“In my heart of hearts, I truly believe that Senator Bernie Sanders is the right man to lead this country,” said Run the Jewels’ Killer Mike, as he introduced the (social) democratic presidential hopeful at a rally in his hometown of Atlanta yesterday evening.
At the beginning of his speech, the rapper/activist brought up Martin Luther King — “the Martin King against the war machine that uses your sons, your nephews to go to other lands and murder” — and the undesirability of reliving Reaganism. “I am here as a proponent of a political revolution that says health care is a right of every citizen,” he proclaimed. “I am here because working class and poor people deserve a chance at economic freedom — and yes, if you work 40 hours a week, you should not be in poverty.”
Before Sanders was brought onstage, Killer Mike elaborated on a few other reasons the Vermont senator is an unprecedented candidate — his desire to end the war on drugs “that targets minorities and poor people,” his assertion that education should be free to all Americans. And while Killer Mike clearly feels the Bern, Bernie Sanders also expressed that he feels the…Mike. At the beginning of his own speech, he thanked the rapper, saying, “Killer Mike is…trying to talk truth throughout this country and in fact throughout the world, trying to bring people together.”
And, making for some of the best photos in campaign history, prior to the rally, Killer Mike brought Bernie Sanders to lunch. They dined at the Atlanta soul food restaurant, the Busy Bee Cafe. According to a Tweet posted on The Fader, Sanders allegedly ordered (it obviously matters…for, er…political reasons?) fried chicken with gravy with sides of rice and yams.
https://twitter.com/KillerMike/status/668907562079789056/photo/1?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Perhaps even more compellingly than lunch, they also posed with the fist and gun RTJ hand gesture:
Here’s the video of Killer Mike’s speech: