Academia, Bizarre, Criminal law

Marquette University Center Director Dumped After Creation of Mural to Assata Shakur

shakur3Marquette University has apparently dumped Susannah Bartlow, the Gender and Sexuality Resource Center director after the center celebrated the completion of a mural featuring convicted Assata Shakur who was convicted of an execution style killing of a New Jersey trooper in 1973. The mural was joint project of the Center and the Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority.

AssatamugshotWernerfoersterIt is astonishing that a mural would be completed without someone making a minimal inquiry as Shakur’s identity as a cop killer and a terrorist. Born JoAnne Deborah Byron, Assata Olugbala Shakur was a member of the former Black Panther Party and Black Liberation Army with a long criminal record. In May 1973, she was involved in a shootout on the New Jersey Turnpike and accused of killing New Jersey State Trooper Werner Foerster and wounding Trooper James Harper. She was indicted in relation to six other incidents including murder, attempted murder, armed robbery, bank robbery, and kidnapping. In 1979, she escaped and fled to Cuba. The FBI has classified her as a domestic terrorist and offered a $1 million reward for assistance in her capture. Her history is not hard to find obviously on dozens of websites.

Given that history, it is unbelievable that Bartlow and Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority would select her as the inspiring figure for the university. The controversy was triggered by a blog critique by associate professor of political science John McAdams.

Following the disclosure, the university announced that “Susannah Bartlow is no longer an employee with Marquette University.” The sorority’s international communications chairman Leona Dotson said that “[u]nfortunately Ms. Shakur’s entire history and background was not fully researched. If that process had occurred, she would not have been featured in the mural.”

It is a remarkable turnaround for university. The Center released a tweet on March 24th proclaiming “TADA, our mural is finished! In commemoration of the courageous, Assata Shakur.” I could think of many things to call Shakur many things but “courageous” is not one of them.

3cafaffAccording to her bio, Bartlow is a graduate of the University of Buffalo with past association with Dickinson College, State University of New York at Buffalo, UB Institute for Research and Education on Women and Gender.

The two quotes selected were:

“No one is going to give you the education you need to overthrow them. Nobody is going to teach you your true history, teach you your true heroes if they know that that knowledge will help set you free.

Before going back to college, I knew I didn’t want to be an intellectual, spending my life in books and libraries without knowing what the hell is going on in the streets. Theory without practice is just as incomplete as practice without history. The two have to go together.”

152 thoughts on “Marquette University Center Director Dumped After Creation of Mural to Assata Shakur”

  1. FRC Josh Duggar… Scrubbed already.
    http://www.frcaction.org/josh-duggar

    FRC on Josh Duggar leaving…
    http://frc.org/

    FRC Statement on Josh Duggar Resignation
    Washington, D.C. – Family Research Council President Tony Perkins released the following statement regarding the resignation of Josh Duggar:

    “Today Josh Duggar made the decision to resign his position as a result of previously unknown information becoming public concerning events that occurred during his teenage years.

    “Josh believes that the situation will make it difficult for him to be effective in his current work. We believe this is the best decision for Josh and his family at this time. We will be praying for everyone involved,” concluded Perkins.

    There is a reason the FRC is considered a ‘hate group’.
    Their concern for children is lacking an address about the person who they hired and his proclivities toward children. Or, as Dan Savage Tweeted (too many links already):

    If a gay dad did nothing after his son molested 5 girls… @FRCdc & @FRCAction would argue that no gays should be allowed to have kids.

    My only question remaining is:
    When will Child Protection Services be called in to protect Josh’s daughter from her daddy?

  3. Annie
    p.s.
    Did I mention that when Jim Bob Duggar found out about his son’s preference for mush younger girls, that he not only kept it under wraps but when he finally did report it to a police officer, he reported to an officer who, like his son, has a pension for children too… who now sits in jail for child pornography.

