Killer Mike Tells Blacks Don’t Talk About Revolution Because “You Ain’t Ready To Revolt” (Video)

Over the last few years Killer Mike has emerged as one of the most potent voices of the people, particularly African-Americans and the disenfranchised. He gained a national platform after the killing of Michael Brown by officer Darren Wilson in Ferguson, MO, as he simultaneously conveyed the outrage of many Blacks in America, while being sympathetic to police officers, as the son of a father in law enforcement. Mike spoke about very specific and practical tactics like de-escalation training and police athletic leagues to allow officers and citizens to build relationships in structured environments. He also was not above rioting, if necessary to draw national attention to an important issue.

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Not content with just commentating on the sidelines, Mike also attempted to enter the political forum by running as a state representative, but that effort was derailed by a technicality. Soon thereafter, he became an outspoken proponent of Senator Bernie Sanders, in his bid to become President, campaigning vigilantly for Sanders.

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Michael Render once again gained national attention in July of this year. Days after Alton Sterling and Philando Castille were killed in the same week, Mike extremely passionately urged that people take money out of capitalistic institutions benefiting from a power structure that continues to allow the killing of unarmed Black citizens by the police, with impunity, and move their money to banks in Black communities in order to grow wealth and build infrastructure in those areas. Within two weeks of his exhortations, 8000 new accounts were opened at the Citizens Trust bank, an institution Mike specifically named, resulting in a minimum of $800,000 in transferred wealth, based on the bank’s minimum requirement of $100 to open a new account.

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Now, just over two months later, the killing of Terence Crutcher, an unarmed Black man who was shot to death while holding his hands in the air, has sparked tensions anew. Once again, Mike is at center stage with a message that is complex and controversial.

While speaking at the All Black National Convention in Atlanta on September 17, Mike asked those in attendance a series of questions by a show of hands. “Who knows how to fish? Who knows how to hunt? Who shoots on a regular basis, meaning once or twice weekly? Who farms or grows their own food, right now?,” he asks. After seeing the meager number of consistent hands raised, Mike responds “you ain’t ready to oppose nothin’. You are as a part of this system as any White person gentrified in this city.” He goes on to say “Black people I love you. And, I love you enough to tell you you ain’t ready to revolt sh*t. You don’t feed yourself. You don’t hunt your own animals, and slaughter them. You don’t prepare your own meat. You don’t own your own land. You don’t have a seed growing in your window. So, when you think about revolutionaryism and you think about fighting and dying in the street, you ain’t sh*t if you can’t feed your children!” Whipping the audience into a frenzy, Render asks “how many boys are practicing a martial art in your community today?! We not ready to fight! You say fight back, fight the police! The police are trained to shoot! They’re trained in martial combat! We’re not!”

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After driving home his point that Black people should dispense with revolutionary talk because they are not prepared to back it up, Killer Mike shifts gears, articulating what he believes the present day objective should be. “I want to see more Black attorneys, more Black law enforcement. I want to see more Black people pooling their money to run their own candidates,” he shouts. From there, Mike makes it deeply personal, saying not what others should do, but what he, himself, is going to do. “As for me, in my house,” he says. “I’m gonna raise a warrior that knows how to use his hands, knows how to use his mind, and loves the people with his heart. Your job is to survive the encounter! And, when Daddy gets there with a lawyer, when Daddy makes sure you got a judge that looks like you, we’ll deal with that other sh*t. But, you survive the encounter, young man! Don’t you die on the side of the goddamn street like a dog!!”