Transcription
Amir has a name. His name wasn't on your list, but his name is going to be in your law book. You didn't think enough of him to check his identity, but we thought enough of him to change your laws in his name. Because there's the other side to 1619. The other side of that is Ben Crump.
We just came through a pandemic. Some of us lost loved ones; some of us lost friends. The sounds of blackness. The other side of that is, if you think back to 1619, when they brought us from Africa in the bowels of ships, think about it. Now we're all chained together. We couldn't get up to go to the restroom; we had to relieve our bodies right there, locked to the person next to us. The same thing all the way across the ocean. And a pandemic broke out on those ships, and the weakest died. You rolled for days, weeks, chained to somebody dead and couldn't move, chained to somebody sick and couldn't move.
Which means, Bishop, that only the strongest of us got here. Only the ones that could take the oceans, only the ones that could take the pandemics, only the ones that could take the pain, only the ones that could take the abuse. We're the only ones that made it here. And I come to tell you that we are the children of the strongest people that ever lived. We can take whatever you give because we are built that way. And we're going to turn this country around because we are stronger than you think we are. In our blood, in our veins runs the blood of warriors and survivors. You lynched us, but we're still here. You hung us, but we're still here. You broke into our houses and shot us, but we're still here. We're not going anywhere until we turn this country around in the name of our children.
Don't ever underestimate who we are. That's why you've got some of our kids calling themselves "n****s" and "hoes" and "b****s." That's not who we are. That's why they don't want folks like Buddy and them to blow up the music world so we can start changing these lyrics back to self-respect, like Sounds of Blackness. They pay you to denigrate yourself, pay you to call yourself a name. I told one of my friends, a big rapper, I said we got to do something about this self-image stuff, about what we call ourselves, about how we have our young sisters thinking beneath who they are.
He said, "Well, Mal, you don't understand. We got freedom of speech." I said, "No, you don't. You go in the studio and cut a record calling any other race a name, and they won't put it out. But you can call us anything, and it's a hit record." We need to tell our children we are not "n****s," we are not "hoes," we are not "b****s." We are the survivors of the worst condemnation of humanity in history, and we are still here.
And that's why this is such a tragedy that Amir, who wanted to be in the music world like his father, has no record. I know Karen is going to be hard on you and his siblings, but the pride you can have is that he didn't have one scar to his name. They can't put anywhere in the paper no disgrace. You want to make him a criminal, but you went through all your sheets, and he was never on one of your sheets. You wanted to make him a gangbanger, but you can't get anybody to lie and get on TV and say he was in a gang. You want to say, "Well, what was his family like?" They were together enough to raise him to be a clean, stand-up young man.
This ain't no pity party. We're not here to make excuses for Amir, and you quit making excuses for the police. We ain't got nothing to explain; we got nothing to justify. I go to some funerals, and we have to go through, "Well, what happened was..." We ain't got to know what happened for me. So now you come with it, and you make the police pay for what they did.
Nameless suspects. They took our names when we got off the boat in Jamestown, and they don't even wait for our names in Minneapolis. They don't have to check a name because it's in this kind of community. We can just do what we want to do. You would not have done that in another side of town, and we will not stop until we make sure you don't do it on our side of town.
As we were riding from the hotel here, I saw one of the policemen. I said, "Wow, his car's all the way back. He got a big family." That's right, he does. And his family just got bigger because we've been to Minneapolis for George Floyd, and we got Derek Chauvin life in jail. We've been to Minneapolis for Daunte Wright, and we got the white policewoman locked up. We know how to get here; we know how to visit here. It ain't too cold in the winter. We're going to be with Karen and Buddy, and we're going to get justice for Amir.
And in the end, what gives us this strength is that you go on the external, but I heard the uncle saying that there's the cousin saying that there is something spiritual going on. There's the internal reason why we are still here. It's not what we had; it's because of who we are. There's something inside of us that can give us the strength to go on anyhow. There's something inside of us that we believe that God will give us strength even in the face of adversity. That's why Philando's and Brandon's families are here. That's why Botham Jean's sister is here. We keep coming back because we're strong enough to take whatever y'all throw at us.
Going back to 1619, I'll close on this. There were slave traders who would send ships to Africa, capture slaves, and bring them back across the Atlantic into slavery. One slave trader, one slave catcher, had his load chained to the bottom pit of the ship, and they kept humming this tune that was annoying to him. But you know something about black folk? We always like to sing. This morning, we've got tunes that other folks don't know about. We can hum in the middle of our misery. We find a way to put some melody to our pain.
