Mother Of Police Brutality Victim Antwon Rose Jr. Discuss Finding Strength Through Her Trauma
While at the Roc Nation Social Justice Summit over the weekend, SOHH did an exclusive interview with Michelle Kenney, mother of Antwon Rose Jr, who was shot and killed by the police in 2020 and Dr. Tiffany Crutcher, sister of Terrence Crutcher who was also fatally shot by police in 2016.
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00:00 Civil rights attorney Ben Crump discusses the need for advocacy in hip hop.
00:05 I wanted to ask you all, so an event like this requires a really strong face, right?
00:11 So you all had to come here today, put your strong face on, and give, essentially, to an audience, because you're giving your story, right?
00:19 So how did you guys, how do you mentally prepare yourselves for an event like this, where you have to be such a strong force?
00:29 Very good question for Michelle.
00:32 [laughter]
00:35 Go ahead, Michelle.
00:36 I didn't. They did.
00:38 I wasn't prepared at all, mentally. Physically, you just put something on and you make it work.
00:45 But mentally, I wasn't prepared. It was thanks to these ladies here and Dr. Keith that I'm here.
00:52 So a lot of times, it's harder than what people think, because what this does is triggers our trauma.
00:59 So in order for me to show up, I need to know that I'm going to be confident and I'm going to be protected.
01:04 And I know that these ladies right here are going to do both of those things.
01:07 I think the promise that we made to our communities, to our families, to our children, that we wouldn't rest until we transformed this injustice system.
01:21 You know, I would say these police officers, they are committing legal murder.
01:25 And we said we're going to change the laws to prevent cops from committing legal murder.
01:30 And that's why we found this supernatural strength.
01:33 I don't know where it came from. It has to be supernatural.
01:35 But we use that strength. We channel the anger.
01:39 And we go to the halls of Congress and we knock down doors.
01:42 But I believe that we have to, she has a daughter.
01:45 She has children, sons. She has grandchildren.
01:49 I have nieces and nephews.
01:51 And we have to fix this.
01:54 And so I think that's what keeps me going every day.
01:56 And I have to work on my mental toughness, because it is rough getting up every day and pounding the pavement simply because of the color of our skin.
02:05 You know, I mean, because we're black, because we're brown.
02:08 And so I have to commit my thoughts.
02:10 They have to commit their thoughts to a higher power in order to fight this ugly world, this racist world.
02:16 And so it's that supernatural strength that keeps us going.
02:20 Thank you.
02:22 Thank you, guys.
02:23 You are watching SOHH.com