Killer Mike, 1/2 of hip hop duo Run the Jewels, has been thanked by the CEO of Citizens Trust Bank, which is a black-owned bank in Atlanta, after the company opened over 8,000 accounts in less than a week’s time! The rapper had been interviewing with Hot 107.9 where he explained that if corporations choose not to support us by calling out injustices, then we do not need to be supporting them.
“What we can do is go to your banks tomorrow,” he said. “You can go to your bank tomorrow. And you can say ‘Until you as a corporation start to speak on our behalf, I want all my money. And I’m taking all my money to Citizen’s Trust’…Apartheid ended in South Africa because students in America said ‘We not flying Delta anymore. We not drinking Coca-Cola anymore. We’re not supporting any corporation that supports the Apartheid and the enslavement of people that look like us.’ And I’m just saying once again…Take your money out of this dog’s hands. Out of their paws. Take your money.”
Many people took the rapper’s words literally and flocked to CTB in order to open new accounts with the black-owned bank. In just five days post-interview, 8,000 new accounts had been created and Deidre St. Julien, the bank’s marketing director told the NY Post, “This movement brought awareness to the importance of community banks, and the strength of community banks, inside the communities they support,” she said.
The CEO and president of Citizens Trust Bank, Cynthia N. Day publicly thanked Killer Mike for his call to action:
<a class=”embedly-card” href=”https://twitter.com/ctbank/status/751555027966103552″>Citizens Trust Bank on Twitter</a> <script async src=”//cdn.embedly.com/widgets/platform.js” charset=”UTF-8″></script>
Killer Mike has always stressed the importance of supporting black businesses, so, Roommates, how many of you have moved your money to Black-owned banks this month?! Leave us some comments!
TSR STAFF: Talia O. @theclosetratchet on Instagram & @tallyohhh on Twitter!
Source: http://thesource.com/2016/07/18/killer-mike-receives-thanks-from-atlanta-bank-following-call-to-action/, http://nypost.com/2016/07/14/atlanta-bank-sees-8000-new-accounts-after-rappers-shoutout/, http://hiphopdx.com/news/id.39631/title.killer-mike-interview-leads-to-8000-new-accounts-at-citizens-trust