What do Nipsey Hussle, MLK and Jesus have in common?

Note: This piece was printed in the Greensboro News-Record on April 16, 2019

Nipsey Hussle (front) performing with singer TeeFlii in December 2013. Photo: Courtesy of Flickr

I live-streamed Nipsey Hussle’s “going-home” celebration last Thursday afternoon in my journalism class. It was done by accident, as I noticed one student had tuned it in on her mobile phone during a short break.

I felt that this was a historic news event that all of my students should experience.

When the picture began playing through the projector in Room 110 in Crosby Hall, the silence was deafening. Perhaps this was their “Martin Luther King moment,” I thought, just like it was my father’s “MLK moment” when I watched him sob in front of the TV during Rev. King’s funeral that CBS News broadcast live from Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta on that sad day in April of 1968.

At 8, I didn’t fully understand the impact of Rev. King and his commitment to nonviolence and economic justice.

But after observing my students, some of whom had become emotional, I slowly began to appreciate the moment, and essence of Nipsey. Just as my father was hurting that day in 1968, my students were also in pain.

A hero of theirs had not only won a Grammy nomination but had committed himself to improve the lives of people in this poor part of Los Angeles by opening stores and providing jobs and educational opportunities. He gave back to the L.A. community that helped make him famous.

The politicians, Bloods, Crips and the L.A. police were united: Nipsey was an asset to his community, the nation, and the world.

Last week, members of “West Coast Aggies,” a club at A&T made up of students from California, held a vigil on campus that some of my students wrote about. So, I thought about the students who held the vigil. I thought about the students in my class who were processing the death of Nipsey while watching his funeral.
Then it dawned upon me that Nipsey was 33 when he was gunned down (some say assassinated) in a senseless act of violence. Jesus was also 33 when he was nailed to the cross in another senseless act of violence. Rev. King was 39 when he was assassinated, the third act of senseless violence.

All three were trying to make the world a better place, as they fought for social and economic justice for the “have-nots.” It goes to show you that following in the footsteps of Jesus is risky business.

But the risk is worth it. Their deaths give the world and my students something to look up to and hope for in a sometimes hopeless world.

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Keywords: Nipsey Hustle, MLK, Jesus, North Carolina A&T