And they were in the pit of this ship humming the melody, going to an unknown land, leaving their moms and dads, never to return again. But they didn't lose their melody. And as God would have it, the ship ran into a storm, tore the boat asunder, the oars were gone, the ropes were gone. The slave trader panicked and looked down and let the slaves rise up. Maybe they can help save the ship. And when they went down to help save the ship, they didn't grab the slave trader; they didn't try to hurt him. They gave him the mercy he never gave them.
And after a while, they got on through the storm, and the slave trader didn't know how to figure this. Them folks were still down there humming that melody. And he sat down and said, "I got to write some lyrics to this melody." Something about the grace of these people. But this ain't regular grace; it's amazing grace. Amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, but now I'm found; blind, but now I see. Through many dangers, toils, and snares, I have already come. Don't worry about it, grace. Don't worry, Buddy, grace. Don't worry about it, Karen. Grace has brought you safe this far, and grace, and grace, and grace will lead you home.
I want the parents to come up, Buddy and Karen. We want to hear reflections from the family.
[Applause]
These are the parents that we are committing that we will fight with them for justice. We got to get the George Floyd bills through. Part of that is no-knock warrants. Let us hear from the mother and father reflections of their son.
[Applause]
I am short. It's sad because Amir Ricardo Locke was born on 11/11/99, around 4 PM, somewhere in there. It took me 10 hours of labor to push him into this world. And on 2/22, those thugs that represent the Minneapolis Police Department executed my baby boy, beautiful baby boy, in less than nine seconds. How dare you? You're not above the law; you're not above a higher power that we worship. I don't know who you worship, but I know who I worship, and y'all are going to pay.
I keep seeing that still picture of my baby with the cover still over his head. The disrespect that you did to my son. You're going to learn who his mother is. Not only my baby boy; my son called me "Big Dog." That was his nickname for me. Anytime we talked to each other, FaceTime, "Mom, can I get some money?" "Okay, yeah, I'm going to send it to you, Amir." "Thanks, Big Dog." But you know what the dog represents? Loyalty, trustworthiness, and protection. And that's why he called his mama Big Dog.
At the end of the day, trust and believe that one right there was already ordained for this. I want everybody, when you have time, to go back and look up the numbers 3, 6, 9. He called me and got permission—well, he didn't get permission because that's Amir. He was just like, "Mom, I'm going to get a tattoo, a face tattoo." I was like, "Oh, please don't. Don't do it." But at the end of the day, you're an adult. And he was like, he FaceTimed me after he got it, but he wouldn't show me his face. And then when he showed it to me, he said, "Mom, it's 3, 6, 9. I want you to go and look up the numbers, and there's a reason behind why I got those numbers."
Wow, he was very spiritual. He was already introduced to the Lord at a young age. My mom passed away on October 29, 2010. He was very close to my mother, very, very close. And one thing he would always tell me, "I always talk to Grandma Morgan." That's my mother. So when they snuffed out my son that day when he was still asleep, trust and believe you me that Viola Mae Morgan was there waiting for my baby. So that brings me some comfort about my child.
That is the reason why I'm standing here right now. He knew what type of mother he had. And right now, Chief of Police, Mayor Frye, and all those SWAT members, NPD that were in there, when you go to bed at night, I want you to see his face. When you wake up in the morning, I want you to see his face. When you take a shower, I want you to see his face. When you brush your teeth, I want you to see his face. Because what y'all done to him has already been done to y'all. Believe that.
I don't know about the rest of y'all, but my baby boy was covered. Yes, from the highest of the most high. And another thing, go Google. My mom was born with a veil over her face. This is bigger and deeper than what anybody in this room can imagine. Google what it means to have a veil covered over your face, born with it. My mom birthed me a surprise child; she didn't even know, and I birthed him. So he came from that. So y'all gonna learn. Y'all learning. Y'all learning.
And to try to tarnish my baby boy? Joke's on you, Minneapolis PD, because y'all searched and searched and don't have nothing on him. Nothing, not one thing. Nothing. And you won't find nothing on him at all. But at the end of the day, you are going to pass the law of the no-knock warrants. Ban it, starting here in the Twin Cities, where my son was born and raised. Born and raised, and you took his life on 2/22.
