Marathon Nipsey: the Symbol

Before I go on this random thought journey about our brother Ermias "Nipsey Hussle" Asghedom's death I think I have to say that the male who was used to commit this murder IS NOT A SYMBOL OF ANYTHING OR ANYONE OR ANY INHERENT TRAIT IN THE BLACK COMMUNITY!

Nipsey Hussle's death is a symbol. I just want to explain what kind of symbol I hope he was, is, and becomes. His death seems another death in a line of prominent Black men who were Black community oriented, Black community built, bred and proud.

I know that I will be considered a "conspiracy theorist" but I believe that Marathon Nip was assassinated. I believe that the "powers that be" killed him because of what he was, what he represented because he was what they have ALWAYS meant to snuff out which is black potential. For example, the male who is being attributed to the Black community, even though the entire black community in LA was upset, even though all the supposed perpetrators of "Black on Black crime" were searching for this scumbag; I believe that he was able to hide out for two days because he probably was let into one of the tunnels the MTA is building in the area (I know that he was too clean shaven for this theory). Another theory, the male who just so happens to be Black went back and kicked Nipsey after he shot his final shots. That was not a kick of malice that was a kick to ensure that Nipsey was dead. I know Nipsey didn't die on the scene but Nip couldn't move. I believe that we as Black folks have been educated to not give this system enough credit for how devious they are when dealing with our community. Nipsey at 33 was highly accomplished (same age as Sam Cooke by the way) so even my claim of his potential after his storied career in music alone, for any other person would be a life cut way too short (although in my poetry I know I argue that when death comes a-calling it was right on time) but well lived. His potential was awe-inspiring when Nipsey was 43 he would have been a multi-billionaire with properties all over South LA. ALL MONEY IN logos on high rises, specifically the train station at Crenshaw and Slauson.  He wasn't some rapper who just dropped "the hottest mixtapes in the streets." He was actively trying, actually, he literally was transforming the landscape of his neighborhood, he was trying to transform the "streets", the neighborhoods that we hold so dear because we have no other land to gravitate to (We have no other home because we are home!). He, like a man, that which is our will, was building his home! His land! For himself, but what was for himself was only for his family and his people!

I am not trying to make Neighborhood Nip seem like some savior because he wasn't. The problems in the Black community, all rooted in white supremacy's will, were not his to overcome alone. What he was doing and was going to do for South LA is ALL of our jobs. What more people who come up like him should have been doing (I hate lecturing people like this but these goddamn Black celebs)! Most of these Black "celebrities" who have commented on Nipsey's death (why we should care, I don't understand) who have some lecture or supposedly thoughtful diatribe about our community or society as a whole; stop gentrification (or attempt to) where you're from, stop being Nino Browns, passing out turkeys on Thanksgiving and calling that giving back to your community. Nipsey was giving back! He was giving his all, his being, a more than disproportionate amount of his time and resources to the Black community. These Black celebs think being glorified, once a year EBT surplus programs, these clowns get to act like tax returns and claim that they are giving back to our community and they do not employ not ONE Black person who isn't their barber or hairstylist. That is a gross generalization but that is to say that I am not going to minimize what Nipsey Hussle was trying to do in South LA especially considering all the changes that South LA is going through. Billions and billions of real estate dollars alone are flowing through the neighborhood now or will be in the very near future. How has what you've accumulated as the white media's representation of Black "success" that has helped change the prospects of the Black community? South LA is still a large Black community and that is changing rapidly. Nipsey could not stop our people from being moved to Palmdale, Lancaster and as far east as Victorville or Las Vegas. Nipsey could not do it alone but he sure was going to be a sole deterrent (this is not meant to minimize his wife's contributions and the contributions of his brothers whom he praised).

