Socialist Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani tapped a radical who idolizes cop-killer Assata Shakur to advise his administration on public schools, The Post has learned.<\/p>\n
Zakiyah Shaakir-Ansari \u2014 the co-executive director for the Alliance for Quality Education, a far-left activist group once fronted by \u201cSex and the City\u201d star Cynthia Nixon \u2014 was selected last week for Mamdani\u2019s transition committee for youth and education.<\/p>\n
In an interview with the website Lingua Franca, Shaakir-Ansari was asked if she could spend an afternoon with any woman past or present, who would it be, and what question would she ask her.<\/p>\n
AQE executive director Zakiyah Shaakir-Ansari was nomnamedinated to Zohran Mamdani\u2019s transition team. William Farrington<\/p>\n
The activist and mother of eight responded with the convicted cop killer.<\/p>\n
\u201cAssata Shakur \u2014 I believe she has so much to offer. With all of the reflection you must have done after all of the years as a Black Panther, what advice do you have for black women to move the movement while also caring for each other?\u201d she said. <\/p>\n
Shakur, born Joanne Deborah Chesimard<\/a>, was convicted in the cowardly murder of New Jersey State Trooper Werner Foerster on May 2, 1973.<\/p>\n She was riding with comrades Zayd Malik Shakur and Sundiata Acoli when they were pulled over on the New Jersey Turnpike by state trooper James Harper for a busted taillight. Foerster, who was providing backup, was shot and killed in the ensuing gunfight.<\/p>\n Along with the Black Panthers<\/a>, she was a member of the fringe radical leftist group the Black Liberation Army.<\/p>\n She was found guilty of murder and assault in 1977. Two years later, three BLA members disguised as visitors busted her out of the Clinton Correctional Facility for Women in New Jersey. They drew guns and took two correction officers hostage and hijacked a prison van.<\/p>\n She once praised cop killer Assata Shakur. AP<\/p>\n The fugitive ultimately fled to communist Cuba in 1984, where she was granted asylum. Shakur, who described herself<\/a> as a \u201c20th century escaped slave,\u201d was added to the FBI\u2019s list of most wanted terrorists in May 2013<\/a> \u2014 the first woman to ever.<\/p>\n New York\u2019s Finest \u2014 and those who have lost cops in their family \u2014 were galled by Mamdani\u2019s pick. <\/p>\n \u201cSupporting a cop killer, you know, is not . . . a good thing,\u201d Grace Machate, whose husband, NYPD Officer Robert Machate, was murdered in 1989 when she was seven months pregnant, told The Post.<\/p>\n Zakiyah Shaakir-Ansari Machate, like Foerster, was shot and killed during a traffic stop while questioning \u201ctwo suspicious males.\u201d <\/p>\n \u201cWhen someone kills an officer, whether he\u2019s from New Jersey, New York or Alabama, I don\u2019t care. It\u2019s something that families are going to stick together on,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n Former NYPD lieutenant and US Marine Eric Dym was stunned by the selection.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s unbelievable. I don\u2019t think it\u2019s a small oversight. I think it\u2019s a conscious decision,\u201d said Dym. <\/p>\n Zakiyah Shaakir-Ansari was convicted in the killing of Werner Foerster. \u201cWhen someone with that history is given a seat at the table it sends the message that your sacrifice is negotiable . . . this just strips away at the morale of the NYPD.\u201d<\/p>\n Added former NYPD lieutenant and co-host of the \u201cNew York\u2019s Finest: Retired and Unfiltered Podcast,\u201d John Macari: \u201cShaakir-Ansari has every right to her opinions, but she should have no business shaping education policy in a city where thousands of cops entrust their own kids\u00a0to be educated and kept safe.\u201d<\/p>\n Shaakir-Ansari, who also has three grandchildren, has been an education activist for two decades. She was named City and State New York Magazine\u2019s\u00a025 most influential people in Brooklyn<\/a> in 2017. \u00a0<\/p>\n Assata Shakur fled to communist Cuba. FBI<\/p>\n She launched her own fashion line in 2024, raising $15,000 on GoFundMe towards it.<\/p>\n Mamdani, during the mayoral campaign, refused to condemn a sick tribute to the cop-killer from the Democratic Socialists of America.<\/p>\n \u201cWe vow to honor her legacy by recognizing our duty to fight for our freedom, to win, to love and protect one another because we have nothing to lose but our chains,\u201d the DSA said on X after Shakur died on Sept. 25.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\tStart your day with all you need to know\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tMorning Report delivers the latest news, videos, photos and more.\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\tThanks for signing up!\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n Mamdani ducked questions<\/a> about the tribute when grilled by The Post.<\/p>\n
\nis on Mamdani\u2019s Youth and Education committee. Zakiyah Ansari\/ Instagram<\/p>\n
\n AP<\/p>\n