Chicago Teachers Union Outrages City by Honoring Cop-Killer Assata Shakur, Sparking Furious Backlash Over Radical Priorities
‘If you needed a wake-up call about where your union dues really go, here it is-plain as day.’ The Chicago Teachers Union has ignited a firestorm by formally commemorating Assata Shakur-a convicted cop killer and self-proclaimed revolutionary-after her death in Cuba last week. While parents and taxpayers are already fuming over declining academic standards and runaway union power, the CTU’s move to lionize a militant fugitive on the FBI’s Most Wanted Terrorists list exposes just how radical this major teachers’ union has become. Conservatives, police groups, and regular Chicagoans slammed the union for turning dues money into a platform for left-wing hero worship instead of putting kids first.
Union Dues for Revolutionaries: CTU’s Outrageous History Plastered Online
Forget hiring more tutors or buying classroom supplies. The CTU’s latest act of veneration was posted right to its official X (formerly Twitter) account. The tribute referred to Shakur-born Joanne Chesimard-as a “revolutionary fighter, a revered elder of Black liberation,” and added, “Rest in Power, Rest in Peace, Assata Shakur.” The response from across Chicago and the nation was almost immediate: incredulity, anger, and disbelief that a 25,000-member union supposedly operating in
children’s interests would elevate a convicted murderer to icon status.
Assata Shakur, as countless Americans will never forget, was convicted in 1977 for slaying New Jersey State Trooper Werner Foerster during a 1973 traffic stop gone violently wrong. After being sentenced to life plus 26-33 years, Shakur called her jury “racist” and declared herself “ashamed” to stand trial. Two years later, she broke out of prison with help from armed accomplices, vanished to Mexico, and popped up in Fidel Castro’s Cuba-where she was granted asylum by the Communist regime. For decades, she taunted American law enforcement from her haven in Havana. In fact, conflicting reports note she carried a $2 million bounty at one point for her return-dead or alive.
The CTU did not respond to a request for comment, but their post stands: ‘Assata Shakur taught us that it is our duty to fight for our freedom and win.’
Instead of denouncing her legacy of violence, the CTU picked her as a model for students and staff, once again proving that their priorities are shockingly out of step with most Chicago families-especially parents just seeking safe, politics-free classrooms for their children.
Rage Boils Over as Critics Expose Union’s Marxist Obsession and Misguided Values
The backlash wasn’t limited to conservatives. Chicago parents and even several teachers who don’t back the union’s hardline politics are fuming about what their mandatory dues apparently support. Social media erupted. Corey DeAngelis, a nationally known education reform advocate, put it bluntly: ‘Beyond parody. This should be a wake-up call to Chicago teachers who don’t feel like their values are being accurately represented by the union.’ And many agreed. How does a movement supposedly dedicated to education wind up honoring a communist militant?
The answer, critics say, lies in the CTU’s history of putting progressive activism above classroom quality. Just last month, the union called for a boycott of Target over “diversity, equity, and inclusion” policies, and for years they’ve sharply opposed school choice and accountability measures favored by the public. Now, by memorializing Shakur, the CTU virtually guarantees they’ll alienate even more working-class members tired of political extremism.
‘My union dues should not be spent glorifying people convicted of killing police officers-my parents raised me better than that,’ wrote one disgusted teacher in a viral post.
Attempts by union leadership to justify the memorial have only added fuel to the fire, with many noting that “Assata’s Daughters,” an affiliated Chicago-based activist group, has openly promoted Black, queer, and Marxist politics in public schools for years. This makes it painfully clear: radical ideology is no longer an afterthought on the fringes-it’s central to how the CTU operates. And that’s before you even mention the political education programming for students being bankrolled by both public funds and teacher dues.
Deadly Legacy: Cop-Killer to Cult Figure and the Fight for Chicago’s Schools
It’s not just the appalling optics of honoring a terrorist that has families fired up. The fact is, while the CTU distracts with leftist posturing, academic achievement in Chicago continues to tumble. Standardized scores are lagging, alongside chronic absenteeism and safety concerns in neighborhoods outside of the union’s plush executive offices. Meanwhile, with a presidential election looming and the fight for school choice heating back up in Illinois and across America, the union’s fixation on radical political icons is raising new questions about their fitness to lead-or even participate-in public education.
Assata Shakur-step-aunt and godmother to the late rapper Tupac Shakur-has been made into a folk hero by radical leftist circles. But that does nothing to change the reality of her crimes: cold-blooded murder, escape from justice, and decades spent as the guest of a hostile communist regime. Even her recent death in Cuba at age 78 was accompanied by official condolences from pro-Marxist organizations-not victims’ families or mainstream groups.
‘When a teachers’ union honors a cop killer and revolutionary instead of classroom excellence, you know who their real constituents are,’ wrote one parent advocate.
Chicago’s next school board elections promise to be a battleground, with grassroots parent groups-emboldened by this latest debacle-demanding transparency, accountability, and an end to politicized teaching. Even former allies of the CTU are second-guessing their loyalty after watching their union transform into a sounding board for far-left slogans and agitators.
The bottom line? The CTU’s decision to honor Assata Shakur has laid bare an uncomfortable truth about the priorities driving Chicago’s public education system. As President Trump’s second term reinforces parents’ rights and education reform nationwide, teachers’ unions may find themselves on the defensive-forced to explain why glorifying violent criminals has any place in American schools. For thousands in Chicago, this is the tipping point: the day the radical politics went too far, and regular Americans decided enough is enough.
