Jada Pinkett-Smith’s Open Letter About Afeni Shakur

This morning Hip Hop took another L as news broke of Afeni Shakur’s passing, a music businesswoman, philanthropist, political activist, Black Panther and of course mother of the legendary Tupac Shakur has receive countless farewells on social media from the Hip Hop community and beyond.

One of the late Pac’s close friends, Jada Pinkett-Smith, took to her Facebook account to release a statement on Afeni’s death. She reflects on the times she spent with Afeni as well as Afeni’s character. Read the heartfelt open letter below. RIP.

Today I woke up to the news that Afeni had passed. My first thought was of Sekyiwa and the entire clan that loved Afeni. Then I remembered that I was in NY to attend a Mother’s Day event named after a song written about Afeni, Dear Mama. My heart tightened and then all kinds of memories flooded in. I quickly remembered how calm Afeni was especially during any crisis. She always had a way of making me believe all would be well. But my fondest memories of Afeni was spending time with her at Jamine Guy’s house as Jasmine was writing Afeni’s book. Tupac had passed, and now I was a business woman, wife, and a mother and we could talk real and I mean really real. I got to see where Pac got his passion, his ideals for equality and justice but most of all his depth of thinking. Afeni was a giant in her own right. Today she is reunited with her son and Sekyiwa has two majestic angels to look after her. One for each shoulder. Rest in peace Afeni, and give Pac a hug and a kiss from me.

Jada