Riot Fest 2018 - Sunday
photo by James Richards IV

Killer Mike gives an emotional speech: "I’m tired of seeing black men die"

Following days of protests and unrest following the killing of George Floyd by police, Killer Mike gave an emotional speech on Friday night, at a press conference with Atlanta mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms and T.I., as Rolling Stone reports. Michael Santiago Render (aka Killer Mike) is the son of an Atlanta police officer, and said he has “a lot of love and respect for police officers.” Referencing the city’s first eight Black officers, sworn in in 1948, he continued, “here we are 80 years later, and I watched a white officer assassinate a black man, and I know that tore your heart out.”

“I’m mad as hell,” he said. “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,” he continued. “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.”

“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,” Killer Mike said. “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. 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. Atlanta is not perfect, but we’re a lot better than we ever were, and we’re a lot better than cities are.”

“I’m glad [protestors] only took down a sign and defaced a building,” he continued, “and they’re not killing human beings like that policeman did. I’m glad that they only destroyed some brick and mortar and they didn’t rip a father from a son, they didn’t rip a son from a mother, like the policeman did.”

Watch the speech below.

After beginning in Minneapolis, protests against Floyd’s death quickly spread to Los Angeles, Atlanta, NYC, where protesters gathered outside Barclays Center on Friday night (5/29), and beyond.