“21 Gun Salute to Jela Simba Shakur, also known as Mark Steven Lasenby”
Today, August 18, 2026, represents the 25th anniversary of Jela’s passing over to the world of our ancestors. And in remembrance, i release the following.
It’s still raw, some 25 years later, and i spent the past 24 years in some form of captivity and incarceration.
This piece was written over a decade ago when I was in a lot of pain and dealing with a range of emotions. People said that i should change some words or alter the context, etc.
i can’t do that because it would detract from the realness and the rawness of the moment. People judge me but don’t know me. And they ain’t walked in my shoes.
Jela left me a beautiful daughter/granddaughter who graduated, went into the military for four years and was discharged, and is holding down a good job in the medical field while going to school. All the while, she is holding down the most important job of all for her that is motherhood, which now makes me a great grandfather.
As one transitions, so shall another RISE. The bloodline continues…
Peace
Free the Land!
Shaka A. Shakur
“my Son, the 51st Homicide”
by Shaka A. Shakur
remixed by Tyrah Kingcade