NFL star Colin Kaepernick has become the latest celeb to speak out against the incarceration of Meek Mill.
The rapper was sentenced to up to four years in prison last week, after he was arrested for popping wheelies on his dirt bike and getting into a fight earlier this year. The arrest violated his probation from a 2008 gun and drug case.
“The criminal (in)justice system, ripe with racial discrimination, stigmatises, profiles and targets young Black men for arrest at a young age, having its roots in their hyper-policed neighbourhoods that they are raised in, and sadly extending into what should be a safe space – the classroom, via the school to prison pipeline,” Kaepernick wrote on Instagram.
“Meek Mill is a victim of this systemic oppression.”
Kaepernick compared his two-to-four year jail sentence for a parole violation to Brock Turner‘s six-month sentence (of which he only served three) for sexual assault.
“Yes, there needs to be action surrounding sentencing reform, but there needs to also be action around abolishing the racialised norms of injustice that can lead to Meek Mill serving 2–4 years in prison for non-violent parole violations, and Brock Turner only serving 3 months in prison for three felony counts of sexual assault.”
Kaerpernick joins Jay-Z and Rick Ross in speaking out about Mill’s sentence.
Mill’s attorney, Joe Tacopina, told CNN that he plans to appeal the sentence, and was frustrated with Philadelphia judge Genece E. Brinkley.
“(Meek’s) frustrated, really frustrated and knows he’s being treated different than anyone else. If his name was John Smith, he wouldn’t be in jail and he certainly wouldn’t be on probation.
“He’s been on probation for nearly 10 years. Nobody goes on probation for 10 years.”
Tacopina has also publicly claimed Brinkley showed “enourmous bias” against the rapper, and acted “inappropriately” for encouraging him to drop his current management and sign with the Philly music figure he’d worked with earlier in his career.
Page Six is now reporting that the FBI has launched a probe into Brinkley, looking specifically at her relationships.
“The feds have an interest in the judge and [her] potential relationships,” a source told the publication. “This is an investigation looking into a possible extortionate demand. Undercover agents have been in the courtroom monitoring the Meek proceedings since April 2016.”
