Music

Killer Mike convinces Atlanta residents to move $800k to black-owned bank

by Jeremy Mersereau

While Killer Mike might not feeling the Bern with his barbershop pal any longer, that doesn’t mean he isn’t still a firebrand of real, actionable activism and protest.

The rapper, Run The Jewels member and Atlanta native was interviewed on his hometown’s Hot 107.9 radio station last week, where he commented on the recent police shooting deaths of Philando Castile and Alton Sterling. “I’m tired of living in an environment where [Atlanta] is the only place in this country I feel safe as a black person,” Mike said. He then spoke on possible protest action citizens can take to make their voices heard, the main trust of which involves speaking the system’s native language: money.

“What we can do is go down to your banks tomorrow and say ‘until you as a corporation start to speak on our behalf, I want all my money, and I’m taking all my money to Citizens Trust’. What we’re going to do is to start to divert money away from the system, and this works”. Citizens Trust is a black-owned bank in Atlanta, which after only 5 days since the radio appearance, is now at least $800,000 richer thanks to residents running with Mike’s initiative.

A photo posted by Citizens Trust Bank (@citizenstrustbank) on Jul 13, 2016 at 1:58pm PDT

Cynthia N. Day, President and CEO of Citizens Trust, tweeted a thank you to Mike, saying that thanks to his call to action, a change in the conversation is possible.

Mike also speaks on his chosen, now out of the presidential candidate, Bernie Sanders. Mike says he was not able to publicly endorse Sanders the last time he appeared on 107.9, due to the station’s corporate concerns. As for the current Democratic candidate, Mike had some thoughts on the topic:

“You don’t have to keep taking second best, you don’t have to be a political party’s side woman,” Mike said. “Don’t keep voting for these chumps and all you get out of it is a picture opportunity, or a dab. I’m saying whoever you vote for, demand something… What you can’t do, is keep depending on a system you say hates you, to do right by you.”