Rapper Killer Mike on Ferguson: It's Us Against the War Machine

by Kelli Serio

Nov 25, 2014 10:27 AM PT

On Monday night, a grand jury in Ferguson, Missouri declined to indict Officer Darren Wilson over the shooting of 19-year-old Michael Brown, because both the physical and eyewitness evidence concluded that Wilson was acting in self-defense, which supported his case. 

The reaction to the decision was initially calm following the announcement, as Brown supporters gathered around the police department in Ferguson, but it quickly escalated to a scene of chaos, as gunshots were fired. Police cars were set ablaze, businesses were looted and burned, and tear gas was deployed.

Rapper Killer Mike, who recently discussed Brown's death on CNN and in an op-ed piece in Billboard, was performing at a show with with his group Run the Jewel a few miles away from the protests in Ferguson.

Before the set, Killer Mike said he wished peace for Michael Brown and his family and to those who were peacefully protesting and offered prayers to those who were unable to refrain from being violent and unruly. 

He also expressed outrage over the verdict:

And I just gotta tell you today that, man, no matter how much we do it, no matter how much we get sh*t together, sh*t comes along and kicks you on your a**, and you don’t feel like a champion. So tonight, I got kicked on my ass when I listened to that prosecutor.

I knew it was coming...I knew it when Eric Holder decided to resign. I knew it wasn't going to be good. But I gotta tell 'em. You [expletive] got me today. You kicked my ass today. Because I have a 2o-year-old son, and I have a 12-year-old son, and I'm afraid so afraid for them.

You [explicit] will not own tomorrow. We will not live in your fear...We're not going to keep playing that race card, 'cause we know, we know you don't value my skin...We know you do value his.

Before I came out here, there was no peace in my heart. And I wanted to walk out to burn this [expletive] down. Burn this [expletive] down. But I gotta tell you, But I gotta tell you, I'm from Atlanta, Georgia, and something said, something said, 'Just look for something Martin King might have said.'

I can promise you today, if I die when I walk off this stage tomorrow, I'm gonna let you know this. 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 is about poverty, it is about greed, and it is about a war machine. 

So, I might go tomorrow, I might go the day after. But the one thing I want you to know. It is us, against the [expletive] machine!

As last night's protest turned into a violent rampage, rapper Killer Mike had this to say:

The Crowd is attacking "Police Cars". It's the system the hate! Officers they cud be attacking YOU but they are not. #Think#DontShoot

— Killer Mike (@KillerMikeGTO) November 25, 2014

If u are on the streets of ferguson don't break, wait.....plot, plan, strategize, organize THEN MOBILIZE! #RevenegeIsaPlateBestServedCold

— Killer Mike (@KillerMikeGTO) November 25, 2014

Random Violence against your oppressor "feels good" burning, looting, shooting is but a moment but u topple an empire with $. Hold your $

— Killer Mike (@KillerMikeGTO) November 25, 2014

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