Self-Validation.

As we lay Nipsey’s body to rest, his spirit and soul lives through us all. We take the time to truly honour a man who had the ambition, drive, and determination. He created something for himself, by himself and leave behind something truly remarkable for his family and community. They have renamed the Crenshaw and Slauson intersection into Nipsey Hussle Square and That is just a testament to how much he truly loved and cared about the people in his community and how much they cared for him. While watching the entire service and everything that lead up to his funeral, conversations I have had with people who didn't know who he was until his passing. We tend to not appreciate people as much when they are alive. His legacy is now validated due to his untimely passing but I've always wondered why do certain things need to happen in life for us to be validated. In Nipsey's Case, it was his death but in other cases, we tend to only feel that what we're doing is valid when it is cosigned by big corporations or people of certain social classes. Before I begin to elaborate, Nipsey Hussle was and always will be valid to me no matter what the circumstances. I appreciated him when he was alive and I appreciate him more now that his body has been laid to rest. I am glad his message is being received by so many people because he was a visionary and a special human being who deserves to be celebrated at this magnitude. Now, to continue on this discussion of validation, I believe that when we have a product, service, or idea, often it is not appreciated in our own community. It is shunned, frowned upon or criticised but as soon as it is appreciated by people from another race or social class, that's when we feel that the idea is now acceptable. I put this down to a lack of self-worth. I feel in the black communities we have a lack of value towards ourselves. We could have a clothing line, and not enough of our own will support the brand but as soon as a person or group from another social class cosigns it, then we jump on board too. Could this be seen as a need for acceptance also? When you look deeper into segregation. The problem was that blacks wanted to feel part of White American society, but the laws and the views of the white people prevented integration, so they had no choice but to create their own services. They created bars, bus services, supermarkets, restaurants, whatever they needed they had to create for themselves. A very similar action was taken in Britain when the Caribbean's first came to this country. They had to provide every service and product they needed for themselves because they were not accepted by the white British society initially. Evidence of this was White supremacist gangs like the National Front in the UK and The KKK in the States. These organisations would make it known that integration was not permitted and they had enough backing from the government who installed these conditions in the first place to make this arrangement last a long time. Fast forward to the present, after leaders such as Martin Luther King rallied, protested, and fought for integration, we now have a society that is a little more combined than before. So where are a lot of the black services and companies that were created during those times that should now be more successful than before? The Negro baseball league, for example. This is just one of many that had the potential to be lucrative and create more success in black communities by creating jobs opportunities for other businesses to grow from it. The Negro Baseball League was started with the first game in 1859, in the state of New York. The two teams were the Henson Baseball Club of Jamaica, Queens and the Unknowns of Brooklyn. Here is a quote from "Negro League Historynet," "With the large migration of blacks from the south to the north after WWI began, black baseball teams gained many more fans and thus more financial support. By 1920, Atlanta, Georgia received its own black baseball league, the Negro Southern League. Integration of black and white players did not succeed until 1945. With integration also came the end of the Negro Leagues." They were gaining success due to the circumstances but as soon as they integrated, they no longer felt the need to own teams to put into the baseball league. This is a pattern that I feel happens too often in our communities. Once another ethnicity or race can provide the products or services that we need, we no longer rely on our own to provide us with the product or service. I honestly believe if other races could manage and do our hair, then we would not have as many beauty salons and barber shops. What is it that makes us prefer to take our money out of black businesses? Why do we have such a lack of trust to do business within our own? I believe it is the fear of seeing someone like ourselves succeed and being part of the reason why they succeed. That's Subconsciously self-hate. That's me saying I, as a black man don't wanna see you as a black person succeed because I don’t want you to do better than me. The crabs in a barrel mentality must stop. The competition with ourselves to the point where it stops our progression as communities must stop. This is divide and conquer. The more we divide ourselves, the more we will continue to not value ourselves and believe we are good enough. Recently, the 8 Trey Crips and the Rolling 60's Crips have created a peace treaty. This speaks volumes as it shows the positive impact Nipsey Hussle's death has had on the gangs in LA. These two gangs had a 40-year feud that has come to an end due to the unfortunate passing of Nipsey. This is what he worked for and this is what we need to continue to help push our communities to the next level. More work has to be done and Nipsey Hussle's legacy will be carried on by me and many like me. No matter What, The marathon continues… R.I.P Ermias Asghedom AKA Nipsey Hussle.