Mari Pudas
The big theme of Tupac Shakur’s biography is racism, writes journalist Mari Pudas.
Tupac Shakur is still one of the most respected rappers. AOP
Rap-legend Tupac Shakur’s the murder is still unsolved, and the matter is currently being discussed in court.
Tupac was shot from a moving car on September 7, 1996, and the rapper died a few days later in a hospital.
The murder is of course discussed in Tupac’s last year’s release by Staci Robinson in the biography he is writing Tupac Shakur (Like), but that is not the main theme of the book.
The main theme, especially in the beginning of the book, is racism. The kind of racism that, from here in Finland, feels foreign when we don’t have an African-American population to the same extent as in the United States.
Shakur’s mother and other relatives belonged to the Black Panthers, a revolutionary African-American black rights organization. Afeni-mother wanted to correct grievances against blacks such as unequal education, miserable living conditions for blacks, poor health care, oppression and discrimination.
The family had reservations about the police, who had treated them unfairly.
Tupac himself stayed away from crime as a child and youth, but he became a victim of crime as soon as his first song (Trapped) after publication.
12:45 p.m. On October 17, 1991, Tupac was riding in a limo with his friends in Oakland. Tupac jumped out of the limo and started to cross the crosswalk when two police officers, Kevin Rodgers and Alexander Boyovich stopped him.
Tupac was asked for his ID and the cops started writing him tickets because Tupac hadn’t crossed the road at the crosswalk.
Tupac Sharkur had a short but remarkable career. ZUPR
Tupac didn’t exactly understand what he was accused of, because crossing the road without using a crosswalk was quite common. Tupac handed over his ID and the cop started laughing.
Tupac? Why did your mother give you such a name, the police asked.
Tupac had already been teased as a child about his unusual first name, and of course the question annoyed him.
Cops can be fucked up. Give that fine, Tupac yelled.
The officers threw Tupac to the ground and began beating his head on the pavement, the biography says.
As Tupac lay on the ground with his head bruised, he saw how his mother’s war had caught up with him too.
Seven hours later, Tupac was taken out of the tube to be patched up.
Tupac sued the Oakland police and demanded 10 million euros in damages. The matter was resolved through mediation. Tupac received around 42,000 euros.
Tupac changed after being beaten by Oakland police. Young black men often go through this process and feel great anger towards the reality in which they are forced to liveTupac’s mother Afeni says in the book.
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