Killer Mike, the outspoken Run the Jewels rapper and social activist, spoke out in tears on Saturday at a press conference in Atlanta with Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, Police Chief Erika Shields and fellow Atlanta rap star T.I., urging violent protesters to replace their rage with force at the voting booth.
Said the rapper: “I am the son of an Atlanta police officer. My cousin is an Atlanta city police officer. And my other cousin an East Point police officer. And I got a lot of love and respect for police officers.”
“I watched a white police officer assassinate a black man,” Mike continued. “And I know that tore your heart out. I am duty-bound to be here to simply say that it is your duty not to burn your own house down for anger with an enemy. It is your duty to fortify your own house so that you may be a house of refuge in times of organization. It is time to beat up prosecutors you don’t like at the voting booth. It is time to hold mayoral offices accountable, chiefs and deputy chiefs.”
“I’m mad as hell,” Mike added. “I woke up wanting to see the world burn yesterday, because I’m tired of seeing black men die. He casually put his knee on a human being’s neck for nine minutes as he died like a zebra in the clutch of a lion’s jaw. So that’s why children are burning it to the ground. They don’t know what else to do. And it is the responsibility of us to make this better right now. We don’t want to see one officer charged, we want to see four officers prosecuted and sentenced. We don’t want to see targets burning, we want to see the system that sets up for systemic racism burnt to the ground.”
