Last Friday, May 29th Killer Mike gave a speech at the Atlanta Mayor’s Press Conference. He sympathised with the many thousands who were protesting in the city, saying “we want to see the system that sets up for systemic racism burnt to the ground.”
The speech has since been viewed millions of times, but the Run the Jewels MC told Stephen Colbert that he wasn’t even planning on going to the Atlanta protest. He wound up there in support of his friend T.I. and was sprung with the request to speak.
“All I said was what was purely in my heart,” he told Colbert. “I was talking in that speech specifically to Atlanta. Atlanta for the last 50 years has managed to be a city that grows. We have black leadership. We have a majority of black citizens here. We live and co-exist with others.
“I think black America should treat Atlanta like a land where anything is possible for us. Because it’s not perfect, but anything has proven possible here.”
Mike and Colbert also spoke about Run the Jewels’ upcoming album RTJ4. The other half of the duo, rapper and producer El P, recently announced that the record would be released for free. The announcement seemed linked to the George Floyd protests, but Mike clarified that every Run the Jewels album has been available for free.
“And you have the option of buying it,” he said. “So we give our music away for free, because everybody can’t afford music.”
Mike also told Colbert what white Americans can do to help black people at this time and into the future.
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“What I need white America to do beyond right now is understand that right now is always,” he said. “It isn’t just helping in the now. It is being a part of fixing it always. The first thing I want you guys to do is go to YouTube and [look up] Jane Elliot. And spend one hour watching Jane Elliot teach people.
“She’s not just speaking but she’s teaching people about the racism that is given to them that they aren’t even aware they have. She asks the question, ‘How many of you all see how black people are treated in this country?’ And then she says, ‘If you’d like to be treated like that, stand up.’ And no one in the crowd stands up.”
Check out Killer Mike on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert:
