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New York City‘s newest police commissioner was sworn in on Wednesday in front of a mural depicting black revolutionaries and leftist radicals including a convicted cop killer.
Keechant Sewell, a Long Island police official, was sworn in as New York City’s next police commissioner on Wednesday, in front of a mural of Malcolm X, Nat Turner, Angela Davis, and Assata Shakur.
Incoming New York City Mayor Eric Adams speaks during a ceremony announcing Nassau County Chief of Detectives Keechant Sewell as the first ever female NYPD Commissioner, in Queensbridge Houses, Queens, New York City, U.S., December 15, 2021. REUTERS/Andrew Kelly
(REUTERS/Andrew Kelly)
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The news conference where the mural was present took place at a public housing development in Long Island City, Queens, where Sewell’s family once lived.
Shakur, a prominent figure in the Black Lives Matter riots last summer, was convicted of being an accomplice in the 1973 slaying of New Jersey State Trooper Werner Foerster, who left behind a wife and 3-year-old son. Shakur later escaped prison and fled to Cuba, where former Cuban Prime Minister Fidel Castro granted her asylum.
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She was a member of the Black Liberation Army, which the FBI describes as one of “the most violent militant organizations of the 1970s.”
Shakur, 73, was never apprehended following her 1979 prison escape.
Angela Davis is a civil rights activist who once worked with the Communist Party USA and the Black Panther Party.
Davis was charged with murder, kidnapping, and criminal conspiracy charges after authorities linked her to the purchase of weapons that were later used by three inmates who took a judge and juror hostage during their trial in 1970 for killing a prison guard.
Joanne Chesimard is New Jersey’s most wanted fugitive. Convicted of killing a state trooper, she fled to Cuba in 1979.
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Law enforcement officials responded with a barrage of bullets and the inmates and the judge died. Davis was accused of providing weapons used in the incident and was put on the FBI list until she was captured in 1972.
Davis spent 16 months in prison before she was acquitted of all charges.
She is considered a symbol for many activist movements, including Black liberation, anticapitalism, and feminism.
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Malcolm X was a prominent Civil Rights figure who gained national prominence as the voice of the Nation of Islam, speaking about the importance of Black people claiming their civil rights “by any means necessary” in his highly visible role with the Black Muslim organization.
Nat Turner led the first slave rebellion in Southampton County, Virginia, on August 21, 1831. It resulted in the death of more than 50 White people, and approximately 120 slaves died in the aftermath of the rebellion.
Harriet Tubman, meanwhile, took a very different approach and quietly helped free slaves through The Underground Railroad.
FILE – Malcolm X speaks to reporters in Washington, D.C., May 16, 1963. Two of the three men convicted in the assassination of Malcolm X are set to be cleared Thursday, Nov. 18, 2021, after insisting on their innocence since the 1965 killing of one of the United States’ most formidable fighters for civil rights, Manhattan’s top prosecutor said Wednesday, Nov. 21, 2021. (AP Photo, File)
Sewell becomes the first woman to lead the New York Police Department. The 49-year-old will replace Dermot Shea, who is retiring from the NYPD after 30 years, having spent the last two as commissioner. Sewell’s first day on the job will be when Adams takes office Jan. 1.
“She’s the woman for the job,” incoming Mayor Eric Adams declared at the news conference.
“She carried with her throughout her career a sledgehammer and she crushed every glass ceiling that was put in her way,” Adams said. “Today, she has crashed and destroyed the final one we need in New York City.”
Adams’ office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the mural from Fox News.
Fox News’ Brittany De Lea and the Associated Press contributed to this report
