Tupac
Amaru Shakur was born Lesane Parish Crooks in the East Harlem section
of Manhattan, New York City on June 16th, 1971. His mother
Afeni, and biological father Billy Garland, changed his name in 1972
to Tupac Amaru II, which paid homage to the 18th-century Peruvian
revolutionary who led an indigenous (Black) uprising against Spanish
oppressors.
Now,
I think we all know of Afeni Shakur's illustrious legacy as a member
of the Black Panther Party, but what's lesser known is Tupac's
biological father Billy, and his step-dad, Mutulu, were also leaders
and active members of that cadre as well. Moreover, Afeni, while
pregnant with Tupac in prison, acted as a legal attorney in a court
trial that get herself and 20 other members of the Black Panthers
acquitted of charges that would've resulted in decades-long jail
sentences.
At
the age of 12, Tupac enrolled in Harlem's 127th street
Repertory Ensemble, and was cast as Travis Younger in the Ensemble's
production of 'A Raisin in the Sun'. It was during this performance
at New York's Apollo Theater where Tupac would later admit to being
bitten by the acting 'bug'.
In
1986, Tupac's family moved to Baltimore, Maryland. There, Tupac would
attend Paul Dunbar Lawrence High School until his sophmore year.
Afterwards, he'd transfer to the Baltimore School for the Arts. And
it was there
that he'd start and build a life-long friendship with a young Jada Pinkett.
that he'd start and build a life-long friendship with a young Jada Pinkett.
We
all need to keep in mind, that when Tupac was 13, someone asked him
what he wanted to be and he replied, “A revolutionary”. Meaning,
the seeds that Afeni, Billy and Mutulu had planted in him were taking
root, and they'd dictate the course of his life, and ultimately lead
to his early death.
In
1988, Tupac's family moved to Marin County, California, located five
miles north of San Francisco. Once enrolled in Tamalpais High School,
he was active in their drama department and performed in several of
their productions. He also began attending the poetry classes of a
teacher named Lisa Steinberg, who organized a concert featuring one
of Shakur's musical groups called 'Strictly Dope'. And it was at this
performance where the manager Atron Gregory signed him to be a roadie
and back-up dancer for the group, 'Digital Underground'.
Needless
to say, once Tupac found his voice on the Digital Underground record,
'Same song', it wasn't long before those around him saw he was more
than just a back-up dancer. The cream of his genius began rising to
the top of the group, until he landed his own record deal with the
label Interscope. And in 1991, he released his solo debut album
'2Pacalypse Now'.
And
even though this album didn't generate any Top 10 hits, it displayed
Pac's penchant for politically-tinged lyrics, and the songs 'Trapped'
and 'Brenda's got a baby' showcased his socially-conscious bent early
on.
Later
in his career, the songs 'Keep ya' head up', 'Dear Mama' and 'So Many
Tears' would show the world where Pac's heart really was.
Assata
Shakur was born Joanne Debra Byron in Flushing, Queens, New York City
on July 16th, 1947.
She
lived for three years with her mother, her aunt Evelyn, and retired
grandparents Lula and Frank Hill. In 1950, Assata's parents divorced
and her grandparents moved to Wilmington, North Carolina, where she
spent the majority of her childhood with her younger siblings, Mutulu
and Beverly.
Assata's
teenage years were riddled with the twin difficulties of her
disliking for the american education system and her being shuttled
from household to household. Eventually, her aunt Evelyn, who lived
in Manhattan, New York City, took her in. And these years shaped her
post-adolescence and introduced her to the stability she so often
craved. Additionally, her aunt inspired her mental curiosities with
trips to museums, libraries and trips to other cultural events.
After
quitting high school, Assata got her equivalency diploma and enrolled
in the Borough of Manhattan Community College (BMCC). While there,
she took part in many protests, sit-ins and political activities
which put her in touch with members of the Black Panther Party in the
mid-1960's. In 1967, she married fellow BMCC student-activist Louis
Chesimard, and took his last name. Three years later, they divorced. And this ultimately happened due to their coming from unstable and abusive households,
where they never learned how to form solid relationships.
At
23, Assata graduated from BMCC and officially joined the Black
Panther Party. She eventually became a leading member of the Harlem,
New York branch and coordinated a school breakfast program for
students in need.
Mind
you, J. Edgar Hoover (FBI leader) had openly declared that the most
dangerous initiative of the Black Panther Party was the 'free
breakfast program'. Now, with the Black Panther's assortment of
firearms and manpower, you may ask, why would sexually
conflicted J. Edgar be so concerned about a breakfast program? That's
an important question, I'll answer later.
Assata
left the Black Panthers saying they weren't knowledgeable enough
about Black revolutionary history. She declared that members of the
Black Panthers were reading the 'Red Book', but didn't know who
Harriet Tubman and Nat Turner were. After leaving the Panthers, she
joined the Black Liberation Army (BLA) which was described by
american periodicals as a 'radical and violent organization of Black
activists'. Alternatively, the BLA described itself as an
organization dedicated to 'the fight for independence and
self-determination for Afrikan peoples in the united states'.
Between
1971 and 1973, Assata was targeted by the american government's
'Counterintelligence Program' on Black revolutionaries, and charged
with several bogus crimes, most of which she would later be acquitted
of in american courts.
The
culmination of these trumped-up charges came to a head in May of
1973, when Assata was pulled over in a car by New Jersey State
Troopers. One of the troopers later said Assata and her car-mates,
which included BLA member Zyed Shakur, were pulled over for slightly
exceeding the speed-limit (wink, wink). Long story short, a shoot out
ensued when cops pulled guns on Assata and Zyed, and this resulted in
the state trooper Werner Foerster and Zyed Shakur being killed.
