Nipsey Hussle, Religious Pluralism, Black Pain & What the Church is Up Against
The death of Nipsey Hussle is a loss to this world. Mr. Asghedom was a talented artist, a technology wiz and a community entrepreneur. He was also a loving life partner and a loving father. What made him most enduring to his community and to Black people was that Nipsey loved his community and he loved Black people. Black people nationwide paid homage to Nipsey Hussle over the last two weeks because the essence of Mr. Asghedom was expressed in his love for Black people. In a nation that is reeking in anti-Blackness, that Nipsey loved Black people matters.
This past Thursday was Nipsey’s funeral. It was a celebration of his life and enduring legacy in the city of Los Angeles as well as amongst the African Diaspora at large. However, it was a place where Black people could be in pain collectively over a life lost by violent means; a violence facilitated by public policy historically designed to perpetuate violence and poverty within the African American community. Black people facilitated a space inside the Staples Center where they could laugh, cry and heal; spaces that rarely exist.
Nipsey’s funeral was also a convergence of the religious and the spiritual; the seeking of a higher power to heal, restore and empower Black people through pluralist lens. This is nothing new. Religious pluralism has a history within the African American community. However, Nipsey’s funeral gives the church a glimpse of religious pluralism in the urban context amongst Black people today. For the body of believers, Nipsey’s funeral re-introduces us to two key truths that we must focus our ministry aims — the need for urban apologetics and the recognition of and respect for Black pain.
During the funeral, one witnessed prayers in the name of the trinity by a pastor and priest, Minister Louis Farrakhan citing from both the Quran and the Bible (as the Fruit of Islam served as security in concert with the LAPD) and Mr. Asghedom’s mother, Angelique Smith, call on the ancestors and advocate for African traditional religions.
Traditional African religions have an appeal. So too does the Nation of Islam and other groups like those who practice Black Hebrew Israelism. These religions have served as a cultural response to what Frederick Douglass called the Christianity of the land that misused and misappropriated the faith to enslave Black people and oppress Black people after slavery. The Nation of Islam offers a picture of strength and message of Black empowerment. Traditional African religions provide an opportunity for Black people to worship as their ancestors once did.
While it is true that Black people overwhelmingly identify as Christian and as more religious than other racial groups, younger African American adults are more likely than older African Americans to be unaffiliated with any religious group. And while Black millennials are more religious than millennials of other racial groups, three-in-ten African Americans between the ages of 18 and 29 say they are unaffiliated with a religious group compared with only 7% of black adults 65 and older who say this.
A friend of mine who is a pastor shared a conversation he had with a resident during an outreach activity. When my pastor friend shared the faith with this individual, the man proceeded to literally point his finger at him and explain to him that Christianity is the White man’s religion. Whether or not that gentleman is a member of another faith, his response to being approached with the gospel is an example of what believers are up against in light of the statistics mentioned above. Christianity is not the White man’s religion, but I digress.
Where the church also stumbles is that the Gospel as preached by some don’t recognize the pain of the Black experience in America. When the Obamas distanced themselves from Jeremiah Wright due to a sermon taken out of context off of a sound bite, they took part in a tradition that explained away Black liberation theology as something radical born out of hatred for White people; blaming them for every woe of Black people.
The reality is that racism, a social construct, was instituted in our constitution by our White supremacist founders. The conditions of the Black experience have and continues to be shaped by that social construct. While there is a political reckoning that is taking place, there is a religious reckoning that must take place also. The Gospel is not about material prosperity or about White supremacy or about American exceptionalism. The Gospel is the living water whereby we will thirst no more.
Jesus’ inaugural message to the community where he served was that he was anointed by God to preach the good news to the poor, proclaim freedom to the prisoners, make the blind see and set the oppressed free (Luke 4:18–19). In an anti-Black place, such a declaration is a radical one and one where the church is at the forefront of the freedom struggle for all oppressed peoples. However, the Palestinian people (of which Jesus himself was) live under the daily threat of violence by a racist government supported by White Christian Evangelicals in the United States who say Donald Trump is a man of God… and the Black Church is without a collective and unified response.
The church has always dealt with false teaching, apostasy and opposing faiths. I suspect that will continue. However, in the age of social media, mixed messaging and the manipulation of the Gospel is proliferated in expedient and effective ways. Also, our failure as a nation to reckon race and religion has stifled our ability to save souls and change lives for the better. While I may disagree with some theologies expressed at Nipsey’s homegoing service, I respect the spirit things were done and the experience that shaped that homegoing. And if the church really cares to engage in meaningful outreach With Black people in an urban context, it should learn from the life of Ermias Joseph Asghedom… genuinely love Black people.
