Mutulu Shakur, Black liberation activist and rapper Tupac Shakur’s stepfather has died at 72 after battling cancer.
After 36 years of incarceration, Shakur was finally granted parole in December 2022, primarily due to his deteriorating health after facing numerous rejections from the board. His release came at a time when he had been diagnosed with terminal bone marrow cancer, with doctors predicting he had only six months left to live.
The New Afrikan People’s Organization and the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement released a statement announcing Shakur’s death on July 7.
“Mutulu’s life was transformative to the many people he organized, healed, mentored and inspired. Dr. Mutulu Shakur taught us that “people struggle for liberation because they love [the] people,” the statement says.
Shakur’s prison sentence stemmed from a 1988 conviction for conspiracy to violate the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act, as well as bank robbery, armed bank robbery and murder. He was found guilty of leading an armed revolutionary group responsible for a series of robberies in New York and Connecticut, as well as assisting JoAnne Chesimard, also known as Assata Shakur, in her escape from a New Jersey prison in 1979, The Associated Press reports.
Born Jeral Wayne Williams on Aug. 8, 1950, Shakur gained recognition for his work in holistic health care for Black communities in the Bronx. He informally studied acupuncture and collaborated with the Black Panthers and the Young Lords and was one of the founders of the Lincoln Detox, a drug detoxification clinic in South Bronx that offered holistic drug rehabilitation.
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