These days, one may view Odinga’s invitation as not much of a head-scratcher.

The College Fix reports.

UC-Irvine welcomes ‘political prisoner’ involved in cop killings

Today, the African American Studies Department at the University of California-Irvine is hosting a talk by Sekou Abdullah Odinga, aka Nathaniel Burns.

Odinga was a member of the Black Liberation Army and Black Panther Party who spent 33 years in prison for attempted murder and for assisting convicted murderer Assata Shakur (Joanne Chesimard) escape from jail. (Shakur remains in exile in Cuba.)

Here’s how the department describes Odinga on its website:

Sekou Abdullah Odinga grew up in Jamaica, Queens-New York in a family of nine. He is a husband, father, grandfather and great-grandfather. He was inspired by the revolutionary principles of Malcolm X when he joined the Organization of Afro-American Unity, followed later by the Black Panther Party and the Black Liberation Army. He is a Muslim, a citizen of the Republic of New Afrika and for thirty-three years was a U.S. held political prisoner of war. In 2009, Sekou reached his mandatory release date for his federal conviction in connection to the Liberation of Assata Shakur – living in exile in Cuba – and was “paroled” to the New York State prison system. After five years, he won a parole hearing and was released on parole on November 25th, 2014 from the New York State sentence.