Killer Mike Endorses Forced Labor and Incentives

Michael Santiago Render, better known as Killer Mike, is a rapper whose music I’ve never heard. Before I saw his recent viral moments, I would have listened to some of his music before writing this article, but now, I’m good. All I need to know is that he’s a conservative rapper who calls himself Killer Mike to know there’s going to be a lot of hypocrisy to unpack. Oh, and that he recommends indentured servitude for young Black men who impregnate their girlfriends, and that he told a little Black boy he can’t be president when he grows up. He should dream of trade school instead.

Render recently made headlines for being arrested at the Grammy’s after winning three awards, and for refusing to endorse Biden over Trump on Bill Maher’s show. I wrote about that and the reluctance of many Black men to endorse Biden.

For what it’s worth, at least Render was making sense then.

Killer Mike, for some strange reason, sees himself as the Voice of Black America. Well, not quite the voice of Black America. He’s more like a mediator, or a buffer, between Black America and white America. Render likes to align himself with conservative white politicians like Georgia governor Brian Kemp, ex-president Donald Trump, and presidential hopeful Robert F. Kennedy Jr. If Render could only get a seat at the table, he’d show these white men exactly how they should handle their negro problem.

For example, when Render met with RFK Jr. at a barber shop, he proposed indentured servitude as a way to deal with Black out of wedlock births, entitlement programs taking care of Black children, America’s infrastructure problem, and the low marriage rate in the Black community.

Render gave RFK Jr., who’s never going to be elected president of these United Staes, his plan to deal with the child-support problem. It’s a doozy. In Render’s two year-plan, the first two years for teen mom and teen dad are debt-free. They don’t have to pay the government back for food programs and early Head Start programs. Never mind that parents already don’t pay this back. Then Render says this isn’t really free, the young man is going to be federally required to go to trade school to reimburse the government.

Say what, now?

Render says the U.S. government should be incentivized to pay for the young man’s trade school education because it would help fix the country’s infrastructure problem since we don’t have enough carpenters, electricians, or people to build the roads.

Isn’t this forced labor or indentured servitude, but I digress…

Render then takes it one step further and says that at the end of those two years, if the young man marries the young woman, they get further incentives like zero-financed home loans. He says this will strengthen the Black community and the greater community. You’ll have “people with stronger financial stability” and “trades people married to women of education.” Render ends with, “what you put out on the other side is a person who is trained, a person who has an incentive to marry, and a person who becomes a tax payer and not just a taker of taxes.”

There’s so much to unpack here, but I’ll start off by asking is this supposed to be free thinking or revolutionary? Because I’m pretty sure everyone born at the turn of the twentieth century, and before that, felt this way. Heck, I’m pretty sure most people born before 1950 will agree with this. It’s a step up from the “shotgun wedding.”

Also, doesn’t the Republican Party believe in less control from the federal government, but my bad, that only applies to certain people. Poor and working class Black people certainly need the government to tell them how to control their lives, because obviously they can’t.

There’s no choice here. No one asks the young man what he wants, but at least he’s centered. The young woman isn’t asked what she wants, nor is she considered.

Does she want to be married? Does she still want a relationship with her child’s father? What’s she supposed to be doing while he’s in trade school? What has she gained at the end of the young man’s two years of indentured servitude? Besides marriage to him?

Does she even want to have the baby? Is this also an instance of forced birth?

Abortion is already illegal or restricted in most red states, including Georgia.

The misogynoir of it all jumped out.

Render made the point that Black women go to college and get degrees while many Black men don’t. Render says this leaves Black women with no one to marry and also leaned in to the much-debated topic that many educated Black women, especially with multiple degrees, feel they’re “too good” or “too accomplished” to marry Black men with no degrees or with blue-collar/trade school careers.

Render is concerned with putting Black women in their place and Black men in theirs — at the head of the table.

A teenage pregnancy does not stop many Black women. Even in the midst of Render’s nonsense, he assumes that the Black girl is going to get a 4-year degree at some point during the time the Black boy gets his trade education, marries her, and they start a life together, but how far will she go?

Render seems hyper-focused on teachers marrying tradesmen, so maybe she’ll become a teacher or something similar. Then it’s their kids who will become doctors, lawyers, PhD’s, or engineers, since we’re going back in time and mimicking the Black community from back in the day.

We all know Black teenage mothers become doctors, lawyers, judges, and whatever else they aspire to since these careers became open to Black women. Having a child early doesn’t stop them, but having a husband, family, and more children at an early age might...

Render thinks no differently than any other conservative, and there are many Black men who agree with his way of thinking, as evidenced by responses to his “plan.” Yet, there are many Black men who will argue that Black men don’t deal in patriarchy.

Black people don’t need a spokesperson. Certainly not Killer Mike. We can express our own thoughts and opinions freely. This is why we vote, show up to city council meetings, meet with, or email, our representatives, engage in local and national politics, and make sure as many Black politicians (with our best interests at heart) are elected to office.

Another video surfaced of Render cutting a little Black boy off and telling him that that he can’t be president, despite President Barack Obama being elected for two terms, while entertaining a little white boy who said he wanted to give his family superpowers, fly a rocket into the sun, and cure cancer.

I think this video tells you everything you need to know about Killer Mike and how he feels about Black people. He’s a Black white supremacist who thinks Black people should stay in their place — below white people. He’s also an elitist who’s going to be in for a rude awakening when the new conservative government reminds him that all Black people fit into the same category. He’s definitely an opp. Just look at who supports him…

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