Biography
Mutulu Shakur (born Jeral Wayne Williams) was a former Black revolutionary as part of the Black Liberation Army, Revolutionary Action Movement, and the Provisional Government of the Republic of New Afrika. He was married to Afeni Shakur and was the stepfather to her son, rapper Tupac Shakur. Shakur's political and social consciousness began to develop early in his life, as he supported his blind mother through the maze of the social service system. Shakur learned that the system did not operate in the interests of Black people and that Black people must control the institutions that affect their lives.
Shakur was one of several Black Liberation Army, Weather Underground and May 19th members to carry out the October 1981 robbery of an armored car in Nanuet, New York. The heist resulted in the death of a security guard and two police officers in pursuit. Shakur was arrested on February 12, 1986. He, Marilyn Buck, and other involved individuals were indicted on RICO charges, as well as engineering the 1979 escape from a New Jersey prison of Assata Shakur. He was convicted on May 11, 1988 to a 60 year sentence.
In June 2022, it was revealed that Shakur had terminal bone marrow cancer with "six months to live". After 37 years in prison and 10 parole attempts given his ailing health, he was finally released. He died eight months later.