And I believe, maybe I'm wrong, that a lot of Black folks in GREATER positions than him haven't done an eighth as much (an eighth of weed as much) as he was doing. What he was potentially going to do is something that a lot of these so-called Black celebs (only famous because white folks told us to look them) have never even dreamed, they could not even fathom his dreams because they have disdain for the Black community. You got Black actresses dreaming to be on screen in bed with white supremacists more than they want to see their community prosper. Always trying to pretend like they're an example when truly they are an exception that white supremacy has endowed. You get to be a great representation of Black people (coincidentally the same as Nipsey's Killer)? You mean you get to be the white supremacist media's caricature of what they consider a good Black person. Many of these so-called Black celebs professing that this is why Black folks who "make it" don't give back to their community or go back to their community because they are killed by the inherent envy and jealousy that pervades Black society. "Oh those Black devil souls, oh they just cannot help it." They've never had that will or intention. Pretending that when we leave our communities that we are in less danger, that we don't incur just as much envy and jealousy, in fact, we are in way more danger outside of our community than inside of it. These so-called celebs and artists who have something to say about his death have never had the Black community on their hearts.

DISCLAIMER: What have I done for the Black community? Not as much as I should be doing.

That is also not lost on my conspiratorial, some would call, delusional interpretation of the events surrounding Nipsey's death. The image of a male who happens to be Black killing a strong Black man will naturally invoke in the consciousness of everyone in the entire world (besides those of us who study history and understand how the white supremacist media uses images) that the reason why Black people have not overcome the burdens and oppression of slavery is that we have this inherent, this fundamental, this inbred, this natural, this genetic, this congenital ability to always blunder the great opportunities that this white supremacist society has given us. These idiots see Nips' death as an example of Black degradation instead of again, the complete eradication, the expunction of Black potential. Nipsey Hussle also understood this, I believe, and that's why he did what he could to help illuminate and actually spark Black potential, as evident with his investments in the education and esteem of South LA youth.

Nipsey Hussle (and his death, the way he died) was not an example of "toxic masculinity." I attack that thinking because it is rancid, the thought process of a degenerate, ignominious simpleton, a debased, loathsome...  Neighborhood Nip won't be ascribed to morbid ideals of some made up bullshit only used by perpetual also-rans. We must actively resist and fight against the white supremacists, and the white supremacist sympathizers, specifically the white supremacist liberal backed so-called Black contingency who attempt to conform every issue and event to fit a liberal white supremacist power structure accepted discourse, which is essentially, blame Black people for everything that is happening to them, point to Black people as the most despicable and immoral people in this society (despite the history of the European and thousands of examples of degradation by so-called white people today; despite them looking themselves in the mirror every day) and ignore the systemic oppression that we have endured since our ancestors were first approached on the coasts of Africa AND the coasts of the Americas and her islands. They are purposely obscuring all of the ills of this society perpetrated by people of other racial and ethnic distinctions. Every Black person's behavior is indicative of Black society's behavior. They refuse to acknowledge the continued historical degradation, this degeneracy that has not ceased for centuries and the fact that they don't get in trouble for anything are lost on these clowns (actually it isn't they know they are only employed specifically to shit on Black people). Black people are the most punished group. Pointing out Black behavior as indicative of the entire group and not applying that logic when dealing with white people or the LGBTQ community or the disabled or the Hispanics etc, only admits that these people are being allowed, like white supremacy sympathizers to be paid to only push one narrative, and that is anti-blackness. On another note, the only reason why white society uses incidental characteristics like sexuality is that they are trying to, like white women did, get LGBTQ (women) of other races and ethnicities who WILL NOT benefit from that distinction, to fall in line with the white supremacists programming. They are all white. There are no white subsets. It is okay to judge an event and any person on their merit and their character but if Black folks are responsible for the MINORITY of us who may have committed a crime (most of us are in jail for NON-VIOLENT offenses, by the way, a lot of us in jail for violent offenses our cases are being overturned like hotcakes because of DNA evidence), the the LGBTQ community is responsible for the Lesbians who killed Devonte Hart and his siblings, they're responsible for Jared Fogle and Jeffery Dahmer and Kevin Spacey. White people are responsible for Allison Mack, and all the white women liaisons to these international pedophile rings and organ harvesting rings that hide under the guise of philanthropy. White folks are responsible for these white drug zombies. All Hispanics are responsible for the degradation that comes from the drug trade, all the rapes and murders, and deaths for nothing but money... I can go on forever. Actually! We should start a blog and just find articles about the most vicious crimes committed by all these people who are so proud to be from somewhere else, from their home countries and judge them all based upon those crimes.

