Maverick Carter is a serious force in business, having risen with his friend and partner LeBron James from humble Akron, Ohio origins to command a widespread business empire. As CEO of SpringHill Entertainment (Space Jam 2) Carter wields major power in Hollywood and in the sports world. More than perhaps anybody else at his level, Carter realizes what it means to rise up and yet still remain close to your roots.
James and Carter are shining examples of not pulling the ladder up behind you as you go, but instead making that ladder stronger so more people can climb up. That’s what the I Promise School in Akron is all about. The James/Carter commitment is a lot like the work that slain rapper Nipsey Hussle was doing, too, for his community in LA and especially in Crenshaw, where he was from.
[related: NBA Star Shaquille O’Neal Gets Behind Naming Street After Nipsey Hussle]
Carter took to Twitter to express his difficulty in processing the senselessness and bitter irony of Hussle’s murder. Hussle, like Carter and James, was doing so much to make the ladder he’d climbed up stronger for others to use. And yet he was felled by the very forces he was trying to change. “I still can’t believe Nip dead,” wrote Carter. “Shit fucking with me. A black man that was figuring it out and wanted to empower people who came from where he did gets killed by a man who comes from where he did.”
I still can’t believe Nip dead. Shit fucking with me. A black man that was figuring it out and wanted to empower people who came from where he did gets killed by a man who comes from where he did
— Maverick Carter (@mavcarter) April 5, 2019
I’m with you bro! I’m still like I just don’t believe it man!! Daily shed tears soon as I think about it https://t.co/Ob2L8yc8My
— LeBron James (@KingJames) April 5, 2019
