe,” said CSCCE Executive Director Lea Austin. “There were no special shopping hours or ways for them to access safety materials in those early and scary months of the pandemic, leaving them to compete with other shoppers. One state even advised them to wear trash bags if they couldn’t find PPE.”
UC Berkeley News
In the first eight months of the COVID-19 pandemic alone, 166,000 childcare jobs were lost across the nation. Significant recovery didn’t begin until the advent of American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) Child Care Stabilization funds in April 2021.
Today, child care employment is back to slightly above pre-pandemic levels, but job growth has remained sluggish at 1.4% since ARPA funding allocations ended in October 2023, according to analysis by the Center for the Study of Child Care Employment (CSCCE) at UC Berkeley. In the last six months, childcare employment has hovered around 1.1 million.
Yet more than two million American parents report job changes due to problems accessing child care. Why does the childcare sector continue to face a workforce crisis that has predated the pandemic? Inadequate compensation drives high turnover rates and workforce shortages that predate the pandemic. Early childhood educators are skilled professionals; many have more than 15 years of experience and a college degree, but their compensation does not reflect their expertise. The national median hourly wage is $13.07, and only a small proportion of early educators receive benefits.
And now a new round of challenges is about to hit childcare. The low wages paid in early care and education result in 43% of early educator families depending on at least one public support program, such as Medicaid or food stamps, both of which are threatened by potential federal funding cuts. Job numbers will likely fall as many early childhood educators need to find jobs with healthcare benefits or better pay.
In addition, one in five child care workers are immigrants, and executive orders driving deportation and ICE raids will further devastate the entire early care and education system. These stresses are part of the historical lack of respect the workforce faces, despite all they contribute to children, families, and the economy.
Five years ago, as COVID-19 lockdowns and school closures began, most early educators continued to work in person, risking their own health and that of their families. “Early educators were called essential, but they weren’t provided with the personal protective equipment they needed to stay safe,” said CSCCE Executive Director Lea Austin. “There were no special shopping hours or ways for them to access safety materials in those early and scary months of the pandemic, leaving them to compete with other shoppers. One state even advised them to wear trash bags if they couldn’t find PPE.”
The economic impact was equally dire. Even as many providers tried to remain open to ensure their financial security, the combination of higher costs to meet safety protocols and lower revenue from fewer children enrolled led to job losses, increased debt, and program closures.
Eventually, the federal government responded with historic short-term investments through ARPA, which stabilized childcare programs. These funds provided money to increase pay or provide financial relief to early educators to improve their income and well-being. The childcare sector began to slowly recover. Larger job gains were made in 2022 and 2023, and as of November 2023, national job numbers had slightly surpassed pre-pandemic levels, though state and metro areas continued to fluctuate.
Many states have continued to support the workforce after ARPA funding expired in late 2024. In Maine, a salary supplement initiative has provided monthly stipends of $240-$540 to educators working in licensed home- or center-based care, based on education and experience, making it one of the nation’s leaders in its support of early educators. Early educators say the program has enabled them to raise wages, which has improved staff retention. Yet now, Governor Janet Mills is considering cutting the stipend program in half.
“History shows that once an emergency is perceived to have passed, public funding that supports the early care and education workforce is pulled,” says Austin. “You can’t build a stable childcare workforce and system without consistent public investment and respect for all that early educators contribute.”
The Center for the Study of Childcare Employment is the source of this story.
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Politics
Assata Shakur Supporters Fight for Her Exoneration
Supporters of Assata Shakur say evidence shows she is innocent of murder. (Courtesy of ipowerrichmond.com)
by Barrington M. Salmon
Special to the NNPA from The Washington Informer
When President Barack Obama announced his intention to normalize relations with longtime nemesis Cuba, it wasn’t long before questions began to swirl about the fate of Assata Shakur.
Shakur, 67, the aunt and godmother of Tupac Shakur, has been a fugitive since 1979 and was spirited to Cuba where she has lived in exile since 1984. She’s sought by the Federal Bureau of Investigation for her alleged involvement in the shooting death of a New Jersey state trooper in 1973. In May 2013, the FBI placed a $10 million bounty on her head and added Shakur to their Terrorist Most Wanted List.
Convicted of murder in 1977 after five trials, Shakur – a member of the Black Panther Party and activist from in her 20s – was given a life sentence but and escaped while waiting for the appeal process to take its course.
Cuba’s Foreign Minister for North America affairs Josefina Vidal, said Cuba will not return Shakur following public requests by 2016 presumptive presidential candidate and N.J. Gov. Chris Christie, the FBI and acting state Attorney General John Hoffman.
“We’ve explained to the U.S. government in the past that there are some people living in Cuba to whom Cuba has legitimately granted political asylum,” said Vidal, citing the absence of an extradition treaty between the U.S. and Cuba.