Assata was also wounded in the encounter, but survived.
In
1977, she was convicted of the first-degree murder of Werner Foerster
resulting in Assata getting a life sentence.
On
November 2, 1979, three BLA members posing as prison visitors, drew
pistols and took two corrections officers hostage. They then
proceeded to break Assata out of jail by seizing a prison van. Once
they were outside of the federal prison, they switched vehicles and
let the corrections officers go free. The C.O.'s were unharmed.
After
escaping prison, it's believed that Assata lived as a fugitive in the
u.s. until she fled to Cuba, where she's remained ever since.
Now, let's fast forward to 2017...
On
the 16th of this month, the Tupac 'biopic', 'All Eyez on
Me' was released in american theaters. Mind you, Pac's birthday is on
June 16th.
To
top this off, the american presi-dunce, I mean president, Donald
Trump, said he would not lift sanctions off Cuba, until Assata Shakur
was returned to america.
Now,
the logical question in anyone's mind should be, why the hell would Trump care about Assata's return to america some 40 years later? Does
he even really know who Assata Shakur is?
And
here's the answer—No, he doesn't really know about Assata, but what he does know is, the entire Shakur family represents the
revolutionary spark that could possibly rally Black people to unite. And like I
said in my post about Tariq Nasheed, any organization (or icon in this
case), that has even the slightest chance of uniting Black folks, must
be destabilized, dismantled and destroyed. Period.
The
reason that pansy J. Edgar Hoover was so adamant about Assata and the
Black Panther's 'free breakfast program' being so dangerous is, he
knew they could condition hundreds of young Black men and
women with revolutionary mind-sets in that situation. See, once the
youth sat down to the Panther's breakfast, they would partake in
sing-a-longs that told them, 'Black is beautiful' and 'Free Huey', which served to indoctrinate them into the Party's ideologies. And Hoover knew
that out of one of those young minds, would come the 'Black Messiah'
that he and his organization were dreading.
And
my generation's last best hope for a Black messiah did come out of
those free breakfast programs—and that messiah's name was Tupac
Shakur.
Understand,
on the down-low, Tupac was the national chairman of a group called
'NAPO', which stood for the 'New Afrikan Panthers Organization'. And
this cadre was dedicated to replicating what the Black Panthers had
done without making the same mistakes they'd made. Mind you,
Tupac took on this title right out of high school. So all through his
career he carried those manifestos and mission-statements with him.
And when Pac became head of NAPO, they were already active in 8
american cities.
Now,
as for the east coast/west coast rap war that the movie All Eyez on
Me, will tell us was wholly responsible for Pac's death, I'll say, I'm willing to bet money that what won't be shown is how prisoners in jail told Pac that Notorious
B.I.G. had him set up to be shot. And how those prisoners turned out
to be FBI agents. And this was proven in the Nick Broomfield
documentary, 'Biggie and Tupac'.
Also,
in the 1970's, FBI infiltrators had east coast factions of the Black
Panthers battling west coast factions of the Party. To the point
where they termed these battles, the 'East Coast versus West Coast
Panther War'. Google it sometimes.
And
speaking of Black Panthers, the movie trailer for Marvel's 'Black
Panther' was released this month as well. And while all the special
effects of the trailer looked exceptionally well done, we still see
Black folks (in the most advanced country on earth, 'Wakanda')
holding spears, wearing plates in their lips and grass skirts on
their hips.
And
while I'm on this subject, let me tell you what I though about
another movie adapted from a comic book series, 'Luke Cage'.
I'll
confess that one of the reasons I got a subscription to 'Netflix' is
because so many people were talking about the Luke Cage series. So
when I first sat down to watch the premiere episode of this show, I
thought, I'm in for a real treat.
What
I saw a few minutes into the first episode was Mike Colter, who plays
Cage, working a menial job sweeping up hair at a barbershop, even
though he knows he possesses super powers. After that, I saw
Alfre Woodard playing this crooked politician who works with this
local gangster to garner funds for her campaigns. And in one scene,
Alfre is attending some community organizational event where she's
endorsing the 'new' Harlem Renaissance, i.e. the gentrification of
Harlem (meaning they're kicking the Black folks out). And then she
boasts about opening some affordable public housing complex called
the 'Crispus Attucks complex'. Mind you, Crispus is renowned for
being the first person to die in the 'american revolution'. So, what
the show is really saying is this complex, and the new Harlem
Renaissance, is suppose to kill off, or get rid of the Black
residents there.
But
what really made me wanna' punch my TV screen was the moment at the
end when Cage decides to be a crime-fighter. Cause the first people
he decides to save are a fair-skinned asian couple. And after he
saves their lives, the asian man says to Cage, “You cause more
trouble, now they are gonna' come back.”
Essentially,
this korean guy (or whatever kinda' fair-skinned asian he was), told
Cage, thanks for saving us, but you're still a negro.
So,
I've said all that to say this, these films are engineered to
make us feel one way—inferior to whites.
More
specifically, they're saying even though you come from the most
advanced country on earth (Wakanda), and even though you have
super-natural powers (Cage), and even though your parents brought you
up with the virtues of helping your people (Pac), you're still
nothing but a bunch of dumb savages who are predisposed to hurting
and hating each other.
And
that's why I canceled my subscription to Netflix and I've sworn off
superheros movies.
But
if I ever do wanna' see some brother with super-natural powers get
his scrap on...I'll just watch 'Blade' one mo' time.
Later...
MontUHURU
Mimia
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