At the US presidential campaign begins to really heat up, endorsements from likeable public figures become more important than ever. Killer Mike has often spoken about his unwavering support for Bernie Sanders, and used his recent interview with Stephen Colbert to once again bring home the reasons why Sanders should be in the Oval Office in this next election.
“Bernie Sanders is the only politician who has consistently, for 50 years, taken that social justice platform [from Martin Luther King] into politics and right now we have an opportunity to elect someone who is directly out of the philosophy of King-ian non-violence. We can directly elect someone who cares about poor people; cares about women, gay, black rights; cares about lives that don’t look like his. This opportunity in history is not going to come in another 20 years,” he said. “So, if we do not take this opportunity right now, we’re going to be sitting around a campfire, mad because they nuked the world to hell, I’m afraid.”
The knowledge bombs didn’t stop there though. When Colbert asked Killer Mike (real name Michael Render) to weigh in on how many White Americans are beginning to realise just how bad it is for African Americans in their country, Mike replied, “If white people are just now discovering that it’s bad for black or working class people in America, they’re a lot more blind than I thought, and they’re a lot more choosing to be ignorant than I thought.
“The same problems we’re discussing today, we discussed in 1990, 1980, 1970 and 1960.”
The interview, although only 6 minutes long, had enough palpable knowledge and wisdom courtesy of Mike that it goes to show just how switched on and educated he is when it comes to America’s civil rights issues. Here’s hoping audiences took at least some of it on board.