Black people have had to make lemonade for 500+ years since coming in contact with European colonizers. When the strongest among us are knocked down 9 times, we get up 10. Tupac would prove to be one of the strongest among us. He was raised in Baltimore, Maryland and later moved to Marin City, California with his sister and mother, Afeni Shakur, at 13. Still, he bypassed San Francisco, The City across the bay, to claim Oakland. It wasn't long before Tupac hooked up with Sock G (Mr. Humpty Dance) and Digital Underground on the Oakland-Berkeley border. There's good reason for this and it's rooted in Oakland history.
Today, Blacks are gaslit when we discuss our plight in a country we built, in a world we have been great stewards of for a couple million years before other races existed. Gatekeepers limit our educational and career choices. We are treated like basura (trash) half the time by anyone and everyone (sometimes even our own).
Here in Oakland, the Black community takes pride in being, as we say, “off the plantation.” We believe our black bodies are our own. By and large, we don’t look for trouble but when it comes we are not afraid of a fight. We'll give you the business in a minute. The revolution is in our words.
Back in the 1940’s and 1950’s, Oakland was a hub of urban activity and entertainment. We had a vibrant street culture that grew out of segregation. We became known as the home of pimping from the great amount of sex trafficking taking place here as it was the end of the line for the Transcontinental Railway from the east coast and, you know, white boys get horny.
The railways employed Black men to cater to the needs of its passengers as Pullman Porters. Many of the passengers were white businessmen. Along the way, Porters would ear-hustle information that they would share amongst each other and people in the Black community here at large. We were more sophisticated and progressive than other Black communities throughout the country which is why the Black Panther Party thrived here.
It's the knowledge that was freely shared that had awakened a young Huey P. Newton, a transplant from Alabama who founded the juggernaut Black Panther Party and later would radicalize and season Tupac Shakur, the son of the influential and powerful Black Panther member Afeni Shakur.
I’ve run into numerous women in the streets of Oakland who have sang the praises of Afeni and her care for them at the time of the struggle times of the 1960's and 70's, from the Panthers’ founding to its dissolution around the height of the crack epidemic. They credit Afeni with keeping them focused on liberation and not getting caught up with older male members whose natural desire was to gravitate towards available sex from the younger female members.
One member named Cynthia told me that Afeni, frankly, kept everyone “in line.” She also provided safe shelter to younger female members who may have runaway from home to join the movement.
In the 90's I attended a symposium held for Afeni Shakur. I was juiced to talk to her afterward as this was about 2 years after her son Tupac's death. Just as i was about to approach her the whote girl I brought along had an absolute meltdown. Me, honestly, trying to be a good girlfriend left before ever getting to speak to her. I can only blame myself for being so foolish. That girl and I don't even speak anymore. I had so many questions and although I didn't plan to take up too much of her time. It was an act of sabotage although I didn't realize that at the time.
Tupac was a rap god of women, weed and weather like no other. He mixed together sex appeal for the ladies, strength for the men and anti-oppression for the whole community. I believe he claimed Oakland because brothers in The Townv are different. They are on a 24/7 hustle to get to the bag. There is money to be made in the bay. This is still Gold Countr.
A key tenet of The Pimp Game in The Town is "pimps up, hoes down." Tupac made hoes of his enemies, eviserating them in 16-bars. He was quite curlish. "That's why I fucked yo' bitch, you fat motherfucker" he rhymes in Hit 'Em Up. Ouch!
Tupac was a Black man who wore the weight of our community on his shoulders when most Black celebrities are paid very well to turn a blind eye to the plight of our people. Oakland is a Chocolate City where Blacks take pride in our joy and beauty.
Many subscribe to conspiracy theories that the government was truly behind Tupac's murder and not the two suspects that were at one time under investigation. This is due to the fact that he was viewed as a threat to the American society's systematic racism towards Blacks since the colonists made oppression the status quo.
However, with Oakland being the home of modern, high-tech surveillance with programs like COINTELPRO a counterintelligence program that's purpose was to use the resources of the FBI to prevent the rise of a so-called Black Messiah.
Then they flooded the community with drugs, guns and gangster rap. Tupac committed what Black Panther Chairman Dr Huey P. Newton called Revolutionary Suicide by bucking racism to be the voice of Foundational Black Americans (FBA). Unapologetically, at that.
Millions around the world were shook when the 25 year old was murdered by an assassin who escaped justice for nearly 30 years now. Even though things often change, since Tupac's death, The Bay Area has never been the same.
Tupac was hot-headed but he didn't deserve to die. Sadly, Black lives don't matter to colonizers and they never will. White supremacy like the Charlie Kirks and Nick Fuenteses don't believe in empathy or compassion and believe we should normalize suffering. How can you follow Christ and believe in its core tenets.
They're running an old con game they inherited from their ancestors. They are Romans masquerading as Christians. Don't believe their hype. The white man is the biggest liar of all time. Just look at your president. Need I say more?
This is why we must stand firm on protecting our hard-fought for Civil Rights that every other subgroup has benefitted from more than us. Tupac embodied the bold spirit of Oakland's Black community. Even though we are not hegemonous we have united in the past and we must continue to do it.
These white Christian Nationalist are busy. We need to match their energy. Malcolm X said that America was unique in that here we had the opportunity to have a bloodless revolution Ibelieve Tupac would agree.. Tupac is heavy in my playlist as a reminder that I'm a powerful being, grown, an individual and proud of my lineage.
Stay vigilant and safe. Theocrats are determined to usher in The End of Days because much to their shearing they up and realized that they are outnumbered by POC (whites comprise only 7 percent of the population so they'd rather take everyone out with them in a Reverend Jim Jones move). Don't drink the Kool-Aid. Tupac wouldn't.
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