Bernie Sanders and Rapper Killer Mike did a long form interview together where they spoke about the ruling class’s divide-and-conquer strategy and civil rights among other things. The clip in this video is sh!t you’ll never hear most politicians say. {youtube}Ax0lx55Ik-w{/youtube}
BERNIE SANDERS: In the 1950s, what state in this country had the lowest paid white workers? What state? Take a guess.
KILLER MIKE: I’d imagine Georgia or Alabama.
SANDERS: Try Mississippi
MIKE: That makes sense.
SANDERS: Ok. What did the whole system tell these white workers who were the lowest paid white workers in the United States of America? In other words, these workers were being exploited.
MIKE: Yeah.
SANDERS: What they said is ‘you can go to that water fountain and drink and the black guy can’t. You can go to that bathroom, you can go to that restaurant, man you got it good!’ Meanwhile, you’re paying — ‘we’re paying you nothing’.
So you divided blacks from whites. In this case, whites from blacks. And this is what they always do. Then they go and they say ‘See that woman up there? She’s an uppity woman! She wants your job, man! You’re not gonna let that woman take your job! You gotta divide from her. And that guy’s gay over there, man! You gotta hate him! Gonna destroy your marriage cause he’s gay. You gotta hate him! Oh and there’s a person — speaks with a Spanish, you know, a little bit of Spanish, came from Mexico. You’re supposed to hate them, man! You don’t gotta work with those people!’
That has been what the ruling class has done over and over again. Why? Because they understand that when we come together — you fight for decent wages. You fight for education for your kids. You can fight to strengthen social security. We win, hands down. But if they divide us up, they win.
On the issue of Dr. Martin Luther King, Sanders made a point that I rarely hear politicians make. Most politicians prefer to use the sanitized version of the ‘I Have a Dream’ King before he started really making big moves highlighting/uniting the economic concerns of all people. For the full transcript, watch the video. But here’s a partial transcript of what he said:
BERNIE SANDERS: …You know why he was courageous? If you were sitting, in a sense, all the media, everybody loved you. ‘Look at what you did. You got the voting rights act and you desegregated the South.’ What did [King] do next?
RAPPER KILLER MIKE: He preached against the war of Vietnam.
SANDERS: That’s right.
MIKE: And poverty.
SANDERS: That’s exactly right!
MIKE: And then everyone turned their back on him.
SANDERS: And you know what everyone said to him? They said ‘You are an African American leader. Your job is to worry about civil rights. Who the hell are you talking about the war in Vietnam? Why are you talking about distribution of wealth?’ But because this guy was a brilliant guy — this is what I love about him. He began — his mind grew and grew and grew. That’s a smart person. You know what I mean? You don’t stay in the same place your whole life. And he began to understand ‘Yeah, so we broke down segregation at a lunch counter. What the hell difference does it mean if you can’t afford the hamburger? If you can’t afford to send your kid to school?’
If you’re talking about non-violence, and the United States in the war in Vietnam was a major perpetuator of violence, you’re a hypocrite if you don’t talk about it. He was not a hypocrite. (cross-talk) an extraordinary man,
Rush transcript. Excuse any typos. For complete accuracy, view the video.
Check out the full conversation between Bernie Sanders and Rapper Killer Mike at youtube now:
Part 1 – Economic Freedom https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LCnrQZbqIQU
Part 2 – Social Justice https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vgzkTp_41G4
Part 3 – Rigged Economy https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=huuLU9ma1hU
Part 4 – Free Healthcare https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PI7m1qFfiXA
Part 5 – This Country Was Started As An Act of Political Protest https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fk8OYHcHBX8
Part 6 – Dems Win When People Vote https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2cSGCoNlY4Y