Nkechi Taifa, a local attorney and longtime activist, said blacks who embrace the concepts of fairness and equality shouldn’t shy away from speaking up and advocating on Shakur’s behalf adding that Shakur’s case must be looked at against the backdrop of COINTELPRO, an FBI-sponsored program created and executed by J. Edgar Hoover.
“They wanted to stop the rise of a Messiah to unify black masses. The FBI was told to be very creative and come up with solutions to destroy you and your families. They sowed distrust, monitored families and spread widespread information of the day,” Taifa said.
Shakur, and members of the Black Liberation Army, got into a shootout with officers on the New Jersey Turnpike in 1973. State Trooper Werner Foerster died as did one of the revolutionaries. In 1977, a jury convicted Shakur of first degree murder for being an accomplice in Foerster’s killing, among other charges. She was sentenced to 25 years in prison despite Foerster’s partner’s admission that he lied in a police report when he said Shakur opened fire on Foerster. Like Michael Brown, forensic evidence showed that Shakur had her arms raised when she was shot.
Shakur’s lawyer Lennox Hinds and Angela Davis appeared on Democracy Now to denounce Shakur’s addition to the FBI list. Davis referred to the FBI’s actions as politically motivated.
“It seems to me that this act incorporates or reflects the very logic of terrorism,” she said. “I can’t help but think that it’s designed to frighten people who are involved in struggles today. Forty years ago seems like it was a long time ago. In the beginning of the 21st century, we’re still fighting around the very same issues – police violence, healthcare, education and people in prison.”
Hinds, a professor of criminal justice at Rutgers University in New Jersey, castigated the FBI and New Jersey authorities.
“This is a political act pushed by the state of New Jersey, by some members of Congress from Miami, and with the intent of putting pressure on the Cuban government and to inflame public opinion,” said Hinds, who has represented Shakur since 1973. “There is no way to appeal someone being put on the terrorists list.”
Noted author and lecturer Dr. Gerald Horne said the Cuban authorities should maintain their posture of not returning Shakur. The Castro government has argued that there are several men who committed acts of terror against the government and its people who the U.S. refuses to return. And as Hinds added, the Cuban government also maintains that if political exiles in the island nation are allowed to return, they would likely be subjected to racial and political repression.
Horne, author of more than 30 books, said Shakur should remain vigilant.
“We can’t rule out kidnapping. We can’t rule that out at all even though it would complicate U.S.-Cuba relations to detriment of the U.S.,” he said.
Activism
Oakland Post: Week of March 28 – April 1, 2025
The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of March 28 – April 1, 2025
To enlarge your view of this issue, use the slider, magnifying glass icon or full page icon in the lower right corner of the browser window.
Activism
Sen. Lola Smallwood-Cuevas Honors California Women in Construction with State Proclamation, Policy Ideas
“Women play an important role in building our communities, yet they remain vastly underrepresented in the construction industry,” Smallwood-Cuevas stated. “This resolution not only recognizes their incredible contributions but also the need to break barriers — like gender discrimination.
By Antonio Ray Harvey, California Black Media
To honor Women in Construction Week, Sen. Lola Smallwood-Cuevas (D-Los Angeles), a member of the California Legislative Black Caucus (CLBC), introduced Senate Concurrent Resolution (SCR) 30 in the State Legislature on March 6. This resolution pays tribute to women and highlights their contributions to the building industry.
The measure designates March 2, 2025, to March 8, 2025, as Women in Construction Week in California. It passed 34-0 on the Senate floor.
“Women play an important role in building our communities, yet they remain vastly underrepresented in the construction industry,” Smallwood-Cuevas stated. “This resolution not only recognizes their incredible contributions but also the need to break barriers — like gender discrimination.
Authored by Assemblymember Liz Ortega (D-San Leandro), another bill, Assembly Concurrent Resolution (ACR) 28, also recognized women in the construction industry.
The resolution advanced out of the Assembly Committee on Rules with a 10-0 vote.
The weeklong event coincides with the National Association of Women In Construction (NAWIC) celebration that started in 1998 and has grown and expanded every year since.
The same week in front of the State Capitol, Smallwood, Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis, Assemblymember Josh Hoover (R-Folsom), and Assemblymember Maggie Krell (D-Sacramento), attended a brunch organized by a local chapter of NAWIC.
Two of the guest speakers were Dr. Giovanna Brasfield, CEO of Los Angeles-based Brasfield and Associates, and Jennifer Todd, President and Founder of LMS General Contractors.
Todd is the youngest Black woman to receive a California’s Contractors State License Board (A) General Engineering license. An advocate for women of different backgrounds, Todd she said she has been a woman in construction for the last 16 years despite going through some trying times.
