Why Las Vegas arrest of a suspect in Shakur’s slaying matters today

You take notice when voices of a generation leave the world — particularly if those voices are stolen.

For many of the generation that proceeded my own, two of those voices belonged to R&B legend Marvin Gaye and rock musician and peace activist John Lennon.

Marvin Gaye’s father killed him during a fight in 1984. Lennon, a member of the Beatles, was murdered by David Chapman, a fame-obsessed fan.

There was resolution in both cases.

Gaye’s father, Marvin Gaye Sr., pleaded no contest to a voluntary manslaughter charge. Chapman remains in prison for his crime.

For many in my generation, Tupac Shakur and the Notorious B.I.G. were ambassadors of truth who still managed to keep the party going.

What did Tupac Shakur mean to people?

I was, and remain, a fan to be certain but am in no way a hardcore devotee of either.

Yet I remember vividly the sadness I felt when Tupac was murdered in 1996 and Biggie the following year.

Talent, potential and inspiration were ripped from the world. That the murders have remained unsolved is a tragedy and a failure of justice.

What is known about arrest of suspect in Tupac Shakur’s death?

This is part of the reason it is so significant that Las Vegas police recently arrested a suspect in the death of Tupac Shakur.

Duane “Keffe D” Davis has been charged with murder with use of a deathly weapon in Tupac’s death. A Nevada prosecutor announced the indictment Friday.

He has long been known to those working the unsolved murder.

Davis admitted in interviews and in his 2019 tell-all memoir that he was in the car involved in the drive-by shooting that claimed Tupac’s life.

What was it about Tupac?

Like Biggie, Tupac’s legend has not subsided since the day he died.

Raised by Afeni Shakur — a member of the Black Panther Party in the ‘60s and ‘70s — Tupac was the “young, gifted and Black” described in the classic song written by Nina Simone and Weldon Irvine.

The world — particularly the young, gifted and Black in Ohio and around the nation — took note.

And it just was not music. Tupac was part of a Black cultural revolution, appearing in the now classic Blackled films “Juice” and “Poetic Justice” opposite singer and actress Janet Jackson.

Although on the Earth just 25-years, he earned a sort of folk hero status, having used his smarts, troubled background and musical talents to help put both gangsta and party rap on the map.

Through his music he was a force of nature, poet and activist speaking for and to those who often go unheard in a list of songs that include “Out on Bail,” “I Get Around,” “So Many Tears,” “Brenda’s got a Baby,” “Dear Mama” and “How Long will They Mourn me.”

To answer that last song title, fans around the world — new and old — have mourned death of Tupac Shakur 27 years.

Time will tell what happens in the case facing Davis, but may the justice humanity longs for and Tupac — and Biggie — deserves finally come.

Amelia Robinson is the Columbus Dispatch’s opinion and community engagement editor. @1Ameliarobinson