Colin Kaepernick: Meek Mill Is Victim of ‘Systemic Oppression’
Colin Kaepernick penned a message in support of Meek Mill and critical of the “criminal (in)justice system” after the rapper was sentenced to up four years in jail for probation violations.
“Disproportionately America’s prisons are filled with Black bodies,” the NFL quarterback who spurred the anthem protests wrote on Instagram alongside a photo of Meek Mill.
“This criminal (in)justice system, ripe with racial discrimination, stigmatizes, profiles, and targets young Black men for arrest at a young age, having its roots in their hyper-policed neighborhoods that they are raised in, and sadly extending into what should be a safe space—the classroom, via the school to prison pipeline. Meek Mill is a victim of this systemic oppression.”
Kaepernick also touched on how the legal system favors whites by pointing out the case of Brock Turner, the former Stanford swimmer found guilty of sexual assault who only served three months in prison.
“There needs to be action surrounding sentencing reform, but there needs to also be action taken around abolishing the racialized 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,” Kaepernick wrote.
Hours after Kaepernick’s post, a Free Meek Mill rally took to the streets of Philadelphia, with Rick Ross, basketball legend Julius Erving and several players from the Philadelphia Eagles taking part, Billboard reports. Earlier in the day, the co-owner of the Philadelphia 76ers similarly voiced his support for the rapper.
“I’m here to support my brother Meek Mill. I want y’all to understand that if it take Meek Mill to draw this attention, we gonna use Meek Mill to draw this attention that is gonna speak for so many others,” Rick Ross said at the rally.
Jay-Z, a supporter of Kaepernick’s, has also criticized the “unjust and heavy-handed” sentence against Meek Mill on a pair of occasions.
Read Kaepernick’s full post about Meek Mill below: