2Pac’s stepfather Mutulu Shakur has reportedly passed away after a lengthy battle with a rare and incurable form of blood cancer.
Shakur’s passing was announced on Twitter by activist Kamau Franklin on Friday (July 7), who revealed he died on Thursday night (July 6). He was 72 years old.
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“Mutulu Shakur passed away last night,” Franklin wrote. “New Afrikan movement veteran, member of the Black Liberation Army, stepfather of Tupac Shakur. He spent 36 years behind bars as a political prisoner/prisoner of war. Rise in Power. Free Em All.”
Veteran Hip Hop journalist/author dream hampton — who covered 2Pac’s life and career extensively — also paid tribute to Shakur on Twitter following his death.
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“Rest in power to Dr Mutulu Shakur, who when his comrade was captured by the state, went inside, and liberated her,” she said. “Those of us who knew Mutulu, know never lost that audacious spirit.”
HipHopDX sends its condolences to Mutulu Shakur’s friends and family.
Mutulu Shakur was first diagnosed with blood cancer back in July 2022 while he was incarcerated.
Doctors gave the then 71-year-old up to six months to live, and activists were fighting to get the American activist and former member of the Black Liberation Army out from behind bars so he could say goodbye to his family.
“His health situation is extremely dire right now,” Shakur’s attorney Brad Thomson told NBC News. “He’s very much on an end-of-life trajectory. We’re looking at a matter of months at the most but, realistically, it could be a matter of days or weeks.”
He continued: “At this point, the issue is getting him released so he can say goodbye to his loved ones, his family, his children, and grandchildren. To be surrounded by loved ones, so he can die in peace and comfort outside of prison.”
The social activist was paroled from prison after eleven requests in December 2022.
Shakur was convicted of racketeering conspiracy charges in 1981 for his involvement in the robbery of a Brink’s armored truck, where a guard and two police officers were killed. He took responsibility for his actions and expressed remorse, before later being convicted for helping his sister, 2Pac’s activist godmother Assata Shakur, escape from prison in 1979.
Mutulu Shakur was incarcerated under “old law,” a set of federal sentencing guidelines in place for crimes before 1987, meaning his parole decisions have been under the oversight of a U.S. Parole Commission that was intended to be phased out decades ago.
A judge who rejected his request for compassionate release in 2020 told Shakur he could reapply at “the point of approaching death.” That same judge, now 90 years old, was the one who sentenced him over 30 years ago.
