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Assata Shakur, the grandmother of hip hop legend Tupac Shakur, has handed away.
Shakur died in Cuba, the place she’s lived since escaping from a US jail in 1979.
Although finest identified lately for elevating Tupac’s mom, Afeni Shakur, Assata first gained fame for her involvement within the wrestle for civil rights.
Assata Shakur, grandmother of Tupac, has handed away. (YouTube)
She was 78 years outdated.
Assata Shakur’s dramatic life involves an finish in Cuba
A former member of the Black Panther Occasion and the Black Liberation Military, Shakur turned a distinguished determine within the civil rights motion within the Sixties.
Raised between New York and North Carolina, she was lively in actions that sought racial justice, neighborhood empowerment, and opposition to systemic racism and police brutality.
Her life took a dramatic flip in 1973, when a automotive she was using in was pulled over for a defective taillight on the New Jersey Turnpike.
The site visitors cease resulted in a shootout that left a state trooper and a Black Liberation Military member useless.
Shakur was wounded, arrested, and convicted of homicide in 1977.
In 1979, Shakur managed to flee. She sought political asylum in Cuba, and lived there for the rest of her life.
The FBI positioned her on its Most Needed Terrorists record in 2013, and the US authorities sought her extradition till the very finish of her days.
Whereas residing in Cuba, Shakur penned her influential e book Assata: An Autobiography.
Many who’re paying tribute at present have shared the methods through which they have been influenced by the textual content.
“Beyond her political battles, Assata Shakur’s autobiography became a cornerstone text for generations of activists, offering insight into the experiences of Black women within liberation movements and the broader fight against systemic racism,” reads one such tribute.
“Her passing marks the end of an era, but her story will continue to spark dialogue about justice, freedom, and the ongoing pursuit of equality.”
Regardless of the space between them, Assata was an influential determine within the lifetime of Tupac, who was tragically gunned down in 1996.
