Trying to figure out Killer Mike is exhausting. Not because the man is particularly complicated, but because he seems determined to make being a Black capitalist with a revolutionary marketing strategy everybody else’s problem.
One minute, he’s talking about Black liberation. Next, he’s doing an NRA commercial, interviewing Herschel Walker and Brian Kemp, and positioning himself as the kind of independent thinker who apparently believes the best way to fight oppression is to make friends with the people who benefit from it. It’s confusing because Killer Mike is giving off in-the-house vibes while trying to act like he’s off the plantation.
Never forget that Killer Mike didn’t just cozy up to Kemp; he chose to platform the political magician who made Black votes disappear, but he was literally running against Stacey Abrams, who would’ve become the first Black female governor of Georgia had she won.
And whenever somebody questions the contradictions, Mike seems to have the same response: You must be broke.
At this point, Killer Mike needs to change his name to “Karen Mike” because lately, he’s been doing a whole lot more complaining, demanding to speak to the manager, and giving conservative politics a platform than killing anything. Certainly not the status quo. That thing seems perfectly comfortable around him.
His latest interview with Vic Mensa only adds to the frustration. The conversation, released Oct. 14 on The Vic Mensa Show, took place inside Fred Hampton’s childhood home. Yes, THAT Fred Hampton, the Black Panther Party leader who was assassinated by police in 1969. The symbolism practically writes its own jokes.
The two discussed Black liberation, political organizing, Cop City, and Mike’s relationship with Kemp. They also addressed the “move like a capitalist” line that has turned Mike into a meme. Mike pushed back on the characterization, saying he never claimed to be a capitalist, while defending his approach to engaging political leaders he disagrees with.
That is an interesting argument to make inside the childhood home of a revolutionary who was murdered by the state. And the funniest part, and possibly the saddest, is that Killer Mike doesn’t get it. He doesn’t get the jokes, the memes, or the irony. He doesn’t get that, in his complacent thinking, he’s not radical. He doesn’t realize that, at some point, his Timberlands turned into tap shoes, and he just can’t stop dancing.
Mike’s defense is essentially that being in the room with powerful people gives him an opportunity to get things done. But Mike doesn’t seem to understand that not all money is good money, and not all rooms are good rooms.
He’s currently proposing a grassroots funding model in which a million people contribute $10 a month to support movement infrastructure, beginning with efforts to preserve Hampton’s home. Fine. Community funding is a legitimate organizing strategy. Preserving Black history is important. And talking to politicians you disagree with is not inherently a betrayal.
Source: Killer Mike: The Capitalist Spook Who Sat By The Black Door [Op-Ed]
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