Killer Mike says "protesting is the first step" but people need to "beat up your local ballot boxes"

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Killer Mike says “protesting is the first step” but people need to “beat up your local ballot boxes”.

The rapper and activist, who recently addressed Atlanta protestors in an emotional speech, spoke with Bill Maher on Real Time last week (5th June), sharing that there was more political work to be done moving forward.

“I think that the kids that were out raging in the streets certainly deserve to be out raging in the streets,” Killer Mike told Maher. “I appreciate the protests, I appreciate destroying property when it’s followed the next day by organising,” 

“Protesting is the first step,” he said, comparing revolution to a patient taken into hospital. “It’s when you come in the ICU when you’re bleeding and they have to stop the bleeding first. Then, how do we stabilise the patient? The stability comes from beating up your local ballot boxes. It comes from voting in your prosecutor races, voting in terms of who your mayor and senators are going to be.”

The discussion was in response to protests which have began since the death of George Floyd, a 46-year-old black man from Minnesota who was killed by a white police officer, Derek Chauvin, on Monday 25th May. Footage of the arrest shows Chauvin kneeling on Floyd’s neck for nine minutes, ignoring him as he repeatedly pleads, “I can’t breathe”.

You can watch the clip of Real Time with Killer Mike below.