Hollywood's Unhappiest Endings: Legends Never Die Updated by MacDonald Les & MacDonald Les

Author:MacDonald, Les & MacDonald, Les [MacDonald, Les]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Published: 2013-07-26T16:00:00+00:00

Les 2009

To even begin to understand the enigma that was Tupac Shakur and the legacy that he left behind, one must understand the times that he was born into and also the family that gave him his name.

America in the late 1960's and early 1970's was knee deep in the most unpopular war that the country had ever fought. The Vietnam War was the first "tv" war and the television viewing public was greeted daily with images of death and destruction from the other side of the world. Major universities in the US held peaceful protests urging their government to get out of Vietnam. Other protests were more violent with President Nixon being burned in effigy. At one such protest at Kent State University in Ohio in 1970 the National Guard fired on the students killing four of them. Racism and poverty were also major issues. The country that was pouring billions of dollars into the war effort and billions more into the space race while putting a man on the moon in 1969 could not even ensure that all of it's own children were being fed.

As in most cultures when the economy is not going well, it's the minorities that are the hardest hit. Ghettos sprang up in the larger cities with most of the inhabitants being black. They did not have to travel far to see how the other half lived. Race riots occurred in cities such as Detroit and Los Angeles. When Martin Luther King was gunned down in Memphis by a white man in 1968 it appeared that all hell would break loose. It was in this political climate that the Black Panther party was formed. Long overdue changes in civil rights were instituted by the Kennedy's in the early 1960's with Martin Luther King pressing the government for more. By June 1968 both John and Robert Kennedy, along with Martin Luther King, were gone. Three assassins bullets had set civil rights back years. Newly elected President Richard Nixon focused much of his attention and energy on the war in Vietnam. The Black Panthers attempted to fill that void by speaking out for civil rights. They argued that every American was entitled to land, bread, housing, education, clothing, justice and peace.

Alice Faye Williams dropped out of high school in North Carolina and made her way to New York City where she soon joined up with the Panthers. She changed her name to Afeni and married fellow Black Panther Lumumba Shakur. In 1968 Lumumba was involved in a shootout with police in Manhattan and was charged with conspiracy to commit murder. While Lumumba was in prison Afeni enjoyed the company of several men, most notably another Panther named William Garland. By 1968 the Panthers were growing in numbers. However, there were internal struggles within the party. Many members advocated violence as a means to an end. Many now demanded that blacks be exempt from military service and only blacks were allowed to join the movement. Some saw this a a case of reverse discrimination.

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