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Dr. Mutulu Shakur, the stepfather of Tupac Amaru Shakur and ex-husband of Afeni Shakur, has reportedly passed away.
According to a report NewsOne published on Friday, July 7, Activist Kamau Franklin announced on Twitter that the revered activist and former member of the Black Liberation Army died on Thursday night. A cause of death was not immediately revealed, however, Shakur had been battling an advanced stage of terminal bone marrow cancer in the days leading up to his death. He was 72.
“Dr. Mutulu Shakur taught us that ‘people struggle for liberation because they love [the] people,'” the New Afrikan People’s Organization and the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement said in a joint statement.
Born Jeral Wayne Williams on August 8, 1950, Shakur was a loving father to his daughter, Sekyiwa, and grandfather. He lived most of his life as a revolutionary acupuncturist and human rights organizer. In the late 1980s, Shakur was apprehended for his alleged role in the “expropriation” of $1.6 million from a Brinks armored truck. He was sentenced to 60 years in prison and served over half of his time behind bars before he became eligible for parole in 2016.
Shakur had been denied parole at least nine times in the past even with his deteriorating health during the pandemic. The U.S. Parole Commission finally agreed to release him last December. He was freed more than six months after a doctor gave him half a year to live. Veteran journalist Dream Hampton, who previously covered 'Pac's life thoroughly, took to Twitter to eulogize Shakur.
“Rest in power to Dr Mutulu Shakur, who when his comrade was captured by the state, went inside, and liberated her,” she wrote. “Those of us who knew Mutulu, know never lost that audacious spirit.”
Rest in peace, Dr. Mutulu Shakur.