Killer Mike, the rapper and activist, gave a speech at the Atlanta Mayor’s Press Conference. In a tearful and emotional speech, Mike spoke out about the protests coming from the death of George Floyd. George Floyd died in Minneapolis on May 25 after Derek Chauvin used his knee to pin him down for close to nine minutes. Three other officers were fired while Derek Chauvin has been charged with third-degree murder and manslaughter.
Mike’s speech begins with him paying respect to police officers, mentioning his family members who served in law enforcement, including his father. He brought up the fact that his father along with other members of his family marched with Dr. Martin Luther King and endured the great injustices white Americans threw at them. Mike mentions the racism that occurs within the department towards black officers and how it been going on for 80 years. Killer Mike brought up the fact that even when the first 8 black officers were assigned to the department, they were forced to dress inside the YMCA because white officers didn’t want to be in a room with “niggers”.
Mike makes a plead to the community to not burn down their own homes, but instead use those same homes as a refuge and a place to plan the right actions to take against the oppression. He said “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. And now is the time to plot, plan, strategize, organize, and mobilize.”
He continued his speech by encouraging voting in the local elections and advocated for systemic change. Barely able to contain his emotions he spoke out saying, “I woke up wanting to see the world burn yesterday because I’m tired of seeing black men die.” Mike also let it be known that seeing one officer charge is not good enough, in his speech he said, “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.”
His message to the mayor was that Atlanta needs to bring back the review board. He was quoted saying “We need to get ahead of it, that’s my recommendation to my mayor, to my chief, let’s get ahead of it” he ended by saying “I love and respect you all, I hope we find a way out of it because I don’t have all the answers. But I do know we must plot we must plan we must strategize, organize, and mobilize.”
To see full speech check it out below
