*Black liberation activist Mutulu Shakur, Tupac Shakur’s stepfather, has died at 72 after battling cancer.
His death comes six months after he was released from prison after serving more than 35 years behind bars, NBC News reports.
Mutulu (born Jeral Wayne Williams) was diagnosed with stage-3 cancer while imprisoned and given six months to live. This sparked a yearslong push from his supporters and activists calling for his release so Mutulu could spend his final days with his loved ones. He passed away Friday in Los Angeles, surrounded by family and friends.
“Mutulu transitioned free and with his family thanks to all of us,” Jomo Muhammad, an organizer with the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement that advocated for Shakur’s freedom, told NBC News. “That gives our hearts a bit of peace.”
As we previously reported … Shakur had been imprisoned since the late 80s after being convicted and sentenced to 60 years for orchestrating a string of armed robberies in New York and Connecticut and causing the deaths of three people. In October 2022, the U.S. Parole Commission granted a request to release him.
As we reported previously, Mutulu had been denied release several times in the years leading up to his medical-related parole. His supporters have long argued that his arrest and lengthy imprisonment were due to authorities wanting to make an example of the civil rights activist and holistic health care advocate.
Commission officials told Mutulu in October, “We now find your medical condition renders you so infirm of mind and body that you are no longer physically capable of committing any Federal, State, or local crime.”
The New Afrikan People’s Organization and the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement announced Shakur’s death in a statement, saying: “Mutulu’s life was transformative to the many people he organized, healed, mentored and inspired,” the statement reads, per NBC. “Dr. Mutulu Shakur taught us that ‘people struggle for liberation because they love [the] people.’”
READ MORE: Tupac’s Stepfather Granted Parole After More Than 35 Years in Prison
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