    Oh, and did I mention that the ‘healing services’ they sent their son and daughters to is run by a man accused of over 30 counts of sexual harassment against teens himself. Somehow, both parents are either incapable of knowing how to address sexual assault in their community and in their own home OR… they keep stumbling into enablers of sexual assault in the wider community and at home.

    However, either way… fear teh gayz. Or as Michele Duggar said…
    http://s5.postimg.org/yu5gy0civ/CFl_Jb_MYWIAAI2_FN.jpg

    The correct answer, “Your son, Josh. That’s who!”

  4. Annie
    Maybe Spin has heard of the Family Research Council, instead?

  5. Annie
    According to the buybull and traditional biblical marriage standards…
    … Josh Duggar needs to marry four of his sisters by now.

    However, one of his victims is still a minor…
    So, there’s that legal ‘consent’ issue to deal with still.

  6. She has more credibility than the FBI and cops, especially of that era. I’m sure these girls were well aware of who they were honoring.

  8. Seriously, who has not ever heard of the Duggars? Get out from under your rock.

  9. As I said DBQ, I don’t watch reality TV and my life is just fine, which is none of your business, pay attention to your own. But I suggest if you think the Duggar Family isn’t for real, do some research before making ignorant comments.

  10. I suspect they know better now….that is, lol. They’ll be right on top of it Paul, do not fear!

    1. Inga – when my alma mater screws up, I am on speed dial to my alumni office. And I keep calling them until things are right.

  11. The mural has already been removed and I’m sure they will replace it with something appropriate, I suspect.

  12. “Why bother commenting about them if you don’t know a thing about them?”

    I’m not commenting ABOUT them. I’m commenting on the fact that they are even brought up in this tread which…upon looking up who the eff they are…..has nothing to do with this Marquette mural thread.
    Why would anyone even care to know who they are in the first place?

    Seriously. Get a life and stop watching reality television…..which I would assume you know is not actually….really…..real?…. Right???

    BTW: TLC….the learning channel has not brought anything worth learning to our attention for at least 8 years or more that I can see. History Channel as well. No history, but a bunch of loggers and fishermen doing retarded stuff. Crappola on the television to soothe the minds of the mindless. Soma for the masses. (Brave New World. Pick up a book and drop the remote for God’s sake!)

    If THIS is what you watch and what you use for your reference sources….well…… God bless your little heart. ( in the best Southern I pity you sense)

    And it does explain a great deal.

  13. Inga – if it was my alma mater I would on the phone to my alumi office complaining about the mural and asking what was going to replace it.

  14. Heck no, talk about Marquette all you want, feel free. I said it was a bad idea, what else do you want me to say?

  17. http://cdn.thedailybeast.com/content/dailybeast/articles/2015/05/21/how-long-did-tlc-know-about-sex-abuse-in-reality-tv-s-biggest-family/jcr:content/image.crop.800.500.jpg/1432323751004.cached.jpg

    Did TLC know about the allegations? What if they were contemplating dropping them anyway? Who leaked this?

    In fact, the family’s series of anti-LGBT efforts led to a Change.org petition to get TLC to cancel their programs. In November, The Advocate noted it had more than 90,000 signatures. At the time of publication, the petition has nearly 190,000.

  19. Max, funny thing is, that Walt Kelly, the author of Pogo, never drew that cartoon. By 1971 he was blind from diabetes, and his wife Selby and other artists were drawing the strip. He died less than two years later. That particular strip was based on another much older one. Selby was a SJW.

  20. The WAPO has an interesting take on the Dugger reality TV program which apparently has been cancelled. They suggest that now is the time to truly examine the situation and their lives.

    What a novel idea – reality TV on an important subject, or in the carefully crafted words of the WAPO: “Now is the time for TLC to double down and have the courage to present America, at last, with a truly unscripted show about a family enduring a crisis largely of its own making. ”

    Who needs Law and Order SVU when we have the real deal on the next channel.

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