Street Scholar Tupac Shakur

By W. F. Twyman, Jr.

A few months ago, I had an appointment with a writer at the University of San Diego. The writer’s office was located in the Copley Library, a grand and magnificent place before its renovation in 2020. Many hours have I spent researching and writing at the study tables. I began drafting scenes for my novel, Gotterdammerung, at Copley. I was mildly unimpressed with the new face of the library. I noticed that the medieval tapestry on the walls was gone. A mark against the new Copley. And then I caught my breath — hanging on the wall in central plain view was a color picture image of…street scholar Tupac Shakur.

Let’s talk this evening about the latest Soviet-style change in my life.

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I kid you when I refer to Tupac Shakur as a “street scholar.” Tupac was many things but he was not a scholar. Tupac dropped out of high school. So, what is Tupac known for? Why would he merit an honored place in a library of scholarship?

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Son of political activists and Black Panther Party members, his mother had some interesting ideas about naming her son. “I wanted him to have the name of revolutionary” people. While in high school, he connected with the Baltimore Chapter of the Young Communist League USA.

Most people have no connection to the murder of a small child. On August 22, 1992, Tupac’s gun discharged and killed a 6-year-old kid, Qu’id Walker-Teal, on his bicycle. The little kid was shot in his forehead at a school yard.

In 1993, Tupac formed a rap group, Thug life. The name was apt. Tupac threw a microphone and swung a baseball bat at rapper Chauncey Wynn. Tupac earned himself a felonious assault for this low-impulse control move.

Tupac was just getting started.

Later that year and in an interview, Tupac criticized record producer Quincy Jones for his interracial marriage to the white Peggy Lipton. Tupac was a racist and a bigot. “During a rant against interracial relationships, the late gangsta' rapper specifically indicted Quincy Jones for marrying a white woman, adding that his children were "all mixed and [expletive] up because they were biracial."

In the same year of spouting race prejudice, Tupac was arrested in Atlanta for shooting 2 off-duty police officers. The charge was 2 counts of aggravated assault.

A normal person might have considered living on the quiet and safe side of the law. Not Tupac.

Next up in his rap sheet (no pun intended) was an arrest for carrying a semi-automatic pistol in the car. This misstep was a felony offense due to his prior conviction in 1993 in Los Angeles for carrying a concealed firearm.

Trouble continued to find Tupac. On November 30, 1994, 3 robbers shot Tupac in Quad Studios in Times Square.

Tupac was known for his rap music. In his short career, he became a well-acclaimed American rapper and produced several albums in his short life, including Strictly 4 My N.I.G.G.A.Z.

Aside from his rapping genius, Tupac had a knack for getting into trouble with the law and the business end of a gun. He was shot 5 times in the lobby of a NY recording studio. He spent 8 months in prison on sexual abuse charges. Not a gentleman.

On September 7, 1996, assailants shot Tupac 4 times in a drive-by shooting in Las Vegas, Nevada. The hit was in retaliation for Tupac bum rushing and beating up someone in a Vegas lobby. Life support could only do so much and Tupac died 6 days later. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tupac_Shakur

Live by the sword. Die by the sword.

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Are there more appropriate scholars to honor at Copley Library? Believe it or not, I can think of a few.

Assuming one must obey identity politics (and I disagree that race should matter), one could choose to hang an oil portrait of Rev. Alexander Twilight (1795 - 1857). Rev. Twilight was the first black college graduate in American history. What better example of scholarship for a university library? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Twilight

Rev. Alexander Twilight, First Black College Graduate

We could aim higher and hang on the library hall at Copley an oil portrait of the first black PhD holder from an American university. I am thinking of Professor Edward Bouchet (1852 - 1918). A native of New Haven, Connecticut, Bouchet earned his doctorate degree at Yale in 1876. And his degree was in physics, a hard science worthy of respect. Wouldn’t the face of Professor Bouchet be more appropriate for a library wall as opposed to a criminal rapper? I am calling for standards in scholarship. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Bouchet

Professor Edward Bouchet, First Black PhD Graduate

My personal favorite for the wall of the Copley Library would be none other than John Mercer Langston (1829 - 1897). A native of Louisa County, Virginia, Langston founded the law department at Howard University. He later served as Acting President of Howard and President of (now named) Virginia State University. Surely, such a man of scholarship is appropriate for a place of honor by the library. Langston honored scholarship in his life’s work. Surely, professional men of accomplishment are more worthy of remembrance than convicted felons. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Mercer_Langston

John Mercer Langston, Founder of Howard Law School Acting President of Howard University First President of modern-day Virginia State University

Perhaps, scholars and students might draw inspiration from looking upon the portrait of Martin Henry Freeman (1826 - 1889). Freeman was the first black college president. He became president of Avery College in Pittsburgh. Pennsylvania in 1856. A native of Vermont, Freeman represents the best in the pioneer spirit. I do not get the same vibes from viewing Tupac on the library wall. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Henry_Freeman#:~:text=Martin%20Henry%20Freeman%20(1826%E2%80%931889,as%20president%20of%20Liberia%20College.

Avery College President Martin Henry Freeman

There is one choice that would knock it out of the ballpark for Copley Library. Why not a larger than life size oil portrait of Rev. Lemuel Haynes (1753 - 1833)? As my readers all know, Rev. Haynes may well have been the most effective and influential Black American before Frederick Douglass in American history. Rev. Haynes was a genius who taught himself by the light of the fireplace in Granville, Massachusetts. The first ordained black minister in U.S. history and the first black recipient of a honorary master’s degree in 1804, Rev. Haynes pastored at a small church in West Rutland, Vermont for thirty years. He preached over 5,000 sermons in his career to his white congregation. It would be said he was the only black American to overcome the racial caste system, according to the Colored American Newspaper. A fitting scholar for inspiration on the wall of Copley library. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lemuel_Haynes

Rev. Lemuel Haynes, A.M.

Instead, the Copley Library honors in a place of scholarship a high school dropout:

Conclusion: As Tupac tells us all, “that’s just the way it is. Things will never be the same…You see the old way wasn’t working.”