Sen. Bernie Sanders sat down for a late lunch with rapper Killer Mike on Monday, just hours before the rapper introduced the Democratic presidential candidate at a campaign rally in Atlanta, Georgia.
The rapper and activist tweeted a photo of the Vermont Senator poring over a menu at the Busy Bee Cafe Monday afternoon.
Brought this guy to Busy Bee on MLK in ATL. pic.twitter.com/K93EUniUZE
— Killer Mike (@KillerMike) November 23, 2015
“Brought this guy to Busy Bee on MLK in ATL,” Killer Mike wrote.
The “One More Gram” rapper first endorsed Sanders’ presidential bid in June.
It's official I support @SenSanders! His call 4 the restoration of the voters rights act sealed the deal for me.
— Killer Mike (@KillerMike) June 29, 2015
“His call 4 the restoration of the voters rights act sealed the deal for me,” he posted on Twitter.
After the pair shared a meal together, Killer Mike took to a nearby stage to introduce Sanders.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kywpo-XmFYg
“I’m not here to talk about benevolent politicians that are gonna come and save the day for you. I’m not here to talk about a dream that we think is unattainable, so we settle for less. I’m not here to talk about a utopian society, where everyone is forgiven and no one has to pay for past debts,” said the rapper.
Killer Mike then evoked the memory of Martin Luther King, Jr. by reminding the crowd of King’s support for President Lyndon Johnson’s War on Poverty and his opposition to the Vietnam War, saying that King was “against the war machine that uses your sons and your nephews to go to other lands and murder.”
The rapper, whose real name is Michael Render, also said he had “no time to relive the Reagan years” and “no desire to see us elect our own Margaret Thatcher” – an allusion perhaps to Hillary Clinton, whose 2008 presidential campaign hoped to evoke Margaret Thatcher’s persona as a strong female leader.
The rapper then declared Sanders to be the right man to lead the country and encouraged the senator’s supporters to “stay confronting bulls—t at every turn.”
In an op-ed for Billboard last year, Killer Mike blamed the deaths of Mike Brown and Eric Garner on “bad policing, excessive force and the hunt-and-capture-prey mentality many thrill-seeking cops have adapted.” He previously described Ferguson, Missouri, police officer Darren Wilson, the man who shot and killed 18-year-old Mike Brown, as a “Human PIG” who slaughtered a child.
He addressed a group of MIT students earlier this year about race relations in the United States, as part of the ongoing MIT Hip Hop Speaker Series. The rapper also attended this year’s White House Correspondents’ Association dinner in April as a guest of Ariana Huffington.
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