2Pac Facts Essay Research Paper 1997ForeshadowIn April

2Pac Facts Essay, Research Paper 1997 Foreshadow In April of 1969, Afeni (Alice Faye Walker), and 20 other members of the New York Black Panthers were arrested and charged with felonies, including conspiracy to bomb police stations and department stores in New York City and the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens. While out on bail, Afeni dated Legs, a gangster and William Garland, a Panther. She was married to Lumumba Abdul Shakur, the main defendant in the Panther 21 case, who remained incarcerated. She had four or five miscarriages. In 1970, Geronimo Pratt, also Panther, was put in a California jail on homicide charges on Caroline Olsen on a Santa Monica tennis court in ‘68. His lawyer was Johnnie Cochran. When Lumumba found out Afeni was pregnant he divorced her. In 1971

Afeni’s bail was revoked and lived at the Women’s House of Detention in Greenwich Village. In May Afeni was acquitted of all charges. She defended herself with a cross-examination of a witness who turned out to be a undercover government agent. On June 16th, Lesane Parish Crooks was born in Brooklyn. Gloria Jean, Afeni’s sister and Joan Bird sat outside the delivery room. The doctor took Lesane to Gloria to bear witness to who he was. The Panthers renamed him Tupac Amaru Shakur. Tupac Amaru means wisdom and courage, and is after a Cuban insurrectionary active. Shakur is Arabic for thankful to God. His mom, Afeni, and Billy Garland, who had two other kids from previous relationships, had separated. Tupac’s Social Security number was 546-47-8539. Afeni took a job as a legal

assistant to Richard Fischbein, a New York trial attorney. Afeni sang Roberta Flack’s “I Love You In the Morning” as a lullaby to him. Afeni never said who Tupac’s dad was, but she did say that it wasn’t Lumumba. Tupac said, “She just told me, “I don’t know who your daddy is. It wasn’t like she was a slut or nothing.” Geronimo became Tupac’s Godfather. Afeni and Tupac moved in with Lumumba’s adopted brother, Mutulu Shakur, who became Tupac’s step-dad. In 1972, Geronimo was sentenced to prison for 25 years to life. In 1973, Tupac’s uncle, Zayd Shakur was driving on the New Jersey Turnpike with Assata Shakur, born JoAnne Chesimard, when they were stopped by a trooper. In a shoot-out that followed, Trooper Werner Foerster killed Zayd and Assata, was later

charged and convicted in the killing of Werner. In 1975, Tupac’s half-sister, Sekyiwa was born. In 1976, Tupac started school at Oakley. Billy invited Tupac over for sleepovers with his other kids and sent Afeni’s mother cash. In 1979 Assata escaped from prison and fled to Cuba, where she is now living under a grant of asylum from the government of Fidel Castro. In 1981, a minister asked Tupac what he wanted to be when he grew up. He said, “A revolutionary.” Afeni brought Tupac Vincent van Gogh’s The Starry Night from the library, it held his attention for hours. Van Gogh was a Dutch painter who shot himself. All of van Gogh’s work was produced in 10 years. Punishment for Tupac was reading The New York Times. Mutulu left the family and went underground. Legs came to

live with the family, Tupac had always assumed that he was his real dad. Tupac said, “That is where the thug in me came from.” He introduced Afeni to crack. In 1983, Tupac estimated that he’d lived in “like eighteen different places” when he started junior high. F.B.I. agents would come to Tupac at school and ask him if he had seen Mutulu. He was on the Ten Most Wanted list. In 1984, Gerard saw Tupac for the first time he said that Tupac had shirt with MC NEW YORK written with iron-on letters, and he was rapping. All these people was around him. They were enemies at first, but then they made a crew, Born Busy, DJ Plain Terror, Ace Rocker, and D on the beat box. In 1985 Tupac started writing poetry in grammar school in New York. Afeni, Tupac, and Sekyiwa joined The House