“On March 30, Kean University announced that Common, a hip-hop artist who recently won Grammy and Academy awards for the song “Glory” from Selma, would address its class of 2015 at the commencement ceremony in May.
Less than 24 hours later, the New Jersey college took back its statement, and the initial tweet about the announcement has since been removed from its page.
Many believe the reason behind the decision lies in lyrics from a song he wrote 15 years ago about activist Assata Shakur.
In Common’s 2000 album Like Water for Chocolate, he dedicates a song to Shakur (formerly Joanne Chesimard), who was accused of shooting and killing New Jersey state trooper Werner Foerster in 1973. In 1979, she escaped from prison and sought political asylum in Cuba, where she has lived ever since. In December 2014, after the United States and Cuba re-established diplomatic ties, Gov. Chris Christie called on President Obama to demand Shakur’s extradition to the United States to serve out the rest of her prison sentence.”
Read more here: http://www.buzzfeed.com/tamerragriffin/rapper-common-disinvited-by-university-as-commencement-speak#.oyw21zLm8
Cenk Uygur (http://www.twitter.com/cenkuygur) and Ana Kasparian (http://www.twitter.com/AnaKasparian) break it down on The Young Turks.