Hip-hop and business magnate Russell Simmons spoke with CNN’s Erin Burnett Monday night in reference to cases like those of Michael Brown, Eric Garner, and Trayvon Martin, and he warned of more protests if “demands are not met.”
“On Wednesday, we are going to ask for indictments and [a] list of achievabledemands,” Simmons told CNN.
“We” is in reference to other high profile celebrities and athletes who share Simmons’ beliefs, according to Truth Revolt.
Simmons, who co-founded Def Jam Records and has a loud voice within the hip hop community, engaged Burnett about what he felt would come if district attorneys continued to decline to issue indictments in cases of suspected racial prejudice.
“America has not seen protests like those that are coming if justice doesn’t start to come down,” warned Simmons.
He told Burnett:
Over 150,000 cases were brought before the grand Jury and and only 11 cases didn’t come back with indictments. It’s like lightening striking the black community over and over and over again.
We need special oversight committees, we shouldn’t leave it to DAs who work with the police.
Burnett asked, “You don’t feel defeated that has happened again and again and again?”
Simmons responded:
We’re going to get indictments now because America hasn’t seen what’s coming.
When people understand the injustice properly, the way these protestors understand it, they’re all going to fight for justice, and that’s going to change this system.
His comments come on the heels of the deaths of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, and Eric Garner, in New York City.
Both men were unarmed when they were killed by police.
The announcement that officers in both cases were cleared by separate grand jury investigations sparked widespread protests in some of America’s biggest cities.
Watch: Russell Simmons: We have a list of demands
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