Afeni Shakur - Revolutionary Mother

“My mama always used to tell me: ‘If you can’t find somethin’ to live for, you best find somethin’ to die for” – Tupac Shakur

May 3, 2016

I celebrate the life of Afeni Shakur today, learning the news of her death yesterday. 

I first learned of her many years ago, in some random post online and discovered that not only was she the mother of Tupac Shakur, someone I had always respected as an artist, poet and revolutionary, but she had also been instrumental in the Black Panther movement.

I had been studying the Black Panthers after several recurring dreams I’d had of black panthers. Of course, once discovering the purpose and drive of the group – I immediately felt a connection not only with their mission but geographically and physically as well - my birth place was San Francisco, 1964 - literally born in the middle of, and during the birth of what I believe we will all look back on one day as the beginning of “The Revolution”.

Growing up, I always believed that the Black Panthers were scary, violent people – and I guess to many, especially the system, they were. What I wasn’t aware of, was all the other amazing things they were doing – like feeding children and empowering each other to fight for freedom and equality.

(Afeni during a Black Panther rally)

(Black Panther Peoples Free Food Program Chicago, IL)

(Black Panther Breakfast for children program Oakland, California)

There are several good sources of information about Afeni online (although I found some mysteriously “missing” from the search engines) – if you want to know more about her. But for now, I want to highlight why I feel this connection with her - why I’m writing this.

She was pregnant with Tupac while she was in prison for her alleged crimes - although it’s commonly known now that she was politically targeted and imprisoned to send a message to the Black Panthers and their followers. I believe it backfired though. The group had amassed a significant following, and this act by the police department (the Black Panthers’ newspaper cartoon artist Emory Douglas was the one that started the reference to police  as “pigs”, the term being derived from the depiction of the police in his art) - just gave further exposure to the group and their mission, building more support for them.

During Afeni’s imprisonment, her writings showed that she was fully aware of the power that her baby embodied. While in prison, she would hold her belly and say “This is my prince. He is going to save the black nation”.

She fought hard for the release of her and her unborn baby, winning over the hearts of many people – so much so that they were able to raise the approximately $70,000 needed for bail so that she could give birth in freedom. Six weeks after her release, she gave birth to Tupac.

She continued to raise her son to be a leader in the revolution, which reminds me of Rose Kennedy reportedly saying that she was also fully aware during her pregnancies that her children would do great things for humanity, and raised them with this belief (Robert and John). Interesting that these children would all be killed once they began fully stepping into their power. 

I applaud her and her drive for change, for being willing to be on the violent front lines of the revolution. 

So I ask you to join me today in celebrating the life of a powerful woman, mother and revolutionary – Afeni Shakur. 

May she continue to serve as an inspiration to us all, as we carry on the work that she was an integral part of, of shifting our world into one that is peaceful – respecting all life as sacred and equal.

Check out more about Afeni here