Advice From Killer Mike

[READER]( For me, one of the most inspirational moments of the last few days has been [the remarks]( made by Killer Mike, the rapper, at a press conference in Atlanta. As a proud son of Atlanta—his father was a police officer—Killer Mike expressed rage over George Floyd’s murder and urged protesters to channel their outrage into politics, registering new voters, and getting out the vote in November. As a geezer, I don’t know Killer Mike’s music, but I love his politics. He was a Bernie supporter long before it was fashionable. In his comments, Killer Mike referred to a speech delivered by Alexander Stephens, vice president of the Confederacy, at the outset of the Civil War. Stephens “said that fundamental law stated whites were naturally the superior race, and the Confederacy was built on a cornerstone,” said Killer Mike. “It’s called the Cornerstone Speech. Look it up.” So, I did. Here’s Stephens’s exact quote: “Our new government’s . . . cornerstone rests upon the great truth that the Negro is not equal to the white man; that slavery, subordination to the superior race, is his natural and normal condition.” Just in case you think secession was about anything other than maintaining slavery. I shouldn’t be self-righteous. Chicago has a few racist cornerstones of its own. To cite just one, in 1968, after Dr. King was killed, the west side erupted in flames. Mayor Richard J. Daley declared he had ordered police to “shoot to kill” arsonists and “shoot to maim or cripple looters.” At the time, I was an exceedingly naïve 12-year-old. I remember telling an older, wiser friend that Chicago police must be sharpshooters if they could, you know, kill an arsonist but just give a looter a flesh wound. “You dummy,” my friend told me. “He was just telling cops to kill Black people.” It’s called the shoot-to-kill order. [Look it up](. Sincerely, Ariel Parrella-Aureli on poets [coming together]( Mike Sula on [Erick Williams’s]( latest endeavor Me on Michael Jordan and [Barack Obama]( [Monroe Anderson]( on Trump, Biden, and white privilege State representative [Greta Neubauer]( from Racine, on the effort to win back Wisconsin State representative [Delia Ramirez]( from Humboldt Park, on the politics of rent control [Police abolitionists find fuel in the protests]( As more people lose faith in the state, organizers offer alternatives. By [Maya Dukmasova]( [@mdoukmas]( [The Reader guide to police abolition]( Our reporting on envisioning and organizing a city less reliant on cops to keep us safe By [Maya Dukmasova]( [@mdoukmas]( [Listen to The Ben Joravsky Show]( By [Ben Joravsky]( [@joravben]( [Issue of May 28 - Jun 3, 2020 Vol. 49, No. 34]( [The Gaming Issue]( [Download Issue]( (PDF) [DONATE]( [View this e-mail as a web page]( [@chicago_reader]( [/chicagoreader]( [@chicago_reader]( [Chicago Reader on LinkedIn]( [/chicagoreader]( [chicagoreader.com]( [Forward this e-mail to a friend](. Want to change how you receive these e-mails? You can [update your preferences]( or [unsubscribe from this list](. Copyright © 2020 Chicago Reader, All rights reserved. You are receiving this email because you opted in via our website. Our mailing address is: Chicago Reader 2930 S. Michigan Ave., Ste 102Chicago, IL 60616-3228 [Add us to your address book](