That's the reason why I moved to Dallas and relocated with my son. I wanted him to have a bigger city to grow in and have better opportunities. But I'm going to share something with y'all because Amir was fun. So we lived on the first floor in Minnesota for over six and a half years. And when we moved to Texas, he said, "Maybe we should get on the second or third floor." And I was like, "Okay." And then after we moved in, he waited, and then he said, "Mom, I picked the third floor because I didn't want you to get fat."
So he always wanted to make sure that I was getting my cardio in, climbing those three flights of stairs. That's Amir. That's who Amir was. He was always a jokester. He loved. He was his brother's keeper. Andre, you are his brother's keeper, and he's keeping you—not in the flesh, baby boy, but you know where he's at in the spiritual world.
To all of his cousins, his friends, Marlin, Andre, Gray Jr., Irvine Locke Jr., Makai, Brendan, Phillip, Corey, Hakeem, y'all were his day ones. And Andre may have lost his baby brother, but he has all of y'all that are going to keep him lifted up, and y'all are going to keep each other lifted up. But in the words of a man that was birthed in my hometown, Malcolm X, understand NPD in the Twin Cities, and I quote him, "The chickens are coming home to roost." Get ready.
Can y'all stand for me? I appreciate it. Karen and I both appreciate everyone being here. Imagine that Amir was your son. So I'm going to tell you, I'm going to say this to everybody that's in here. I want y'all to give it up for the Sounds of Blackness. Those are my friends. I want you to give it up for James Green Company. Those are my friends, and I love you, and I love you dearly. Jamie said you were there in the studio with Amir many times.
So people in this community know me. I respect this community, but the community has lost my respect now. So I stand here because we know that everything happens in a season. Ecclesiastes 3:1-8: "There's a time for everything, a season for every activity under the heavens: a time to be born, a time to die, a time to plant, a time to uproot, a time to kill, and a time to heal, a time to tear down, and a time to build, a time to weep, and a time to laugh, a time to mourn, and a time to dance, a time to scatter stones, and a time to gather them, a time to embrace, and a time to refrain."
I do apologize. A time to gather them, a time to search, a time to give up, a time to keep, and a time to throw away, a time to tear, and a time to mend, a time to be silent, and a time to speak, a time to love, and a time to hate, a time for war, and a time for peace.
It's hard to talk about peace when your peace has been interrupted. Let that sink in. How many of you, when you go to your home and you're getting off of work, you've been working 14 hours? Some of y'all don't have jobs at all, but for those that do, that's continuing to work, you can't wait to get home to hit that shower and to get a peace of mind because of what you have to deal with through the day.
Now, too often do we hear from the mothers. This is Amir's mother, but you don't hear from the father. You don't know the father's pain. I'm talking to America. I'm talking to every black and brown, Latino, Asian. I'm talking to every ethnicity. I'm talking to every background. I come from a rich background of people. My grandmother lived to be 94 years old. My grandmother's the second cousin of the Apache Geronimo; that's her second cousin, her mother's first cousin. I come from a military family. I come from a patriotic family. How could this happen to a patriotic family?
Say it again! Say it again! They don't care. They didn't care about Amir. They were so surprised when they unveiled that sheet, when they pulled that cover back. They knew they messed up. I stand here today as a father that's torn, a father that's hurt, a father that loved, a father that believed, a father. I continue to believe that it had to be something that God wanted Amir for.
I'm shaking a little bit, but I'm shaking because I know something is getting ready to come up out of this. I'm shaking because they woke up the sleepy giant. That's why I'm shaking. They woke up the giant. I love how fathers reach out to their sons. We love our daughters; we truly love our daughters, the beauty in our eyes. But I'm going to tell you something: there's something about having young men, your namesake.
So I'm going to say the slave namesake, but our namesake. It's something about giving them everything that your parents taught you. It's something to be proud of to know that they're doing what's right and that they want to listen to you. It's something to be proud of when you can hear from your son, give you instructions, and give you direction and lift you up when you're having a hard time.
I know y'all might be tired of standing, but the reason that I asked y'all to stand is because I want you to put yourselves in Karen's shoes and in my shoes and know how we're standing. You stand with us. Stand with us for justice for Amir, for justice for every black and brown person that has lost their lives. And also, I'm going to say this for white people. See, they want to wipe them up under the rug too. It affects the same way. They live in the trailer parks, and they don't care about them either.
