First posted on Instagram · @profilopolitics
DSA member Angie Nixon is defending keeping a portrait of "Marxist cop killer" Assata Shakur in her cafe and bookstore — calling it "history."
Nixon, who is running for Florida's U.S. Senate seat against Republican Sen. Ashley Moody, refused to back down as the portrait drew fresh scrutiny in the middle of her Senate campaign.
Shakur was convicted in the 1973 killing of New Jersey State Trooper Werner Foerster, escaped from prison in 1979, and fled to Cuba, where she was granted asylum. She remains on the FBI's Most Wanted Terrorists list.
For Nixon's critics, honoring a convicted cop killer — especially while running for the United States Senate — is disqualifying. They argue it shows exactly where her sympathies lie: with Marxist radicals, not with law enforcement.
Nixon sees it differently. Calling the portrait "history," she is framing it as a cultural and historical display in her Jacksonville cafe and bookstore — not an endorsement of violence.
The wall inside Cafe Resistance in Jacksonville, with the Assata Shakur portrait visible (photo: Washington Free Beacon).
Nixon, a Florida state representative from Jacksonville and a member of the Democratic Socialists of America, has built her brand on unapologetic left-wing politics. Her Senate bid against Moody — appointed to the seat and now seeking a full term — was already one of the most ideologically charged races of the cycle.
Moody's camp hasn't missed the opening. Expect the portrait to feature heavily in the campaign ahead as Republicans paint Nixon as too radical for Florida.
Should a Senate candidate honor a convicted cop killer as "history" — or does the portrait tell voters everything they need to know?