Musicians and celebrities are often in a unique position to share their personal views on politics, race, sexual orientation and any other social issues of their time period. The ones who resonate with the public, though, are the artists who share their ideals within and outside their craft. Killer Mike of Run the Jewels has been on a mission as of late, penning opinion pieces for publications about his feelings toward race relations following the unfortunate deaths of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, and Eric Garner in Staten Island. His post yesterday on Martin Luther King Jr. Day might have been his finest.
Mike, aka Michael Rendor, starts off by calling the civil rights leader a "revolutionary" before rehashing what MLK was up against during his inspiring lifetime:
He was disgusted with the government and its use of power to oppress in the same way Christ had been. He defended the principle of all humanity having value and being equal — like his savior. He was not a flower-giving, other-cheek-turning sucker. He was a fiery preacher, returning from the mountaintop with a message that would turn the world as people knew it on its ear. Like his messiah Jesus Christ, he was a revolutionary.
The rapper then goes on to call the public to action:
Will you take to the streets and feed the hungry, defend the poor and march on public buildings calling out the incompetent men and woman we call leaders? See, those things are the way to honor a revolutionary. The question is: are you, like MLK was, a revolutionary?
"We have to be revolutionaries, and nothing less," he concludes. Read the enitre op-ed here.
Mike has shared his thoughts on numerous occasions about Ferguson and the decision not to indict Darren Wilson, the police officer who killed Brown. He gave an emotional speech after the ruling and discussed his point of view on CNN following the shooting in August.