I purposely go on that tangent because I want everyone to understand that the reason for any slight against Nipsey Hussle, the reason why he isn't here is that he was a symbol. He was killed to deter any Black man from pursuing his own path. He was killed in front of his business on his property (the starkest symbolism). He knew that a man, a strong Black man had to be able to feed, house, and clothe himself and his family. Again, he was killed on his land... The attempted symbolism is Black men you should not think twice about being a builder. Symbolism is using Nipsey's death as an example as to why Black people should not build in their neighborhoods because their neighborhoods aren't worth it.

Why I was even attracted to Nipsey's music wasn't just his style but when I started hearing about what he was doing around Los Angeles and then I started investigating and then I started re-listening to what he was saying in his music and then I just kept juxtaposing that with what he was doing outside of music and then I was just entranced. That is also why I am so invested in his death. I am a hip-hop/rap fan, actually, I am a lover of hip-hop/rap but as seems the want for most generations as the genres they love "develop" it is hard to be attracted to the newly created music because the sound is completely divergent from the soundtrack of their lives. And Nipsey brought me back. As a huge fan of west coast rap and hip-hop it was great to hear a spitter who straddled the line between the streets and consciousness so well and his determination alone to wait for a deal that is best for him, to make so much money doing what he loves on his terms, should be the awe of admiration. He was speaking to me and Black men like me, those attempting to build. He did and was doing just what I would hope to do if I were him. Even now, I think, how am I performing Black empowerment (I'm not doing the best job, again I must admit), how am I behaving or how have I behaved being influenced by Nipsey's imprint, what am I doing now for Black empowerment? Then I realize that I am dedicated to building a Black business, to empowering my family, and not selling my dignity, that is a minimal start. Neighborhood Nip understood his worth and I understand my worth and my art cannot be jeopardized, my true thoughts and feelings, based upon knowledge and experience, cannot be suppressed. Not even for capitalist gains, I don't think it is healthy to be confined within the diabolical covenant of the corrupted moral ideals of this system's political dichotomy. An honest person cannot conform to this system, or any other system, belief, idea, etc without thoughtful consideration of all their adherence means. I believe that the system offers avenues for a moderately enjoyable life and Nipsey understood that as well, I believe. I'm just saying, that to me in this system no matter if you are Pro-Life or an Anti-Fascist (you can be both, I know), and all those two ideas signify in this system, you are only perpetuating a capitalist machine that uses morals or the appearance of morality (everything has been commodified), to control your actions, mainly what you do with your wallet, to keep you willfully supporting this system. Nipsey in my estimation was not only going to influence but was helping many black people, maybe not corrupt the corrupted system (economically empowered Black people does corrupt white supremacy though), but at least have more money to use in the system and better understand the system in which they live.  For example, preaching how automation and technology's scourge over all industries is not a trend and we must actively promote STEM (Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics) by any and all means in our community.

Symbolism isn't paintings, it isn't murals, it isn't t-shirts, or street names or any of those very important representations we need to perpetuate in our neighborhoods. Symbolism, at least what I hope is that he is a symbol of Black manhood. He is a symbol of Black manhood. I hope that Nipsey Hussle is a symbol of Black entrepreneurship. He is a symbol of Black entrepreneurship. I hope that Nipsey Hussle is a figure of Black business acumen. He is that! I hope that he is a symbol of Black family and true Pan-Africanism. He is. Nipsey Hussle is a symbol of our burgeoning Black potential. What all Black people should be doing for ourselves, which means the betterment of our families and community through value in ourselves and our output. That is the symbol I hope Neighborhood Nip becomes. That is the symbol I believe he is. And I think that may be all that matters. What his life meant to me and how it influenced me.

Ermias "Nipsey Hussle" Asghedom, Ermias Asghedom does not represent suppressed Black potential he represents the reason why Black apartment buildings are popping up around the world!

Ermias Asghedom 

August 15, 1985 - March 31, 2019