Kojey Radical on George Floyd death: “You question whether you’re next”

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Kojey Radical recently spoke about the death of George Floyd alongside Rodney P in The Guardian.

As part of a cross-generational interview series between black artists, the two rappers discussed racism, identity, police brutality, and looking forward to creating a better future.

As part of the conversation, Radical discussed the impact watching the video of George Floyd had on him. George Floyd, a 46-year-old black man who lived in Minneapolis, Minnesota, was killed by white police officer, Derek Chauvin, earlier this year. Footage of the arrest shows Chauvin kneeling on Floyd’s neck for nine minutes, ignoring him as he repeatedly pleads, “I can’t breathe”.

“I can’t lie, it did feel like a big punch that I wasn’t expecting, to the point where you question whether you’re next,” Radical said. “But you know it’s not the case, because you’re still existing. You reach a balance: OK, it’s calm. Then yesterday somebody else in Atlanta got shot by the police and you brace yourself for another two weeks. I always question what this does to black people in terms of post-traumatic stress.”

Rodney P added that the movement surrounding anti-racism in the wake of the events is pushing for change, and that he believed now was the time for “artists to get back on their square and become the griots and the village we hold our history in; tell our stories, and actually have something to say.”

Read the full interview via The Guardian here.