Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron has been catching a lot of heat from celebrities and activists after only one of the officers involved in the fatal shooting of Breonna Taylor was indicted by a grand jury on charges unrelated to the 26-year-old EMT’s death.
Over the weekend, Houston rapper Megan Thee Stallion joined the growing list of celebrities to call out Cameron – who did not recommend murder charges against the officers to the grand jury – with a very powerful performance on Saturday Night Live.
Taking the stage to perform her chart-topping single, Savage, the rapper paused at a certain point during her set, with the display screen behind her going black and sounds of gunshots ringing. It was followed by the display of an excerpt from a 1962 speech by Malcolm X talking about how Black women are the most disrespected people in the United States.
“The most disrespected, unprotected, neglected person in America is the Black woman. Who taught you to hate the texture of your hair, the color of your skin, the shape of your nose? Who taught you to hate from the top of your head to the soles of your feet?” the screen displayed.
A now viral speech by popular activist Tamika Mallory criticizing Cameron for not being kinfolk during a press conference after the announcement of the grand jury outcome was also played and displayed.
“Daniel Cameron is no different than the sellout negroes that sold our people into slavery,” the quote from Mallory read.
Taylor was killed in her home while sleeping with her boyfriend in a botched narcotics raid by the LMPD on March 13. Taylor’s boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, shot at the officers who were executing a “no-knock” warrant.
Cameron, who justified the officers’ use of force, claimed Walker’s shot hit one of the officers, Sgt. Jonathan Mattingly, during the September 23 press conference. Mattingly, together with officers Brett Hankison and Myles Cosgrove, returned fire, hitting Taylor several times.
“We need to protect our Black women and love our Black women. Because, at the end of the day, we need our Black women,” the 25-year-old rapper said during her performance. “We need to protect our Black men and stand up for our Black men. Because, at the end of the day, we’re tired of seeing hashtags of our Black men.”
Read the excerpt of Malcom X’s popular speech that was displayed during her performance:
Who taught you to hate the texture of your hair? Who taught you to hate the color of your skin? To such extent you bleach, to get like the white man. Who taught you to hate the shape of your nose and the shape of your lips? Who taught you to hate yourself from the top of your head to the soles of your feet? Who taught you to hate your own kind? Who taught you to hate the race that you belong to so much so that you don’t want to be around each other? No… Before you come asking Mr. Muhammad does he teach hate, you should ask yourself who taught you to hate being what God made you.
We don’t steal, we don’t gamble, we don’t lie and we don’t cheat.
You can’t get into a whiskey bottle without getting past a government seal. You can’t buy a deck of cards without getting past a government seal. Here the white man makes the whiskey then puts you in jail for getting drunk. He sells you the cards and the dice and puts you in jail when he catches you using them.
The most disrespected woman in America, is the black woman. The most un-protected person in America is the black woman. The most neglected person in America, is the black woman. And as Muslims, the honorable Elijah Muhammed teaches us to respect, our women, and to protect our women. And the only time a Muslim gets real violent, is when someone goes to molest his woman. We will kill you, for our women I’m making it plain yes, we will kill you for our women. We believe that if the white man, will do whatever is necessary, to see that his woman get respect and protection, then you and I will never be recognized as men. Until we stand up like men and pays the same penalty over the head of anyone, who puts his filthy hands out, to put it in a direction of our women.
