Grammy Award-winning rapper Killer Mike gave his take on Martin Luther King Jr. and the civil rights movement during a "Salon Talks" episode with SalonTV's D. Watkins around his new Netflix series "Trigger Warning with Killer Mike.""Civil rights, in ...
Grammy Award-winning rapper Killer Mike gave his take on Martin Luther King Jr. and the civil rights movement during a "Salon Talks" episode with SalonTV's D. Watkins around his new Netflix series "Trigger Warning with Killer Mike."
"Civil rights, in terms of civil equality for black people, was something he accomplished," Mike told Salon about Martin Luther King Jr. "That was his only mission, and his mission was accomplished, but it wasn't. The eradication of war, the eradication of poverty, and the allocation of funds back to people who had worked here for free was a big part of his agenda. He was killed for his opposition to war. He was reviled for trying to unite workers, black and white, and he was further reviled by the black elite in terms of black middle class at that time, because he started talking about money."
Killer Mike, who is also a businessman, activist and executive producer of "Trigger Warning," is using his show to confront misconceptions that impact the black community. Over the course of six episodes, he conducts social experiments, such as attempting to only spend money in the black community for three days and helping the Crips launch its own soda line.
"Integration not only allowed us into the greater community, it took our dollar out and we lost a lot. We lost black bus companies. We lost black restaurants. We lost black hotels. If we had kept the mentality that we still had to support our own, then you might not have Major League Baseball. Negro League Baseball may be the premiere baseball here in the United States."
Watch the
full episode to hear about who Mike's supporting for president to run against Donald Trump and why he might consider a run for local office some day.