Billy Garland (activist)

William Garland (born August 5, 1949) is an American former member of the Marxist–Leninist and black power political organization Black Panther Party (BPP) and the biological father of rap icon Tupac Shakur.^[1]

Garland was born in New Jersey, the second oldest of six kids to his mother, Eloise Marie Barnes Garland, who died when Garland was only six years of age. During his childhood he lived in various cities around New Jersey and in California before settling in Somerville. While attending Somerville High School, he became a star athlete on the school's basketball team. Garland would later enroll in community college but dropped out to join the newly established Jersey City chapter of the Black Panther Party after the assassination of Martin Luther King.

In 1970, Bashir Hameed appointed Garland as the defense captain for the Jersey City chapter of the Black Panther Party. His role was to check-in with other east coast chapters and organize meetings.

Shortly after moving up the ranks in the BPP, he met Afeni Shakur, who was also a high-ranking member in the party in New York City. The two dated for a while and eventually broke up. Garland later found out she was pregnant with Tupac Shakur during the Panther 21 trial. Garland then learned he was the biological father after Tupac was born in 1971. He remained somewhat involved in Tupac's life until 1976; at that time, he lost contact with Afeni completely. Afterwards Garland would get married and distance himself from the party to raise his family in New Jersey.

In 1991 Garland would notice Tupac after seeing him on a poster for the movie Juice. It was the first time seeing Tupac in 15 years. However, Garland would not reconnect with Tupac until 1994,^[2] while Tupac was at Bellevue Hospital following the Quad City shooting. Garland has acknowledged that he felt concerned Tupac "don't wanna see me" prior to him finally meeting with his son after so long.^[3] This hospital visit would mark the first in nearly 20 years that he would meet in person with Tupac.^[2] Despite their good encounter during Tupac's hospital stay, which also led to Garland wanting to be a part of Shakur "and his crew" and them visiting Jasmine Guy's apartment together, Garland acknowledged to XXL Magazine in 2011 that he actually "felt so stupid" as Shakur got him introduced more to chronic, which he acknowledged never using prior to meeting his son and which also led to him having a bad experience after he got stoned on it during the visit to Guy's apartment.^[3] However, their relationship would build in the time after Tupac was sent to prison.^[3] While Shakur was incarcerated at Clinton Prison in Dannemora, Garland made frequent visits, where they formed a close bond, with Tupac even meeting Garland's wife. When Tupac was released, the two kept in contact but did not spend enough time with each other in part due to Tupac's busy work schedule. However, Tupac's mother Afeni was skeptical of Garland, noting to People in 1997 that she in fact rarely saw him after Tupac was born and believed he was "garbage," "a goldigger" and the “designated sperm donor.”^[2][4]

After Tupac was shot on September 7, 1996, Garland flew out the next morning from New Jersey to Las Vegas to be there for him. Tupac died on September 13th, 6 days after the shooting. Afeni listed Garland as deceased, which left her in charge of Tupac's estate. In 1997, Garland would sue Afeni over Tupac's estate, seeking to obtain half of it and noting how her death cerfiticate claim about him being deceased was false.^[3] Afeni, who claimed that Garland was an absentee father who contributed little to Tupac's upbringing, then ordered a DNA test, which proved that Garland was indeed the biological father of Tupac. ^[4] Despite Garland being confirmed to be Tupac's biological father, a Los Angeles judge in December 1997 ruled in favor of Afeni and denied Garland any share of his son's estate, describing Garland's support and care for Tupac over the years as "miniscule."^[4]

In 2023, Garland was featured in Hulu's Dear Mama docuseries directed by Allen Hughes.^[5][6]