What the Left’s Eulogies for Assata Shakur Reveal

Cuban authorities have not said what caused the late Joanne Chesimard’s death. They say only that the 78-year-old passed away from health complications arising from old age, and we have no reason to disbelieve them. Chesimard spent the last 40 years residing comfortably in Havana as a guest of the communist state: a teacher, a writer, a lecturer, and, most important — indeed, her foremost value to the Cuban regime — a fugitive from American justice.

The nom de guerre by which Chesimard is known to most Americans, Assata Olugbala Shakur, is more likely to trigger dim recollections of the crimes that made her into a figure of veneration among those who promote the notion that the United States of America is an illegitimate regime. In his book, Days of Rage, the author Bryan Burrough described her as “the purest expression of revolutionary ardor” — “a ferocious, machine-gun-toting, grenade-tossing, spitting-mad Bonnie Parker for the 1970s, an archetype for a series of badass heroines heralded in Foxy Brown, Get Christie Love!, and other blacksploitation films of the day.”

About the Author

Noah Rothman

Noah Rothman is a senior writer at National Review. His third book, Blood and Progress: A Century of Left-Wing Violence, was published by Hachette in May 2026.

Featured Tags

Cuban authorities have not said what caused the late Joanne Chesimard’s death. They say only that the 78-year-old passed away from health complications arising from old age, and we have no reason to disbelieve them. Chesimard spent the last 40 years residing comfortably in Havana as a guest of the communist state: a teacher, a writer, a lecturer, and, most important — indeed, her foremost value to the Cuban regime — a fugitive from American justice.

The nom de guerre by which Chesimard is known to most Americans, Assata Olugbala Shakur, is more likely to trigger dim recollections of the crimes that made her into a figure of veneration among those who promote the notion that the United States of America is an illegitimate regime. In his book, Days of Rage, the author Bryan Burrough described her as “the purest expression of revolutionary ardor” — “a ferocious, machine-gun-toting, grenade-tossing, spitting-mad Bonnie Parker for the 1970s, an archetype for a series of badass heroines heralded in Foxy Brown, Get Christie Love!, and other blacksploitation films of the day.”

About the Author

Noah Rothman

Noah Rothman is a senior writer at National Review. His third book, Blood and Progress: A Century of Left-Wing Violence, was published by Hachette in May 2026.