Chesimard is also known as the godmother of slain rapper Tupac Shakur.
“I was convicted by—I don’t even want to call it a trial, it was lynching, by an all-white jury,” Chesimard told BET in 2001. “I had nothing but contempt for the system of justice under which I was tried.”
The rapper Common told her story in “A Song for Assata,” which caused a stir after Michelle Obama invited him to a White House poetry slam two years ago. The piece contains the lyrics “Your power and pride is beautiful.”
Really. I was just joking when I mentioned Tupac!