NEW YORK, Jan. 7 (UPI) -- Activist and rapper Killer Mike of Run The Jewels appeared on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert Wednesday night, saying a lot of white people are "choosing to be ignorant" about how bad things are for black and working class people in the United States.
"If white people are just now discovering that it's bad for black or working class people in America, they're a lot more blind than I thought," he told Colbert. "There are a lot more choosing to be ignorant than I thought. The same problems that we're discussing today, we discussed in 1990, 1980, 1970 and 1960."
"Speaking for all white people," Colbert asked, "what can we do to bridge the gap between the communities of color?"
"I speak at colleges often," said the rapper. "When I speak at black colleges and [white colleges]...the message that I speak to white kids...is get outside the college environment, find a child who is marginal or doing exceptional in school, that is a minority, doesn't look like you ... help that child matriculate into college...teach them the path you were taught to help them become a successful human being."
Killer Mike -- born Michael Render -- also talked about the origin of his stage name, and why he's supporting Bernie Sanders for president.
"I didn't name myself... I actually would've liked 'Bugatti' Mike or 'Ferrari' Mike," the rapper said. "I rapped against a kid as a kid and I rapped against him really well, and then seven or eight other guys...said 'that kid's a killer!'"
Killer Mike, who will perform with his group again this year at popular music festival Coachella, talked passionately about the upcoming presidential election and explained why he's supporting Democratic candidate Bernie Sanders, a self-proclaimed democratic socialist from Vermont.
"Bernie Sanders is the only politician who has consistently for 50 years taken that social justice platform into politics. Right now, we have an opportunity to elect someone who is directly out of the philosophy of [Dr. Martin Luther] King-ian non-violence. We can directly elect someone that cares about poor people, cares about women, gays, black rights, cares about lives that don't look like his. This opportunity in history is not going to come in another 20 years."
