It’s the war machine, Killer Mike said. It’s the greed and the poverty in Ferguson.
Killer Mike, the rapper from Atlanta who is himself the son of a policeman, has been outspoken on the troubles in Ferguson since the shooting death of Michael Brown. He told an audience last night that the grand jury decision in Ferguson was not a surprise to him. But it still sparked a fear for his own children.
“I just gotta tell you today that, man, no matter how much we do it, no matter how much we get shit together, shit comes along and kicks you on your ass, and you don’t feel like a champion,” Killer Mike told the crowd assembled mere miles from the epicenter of Ferguson. “So tonight, I got kicked on my ass when I listened to that prosecutor.”
“I knew it was coming. I knew it wasn’t going to be good,” he said of the decision announcement. “But I gotta tell ’em. You motherfuckers got me today. You kicked my on my ass today. Because I have a 20-year-old son, and I have a 12-year-old son, and I’m afraid so afraid for them.”
Killer Mike emotionally rallied his audience. But just when you thought he might be calling for some race-based violence, he called for friendship and equality.
“You motherfuckers will not own tomorrow. We will not live in your fear. We’re not going to keep playing that race card, ’cause we know, we know you don’t value my skin. We know you do value his [pointing to El-P, his white friend on stage].”
And here is the part that Breitbart did not quote:
“But you know what? We’re friends and there’s nothing gonna devalue that. We are the same.” (See the full speech below.)
Lemme state I am mildly disgusted by the shade thrown at my friend and rap partner El-P. It was his and my wife's idea for me to speak
— Killer Mike (@KillerMikeGTO) November 25, 2014
At all. White writersy white friend did what you are supposed to do. He stood withhis black friend and supported his stance.
— Killer Mike (@KillerMikeGTO) November 25, 2014
Thank u @therealelp I love u as a brother for what u did last night and every night we fight this Machine Together! I love u man. Salutes
— Killer Mike (@KillerMikeGTO) November 25, 2014
“I can promise you today, if I die when I walk off this stage tomorrow, I’m gonna let you know this. It is not about race, it is not about class, it is not about color. It is about what they killed him for. It is about poverty, it is about greed, and it is about a war machine. It’s about a war machine that uses you as a battery.”
“So, I might go tomorrow, I might go the day after. But the one thing I want you to know. It is us, against the mother-fucking machine!”
Killer Mike had already made his opinion on the Ferguson matter known. He told CNN, “We have essentially gone from being communities that were policed by people from the communities to being communities that are policed by strangers, and that’s no longer a community, that’s an area that’s under siege.”
In an op-ed piece for Billboard, Killer Mike made an ominous statement.
“I only have this warning to all Americans: Whatever this country is willing to do to the least of us, it will one day do to us all.” Killer Mike said.
As the son of a policeman, Killer Mike brings a perspective to the issue that most will not have.
“Being a cop must be hard,” he acknowledged. “My dad was one, and never wanted any of his children to follow in his footsteps. Being a cop is often seeing the worst of the human condition and behavior.”
Still he said that the killings of unarmed suspects, especially black men like Michael Brown and Eric Garner is the result of “bad policing, excessive force and the hunt-and-capture-prey mentality many thrill-seeking cops have adapted.”
The Machine must be destroyed! This evil brutal war machine that permits this to continue must be… http://t.co/UqXCIe9v07
— Killer Mike (@KillerMikeGTO) November 25, 2014