Outline Preview: An Amerikan Family: The Shakurs and the Nation They Created

Episode coming Monday, July 3rd:

- This book is ostensibly about the Shakur family, but on another level you are using the trials and tribulations of this specific family as a lens through which to understand the broader struggle for black liberation in this country. Why did you want to focus on the Shakur family in particular, and why are they such a useful lens through which to wrestle with the broader black struggle in the US?

- Can you talk about your methodology a bit: your extensive interviews with members of the Shakur family, your personal experiences, and your empirical historical research – and how you brought them all together in this book?

- Before diving deeper into the book, can you situate the Shakur family within the broader context of the black liberation movement that emerged in the 60’s and 70’s, advanced by larger than life figures like MLK and Malcom X, and the specific organizations that arose around this struggle at this time (RAM, BLA, BPP, RNA, etc)?

- Now that we have the social and political context, can you tell us more about the Shakur family, what the Shakur surname represented, and who some of the early figures in this family tree were?

- There are many figures to highlight, and you do so beautifully in your book, but lets focus on a few specific people. When people hear the name Shakur, most of them think of Tupac. Can you talk about Tupac, how he was raised by his mother Afeni, and how his childhood shaped him into the cultural icon he eventually became?

o His politics and how he used his music to advance the struggle

o How he got sucked into gang beef and ultimately killed

- Another towering figure in the Shakur family tree is the one and only Assata – the brave revolutionary who was targeted by the US state, imprisoned, wrote books, escaped prison, had bounties placed on her by American politicians and police, and still lives in Exile in Cuba. She is still on the FBI’s most wanted list and they are still offering $2 million dollars for her capture and return. Trump even called her out by name as someone he wanted extradited back to the US when he was reversing Obama’s attempt to thaw relations with Cuba. Can you talk in detail about who Assata was, her militant activism, and how she ended up fleeing to Cuba?

o Castro’s response to the US trying to get her extradited back to the US

- Another important figure in this book is Tupac’s stepfather, community organizer, and doctor Mutulu Shakur. Can you talk about him, his contributions to the struggle, and why he’s an important figure in this history?

- When doing the extensive research and interviews for this book, what surprised you, caught you off guard, or otherwise interested you that you think more people should know about or understand?

- What is the legacy of the Shakur family today, and what do you hope people – especially younger activists and organizers fighting in the black liberation and socialist movements today – take away from this important book?