This affects everyone around this country. How could you go home and kiss your baby after you took mine? I don't wish this on anybody else. This is a pain that it's hard to get rid of. My stomach has been sick since my son died. I can't get this feeling out. My family, his brothers and sisters, we can't get that pain out. You know, they say, "Eat something, right? Eat a little something." I haven't been eating. I've never told me I needed to lose weight anyway. He was like, "Dad, you got to get back to working out. We got to get on this music. You need to look nice. You're young. You look young. You don't look like you're 48 years old. You're young, so you can still make this happen."
I said, "Okay, I'm going to get to it." That's how we spoke to each other, his brothers as well. They keep me in line. They say, "Eat something." How do I eat something when you can hardly breathe? How do you eat something when you can barely sleep? Speaking to the fathers that are out there, know this pain, feel this pain, and hold your sons tight and your daughters tight as well.
The Amir Locke Bill will be passed. We call it done in Jesus' name. We keep God first; he's the head of everything. He's the head of everything. We don't do nothing without God. We come from a people that we can't do nothing without God. If you think you can, you don't fool yourself. You act like you woke yourself up. No, you didn't. Who got you up to go to the bathroom? You thought it was you? Who helped you tie your shoes? Who actually gave you those thoughts of being a billionaire? You think you did it yourself? God is the head of everything.
We're not perfect people. We're not a perfect people. None of us are on this planet. All things fall short of the glory of God. Everybody on this planet falls short of the glory of God. But God has given us dominion over all things on this planet. With that being said, Minneapolis PD, do what's right. Stop hiding behind the blue. Is that what they say? Yeah, they say blue lives matter too, right? It does. They do. Our lives matter as well.
Every life matters. It's just so happened that we're black, we're African American, whatever name, whatever title, whatever title that they gave us, because it's just a title. We're human. Why do we have to continue to humanize our sons? Our sons are not a threat to you. I love everybody for standing with us. So know how Karen feels, know how I feel. Know how I feel.
No, I don't tell you right. Family, Phil, know how Philando Castile's family feels. Look at every family that has been affected by this ongoing, disrespectful system. Systematic racism is real; it exists. It exists. Time to get rid of it. It may not ever happen.
So this is the message that I say to people that are racist: you were faking before. You've been hiding behind it. Start faking again. Start faking again because we're not trying to hear it, and we're not going at all. We're not going at all. I don't need the applause for that; just let that sink in.
Thank you all for standing with us. Amir's name, Amir Ricardo Locke, will live forever in the justice books. When all of us are gone, they're going to be saving lives in his name. So this is what I want from Minnesota. This is what you can do for my family after this bill passes under federal law and states throughout the country. Because I'm a native of Chicago, once this bill passes, I need Minnesota— that was Minnesota nice, all right? That was Minnesota nice.
I need Minnesota nice to build a memorial right in Amir's name, a park that people can come from different countries, and they can walk through this park, and Amir will be the face. Yeah, he'll be the face, but we're going to talk about all of those lives that were lost for those people that didn't have a voice. So they're going to put this memorial together. You're going to be able to see each of these black people that lost their lives unjustly by the hands of law enforcement, for those that were supposed to serve and protect us.
Now, I'm going to say this: we're not police bashing. We have law enforcement in our family. The reason that our family members got involved with law enforcement was to do right by the people they took the oath to serve and to protect. And that's what they strongly believe. They haven't deferred from that. They believe in that. They're just for what's right. They're about right and wrong; that's what they're about.
So I stand here, and I'll close on this. We truly appreciate it. I can talk to you all day. Y'all feel going to be hurting for real when y'all leave here. Y'all going to be like, "Man, the city got the mic from Buddy." Like, "Look, me and Pack in my bag, everybody popping my back." But that was my son. But that was my son. And I'm not sorry about making y'all stand today. I'm not.
[Applause]
America, hear us clearly: justice for Amir Locke! Justice for Amir Locke! And we're passing that no-knock warrant bill. It will pass in this name, and it's going to save millions of lives. Thank you all.
[Applause]
Of 22-year-old Amir Locke, killed while police were serving a no-knock warrant. The young man's father and mother speaking, sharing fond memories, also sending a strong message that their son's death is not in vain. Thank you for watching BNC Live. Our condolences to his family. More news straight ahead. Stay with us.