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Lover of people, Afeni Shakur
Nora Ballard and Ted Fetter
ASSOCIATE FEATURES EDITOR
AND GUEST WRITER
She is 55 years old, she
speaks in a strong, thick voice.
She was once a Black Panther,
and she gave life to Tupac Amaru
Shakur.
Afeni Shakur was intro
duced by Neena Robertson
(Guilford senior, and president
of the African American Cultural
Society) as an "activist, mother,
woman." Neena wrote a poem
called "A Dedication" for Afeni,
and read it to a rapt audience in
Dana Auditorium on Sunday
night.
Tupac was one the most
captivating and profound per
formers of his time, yet his mu
sic transgressed racial bound
aries and has become timeless.
Since Tupac was murdered
on Sept. 13, 1996, Afeni has car
ried on the legacy of her son
through heartfelt speeches, the
release of several CD's (previ
ously unreleased material), the
y^^THE
GUILFORDIAN
Greensboro, NC
creation of a Tupac Shakur art
center in Georgia, and an up
coming MTV documentary,
Shakur said Sun. night.
Afeni's speech was sincere
as she spoke with pride, love,
and dignity. She made it clear
from the beginning that she was
"not the only woman who has
lost a child," and stated, "I am
very fragile in my pride." She
went on to describe her difficult
upbringing in Lumberton, NC:
"we have been dirt poor farmers."
Her ancestors were kidnapped
slaves. She described her
younger self as "arrogant" and
"angry."
Afeni also admitted her drug
abuse. "I am a recovering addict,"
she said. In fact, she was in
prison for much of her preg
nancy with Tupac. She ad
dressed her difficulty in coming
to terms with her habit, and how
the experience was humbling in
a way. "I was a run-of-the-mill,
garden variety, dope fiend."
Her long struggle with ad
diction hurt Tupac, and he ad-
dressed his pain in his song,
"Dear Mama." Afeni offered in
sight to the broader effects of
drug abuse: "our actions as drug
addicts affect other peoples lives
... and we pretend it doesn't."
Whereas addiction was
Afeni's curse, Tupac was her
blessing. "God blessed me," she
said. She spoke about her "spec
tacular son" with more than just
motherly adoration. Although
he only lived 25 years, Afeni
believed he lived a full life. "I al
ways believed Tupac had a be
ginning, middle, and end." She
also said, "he did more in 25
years than most of us cam do in
three lifetimes."
Afeni openly discussed her
son's death, talking about the
February 15, 2002
tragedy matter-of-factly. "One
individual person made a choice
that day, and that day, that
choice was to take another
person's life," she said in a som
ber yet honest way. She cut
through any trivial ideas that
could be lingering in Dana when
she said "things are as bad as
you think; now that you know
they are that bad, do something
about it."
Afeni was thankful that she
was drug-free for the five years
before Tupac's death and ever
since. "I'm grateful that when he
took his last breath, I was clean
and sober."
See Shakur, p. 10