Revolutionary Afeni Shakur was arrested and charged alongside 20 other Black Panthers in 1969, following a pre-dawn raid by the New York Police Department. Onika Henry’s Afeni is a vibrant and comprehensive account of Shakur’s story, detailing the time between her arrest and the birth of her son, Tupac.
But Henry delivers more than just a dramatized account of Shakur’s story — she brings the audience into the world of Shakur and the Black Panthers. By the end of the show, it was easy to understand these characters as real, and three-dimensional humans, rather than anecdotes in books or pixels on a screen.
Arriving at a time when fascism is on the rise, it is imperative to learn from and celebrate those like Shakur, who successfully resisted injustice and police and state corruption. It’s a must-see
Afeni is playing at Factory Theatre Mainspace until July 11
