Vevo has commissioned some prominent American musicians to participate in their Why I Vote campaign in the lead up to the US Presidential election; including Vic Mensa who opens up on his own experience with police brutality as a young man.
In the powerful clip, Mensa reveals that his desire to vote and encourage others to vote stems from some pretty horrible experiences with police while he was growing up. “Affecting change in the hood is why I vote,” he says.
“All my earliest memories with police officers are like, ‘Hey, get your fucking hands out that hoodie before I punch you in the fucking face!'” says Mensa. “‘What the fuck did I do? What’d I do? What law did I break?’ You live with that enough and there’s not really any turning back.”
Mensa goes on to talk about how more recently, he was a part of street protests following the police death of his friend 17 year-old Laquan McDonald, who was shot 16 times in 2014. During the demonstration Mensa was grabbed by police.
“We hadn’t broken any laws,” he says. “We were just organizing on the street, as is our right as Americans.” The powerful video includes footage of Mensa during that protest.
“South Side of Chicago has more killings per year than American soldiers dying in Iraq,” Mensa continues. “You get to a point where you’ve grown up in a system of violence – created, perpetuated violence – that you feel no other option.”
Earlier this year Mensa dropped a track called Free Love advocating for LGTB rights.
Watch the clip in full, below.
