Killer Mike Delivers Emotional Speech After Ferguson Grand Jury Decision
Emotions were running high in Ferguson after the grand jury decision. Just hours after it was revealed that no charges would be brought against Officer Darren Wilson for shooting unarmed black teenager Mike Brown, Run the Jewels played a show at the Ready Room in St. Louis, only a few miles from Ferguson. One half of the hip-hop duo, Killer Mike, broke down in tears as he expressed his outrage.
“No matter how much we do it, no matter how much we get shit together, shit comes along that kicks you on your ass and you don’t feel like a champion, so tonight I got kicked on my ass when I listened to that prosecutor,” said the Atlanta rapper. “I gotta tell ’em: You motherfu**ers got me today. You kicked me on my ass because I have a 20-year-old son and I have 12-year-old son and I’m so afraid for them.”
During his emotional speech, a visibly shaken Mike told the crowd that he stood in front of his wife and cried after the decision was announced. But after the tears, he vowed to take a stand.
“You motherfu**ers will not own tomorrow. We will not live in your fear, we will not accept your pain, we’re not going to keep playing that race card ’cause we know you don’t value my skin and we know you do value his [points to El-P], but you know what, we’re friends, and nothing is gonna devalue that.”
He left with some words of wisdom: “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 is us against the motherfu**ing machine!” he declared before performing “Run the Jewels.”
A heartbroken Solange was among the many celebrities who took to Instagram to share their pain and sadness. She also revealed that she is making an album about race.
“I screen shot this image months ago. Artist unknown. It moved me for many reasons. One being ….brokenness. Today I feel a sense of brokenness on behalf of my people. Black people. Everyone expresses differently. I respect all forms and shapes of expression. I respect those who don’t see this as a matter of black and white, who think ‘unity and peace’ will save us all from this, who’s optimism in the heart of the gut wrench still seems to have a place…Although I feel differently, I respect it all. We were not molded here, to all be molded the same……My words are like aimless shapes and figures at this time. Trying to find a place to go, something to hold on to, to make “sense” of this all. But the one thing that’s been concrete in my heart is my will to want to express something to my friends. To the people I love, who love me, who feel pain in this moment just as I do, but who do not feel pain in the way that I often do in many walks of life. Who might feel I talk about race too much, that it’s consumed me, who I’ve distanced myself from….because it’s true, I can’t a joke. When I told a friend of mine I was making an album about race, his response was….’Just make it fun’. I would like him to think about it now. We are not Michael Browns family, but we are Michael Browns family. We don’t hurt like they do, but we do hurt. Hurt like hell. Thing about my people though….we don’t stay broken. We get up. We put the pieces together when there aren’t even pieces to pick up…….and we will……again and again and again.”