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Killer Mike endorses Bernie Sanders in rousing speech

There’s a long tradition of musicians throwing their considerable weight of influence behind US Presidential campaigns. Earlier this year Katy Perry took over Hillary Clinton’s Instagram and sang at her Iowa address to prove just how hip she is.

Now one half of Run The Jewels, Killer Mike, has openly endorsed Hillary Clinton’s Democrat rival Bernie Sanders in an impassioned speech at Sanders’ rally last night.

From the outset, he littered his speech with powerful references to Martin Luther King and advocated for political revolution through Sanders.

“If you’re from Atlanta Georgia you may be familiar with a young man who grew up not far from here. His name was Martin King. Now I know this is the part where usually it’s a black minister in front of you and usually you get all warm and cozy inside and usually you hear about ‘I have a dream’ and us holding hands and going for ice cream. That’s not why I’m here today. I’m not here to talk about benevolent politicians that are going to come and save the day for you. I’m not here to talk about a dream that we think is unobtainable so we settle for less. I’m not here to talk about a utopian society where everyone is forgiven and no one has to pay for past debts. I’m talking about, what I’m talking about today, is the Martin King post-the Washington march, the Martin King present the war on poverty, Martin King against the war machine that uses your sons and your nephews to go to other lands and murder. I’m talking about a revolutionary.”

The speech from Killer Mike is a massive opportunity for Sanders to edge back support from the black community, which has been waning in recent months. In South Carolina, he trails Hillary Clinton by a whopping 55 points in the black community, and has been pressed on Twitter to take the community more seriously.

As a left-wing socialist, Bernie Sanders has been slapped with the title of being a idealistic dreamer by both sides of American politics. However, Killer Mike made sure to distinguish him from that title, ensuring that he was not advocating for an ‘unobtainable dream’.

He can say ‘black lives matter’ as many times as he wants, but an endorsement from Killer Mike will go a lot further in the long run. It isn’t the first time Killer Mike has been politically vocal – previously speaking out after the Charleston Shootings, and talking race relations at MIT. Yet with this speech, perhaps a run in politics himself isn’t out of the question.

Check out the full speech below: