“I could not help but wonder if this country will ever truly be what is promised in our Constitution for people who look like me.”

The same night Killer Mike attended the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner rioting broke out on the streets of Baltimore in wake of the death of Freddie Gray’s death at the hands of six police officers (who as of today have been charged with homicide). Now Killer Mike, who recently lectured about race relations at MIT, has published an op-ed for Billboard talking about his experience learning of the riots while in the middle of said dinner and his feelings on the medias treatment.

You can read a few quotes below and find the full piece here.

On the rioting:

“For the people of Baltimore — I don’t criticize rioting because I understand it. But after the fires die down: organize, strategize and mobilize. Like Ferguson, you have an opportunity to start anew. I don’t have a solution because whoever’s there will have to come up with it. But we need community relations: riots are the language of the unheard.”

On the medias sensationalist treatment:

“I’ve watched Geraldo Rivera and Blitzer pander to the audiences of oppression on TV. Rivera was approached by a very sensible man who said, “Why are you here? Not to cover a calm and peaceful protest — you’re here to sensationalize it.” Rivera turned his back on him, and at first I thought it was arrogance, but I think it was actually shame. This half-Hispanic, half-Jewish man who comes from two different communities, who knows what poverty and oppression can do, could have said, “I want to know the real story.” And Blitzer, as Jon Stewart pointed out, said he never thought he’d see such violence again in America, and he said nearly the exact same words about Ferguson a few months ago. I turned away from the TV with far less respect for him — if I were introduced to him today, I’d walk away. Not because they’re evil and bad people, but because they’re players in the game that sensationalizes and objectifies this in the worst ways — I don’t trust they that they want to see the change.”

On the recent AG Rojas video for ‘Close Your Eyes (And Count To Fuck)’:

“Nearly every director that sent us a treatment sent us something like “Pressure,” my song with Ice Cube, or other videos we’ve done: anarchy in the streets and all that. No — we need a video that shows the exhaustion that this situation causes …“