A graduate of Arizona State University’s’ Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law, in 2009 Todd created an apprenticeship training program, A Greener Tomorrow, designed toward the advancement of unemployed and underemployed people of color.
“I always say, ‘I love an industry that doesn’t love me back,’” Todd said. “Being young, female and minority, I am often in spaces where people don’t look like me, they don’t reflect my values, they don’t reflect my experiences, and I so persevere in spite of it all.”
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, only 11.2% of the construction workforce across the country are female. Overall, 87.3% of the female construction workers are White, 35.1% are Latinas, 2.1% are Asians, and 6.5% are Black women, the report reveals.
The National Association of Home Builders reported that as of 2022, the states with the largest number of women working in construction were Texas (137,000), California (135,000) and Florida (119,000). The three states alone represent 30% of all women employed in the industry.
Sen. Susan Rubio (D-Baldwin Park) and the California Legislative Women’s Caucus supported Smallwood-Cuevas’ SCR 30 and requested that more energy be poured into bringing awareness to the severe gender gap in the construction field.
“The construction trade are a proven path to a solid career. and we have an ongoing shortage, and this is a time for us to do better breaking down the barriers to help the people get into this sector,” Rubio said.
Bay Area
Five Years After COVID-19 Began, a Struggling Child Care Workforce Faces New Threats
Five years ago, as COVID-19 lockdowns and school closures began, most early educators continued to work in person, risking their own health and that of their families. “Early educators were called essential, but they weren’t provided with the personal protective equipment they needed to stay safe,” said CSCCE Executive Director Lea Austin. “There were no special shopping hours or ways for them to access safety materials in those early and scary months of the pandemic, leaving them to compete with other shoppers. One state even advised them to wear trash bags if they couldn’t find PPE.”
UC Berkeley News
In the first eight months of the COVID-19 pandemic alone, 166,000 childcare jobs were lost across the nation. Significant recovery didn’t begin until the advent of American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) Child Care Stabilization funds in April 2021.
Today, child care employment is back to slightly above pre-pandemic levels, but job growth has remained sluggish at 1.4% since ARPA funding allocations ended in October 2023, according to analysis by the Center for the Study of Child Care Employment (CSCCE) at UC Berkeley. In the last six months, childcare employment has hovered around 1.1 million.
Yet more than two million American parents report job changes due to problems accessing child care. Why does the childcare sector continue to face a workforce crisis that has predated the pandemic? Inadequate compensation drives high turnover rates and workforce shortages that predate the pandemic. Early childhood educators are skilled professionals; many have more than 15 years of experience and a college degree, but their compensation does not reflect their expertise. The national median hourly wage is $13.07, and only a small proportion of early educators receive benefits.
And now a new round of challenges is about to hit childcare. The low wages paid in early care and education result in 43% of early educator families depending on at least one public support program, such as Medicaid or food stamps, both of which are threatened by potential federal funding cuts. Job numbers will likely fall as many early childhood educators need to find jobs with healthcare benefits or better pay.
In addition, one in five child care workers are immigrants, and executive orders driving deportation and ICE raids will further devastate the entire early care and education system. These stresses are part of the historical lack of respect the workforce faces, despite all they contribute to children, families, and the economy.
Five years ago, as COVID-19 lockdowns and school closures began, most early educators continued to work in person, risking their own health and that of their families. “Early educators were called essential, but they weren’t provided with the personal protective equipment they needed to stay safe,” said CSCCE Executive Director Lea Austin. “There were no special shopping hours or ways for them to access safety materials in those early and scary months of the pandemic, leaving them to compete with other shoppers. One state even advised them to wear trash bags if they couldn’t find PPE.”
The economic impact was equally dire. Even as many providers tried to remain open to ensure their financial security, the combination of higher costs to meet safety protocols and lower revenue from fewer children enrolled led to job losses, increased debt, and program closures.
Eventually, the federal government responded with historic short-term investments through ARPA, which stabilized childcare programs. These funds provided money to increase pay or provide financial relief to early educators to improve their income and well-being. The childcare sector began to slowly recover. Larger job gains were made in 2022 and 2023, and as of November 2023, national job numbers had slightly surpassed pre-pandemic levels, though state and metro areas continued to fluctuate.
Many states have continued to support the workforce after ARPA funding expired in late 2024. In Maine, a salary supplement initiative has provided monthly stipends of $240-$540 to educators working in licensed home- or center-based care, based on education and experience, making it one of the nation’s leaders in its support of early educators. Early educators say the program has enabled them to raise wages, which has improved staff retention. Yet now, Governor Janet Mills is considering cutting the stipend program in half.
“History shows that once an emergency is perceived to have passed, public funding that supports the early care and education workforce is pulled,” says Austin. “You can’t build a stable childcare workforce and system without consistent public investment and respect for all that early educators contribute.”
The Center for the Study of Childcare Employment is the source of this story.
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