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Billy Garland
| William Garland | |
| File:BillyGarlandBlackPanther.jpg | |
| Birth: | August 4, 1949 (age 61), |
|---|---|
| Died: | , |
William "Billy" Garland (born August 4, 1949) is an American truck driver and former Black Panther, who now lives with his family on the outskirts of New York. He is better known for being the biological father of rapper Tupac Shakur.
Career
He was an activist belonging to the Black Panther Party, and maintained a very brief relationship with Afeni Shakur (also affiliated with the party).
Reuniting with Tupac and Cut Out of Inheritance
He was the father of Tupac Shakur. Shakur was told by his mother that his father was dead, and Billy didn't see Shakur again until he starred in the movie 'Juice' in 1992. He later visited Shakur in Bellevue Hospital when he was shot in 1994. Garland claimed that The Notorious B.I.G. approached him at the hospital while visiting Shakur, and he believed that he wasn't involved in the shooting. As Tupac awoke from coma he looked up seeing his father and believed he was in Heaven because he said there was him staring back at him. Also he saw Shakur in Rikers island and there are images of him and his father hugging and smiling during their visit.
After Tupac's death, Afeni and William Garland sent his blood to Long Beach Genetics. A laboratory test of Shakur's DNA assigned a probability of 99.97% to Afeni and William's parentage.
A contentious lawsuit filed by William Garland, seeking 50 percent of Tupac's estate. Afeni Shakur angrily charged that Garland was a gold-digger who ignored his son for 18 years; Garland blamed her nomadic lifestyle for making it impossible to find Tupac. "I'm the only person in here who lost somebody," Ms. Shakur snapped in early August of 1997. "He don't even know my son's birthday." Garland's lawyer, Leonard Birdsong, rips Ms. Shakur as "an egomaniac" upset by publicity for Tupac's father. He also mentions her past crack addiction and alcohol problems; Tupac had said those woes forced him to leave his mother's house at age 17. Fischbein dismisses Garland as "a deadbeat dad" who gave his son "$500 and a bag of peanuts over the course of his life." Birdsong indignantly charges Fischbein with "rewriting history to vilify my client." Garland only filed suit after Ms. Shakur twice submitted legal papers saying Tupac's father was dead, Garland says. This parental struggle could give birth to another lawsuit. If he wins, Garland wants to be named the estate's co-executor.[1]
William Garland was cut out of his son's estate after a judge decided that his contributions to the rapper's upbringing were "minuscule." Garland, a trucker living in New Jersey, wanted half of Shakur's multimillion-dollar estate, but his mother, Afeni, claimed that he was absent for the majority of Tupac's upbringing. Testimony revealed that Garland had actually only seen Tupac for fifteen of his twenty-five years, and that his actual contributions to young Tupac's welfare included about $820, a bag of peanuts, and a ticket to the film Rollerball. His lawyer, Michael Reinis, is hoping to appeal, saying that the decision was based upon a law that came into effect twenty years after Shakur's birth.[2] Four days after Shakur's death, Garland told Rolling Stone in an interview that he wanted people to focus on the rapper's accomplishments."My son is dead, and he don't deserve to be talked about like some common criminal. He wasn't perfect, but he did do some great things in a little bit of time."[3]
References
External links
Template:BlackPanther Template:Tupac Shakurwp=Billy Garland (Black Panther)
