JAY-Z slams criminal justice system for stalking Black people like Meek Mill

Nov 17, 2017

JAY-Z hasn’t been quiet about his outrage over the sentencing of Meek Mill, who was slapped with a sentence of two to four years in jail for violating his probation.

Now, the famed rapper has taken to the New York Times to share his frustration.

“On the surface, this may look like the story of yet another criminal rapper who didn’t smarten up and is back where he started. But consider this: Meek was around 19 when he was convicted on charges relating to drug and gun possession, and he served an eight-month sentence,” JAY-Z writes in the opinion piece. “Now he’s 30, so he has been on probation for basically his entire adult life. For about a decade, he’s been stalked by a system that considers the slightest infraction a justification for locking him back inside.”

–JAY-Z gets political: ‘We’re not second-class citizens to anybody’–

JAY-Z goes on to say that the problem isn’t just with rappers but with Black people as a whole being harassed by a justice system that doesn’t work for us.

“What’s happening to Meek Mill is just one example of how our criminal justice system entraps and harasses hundreds of thousands of black people every day,” he writes.

He explains that even though Mill is the subject of his piece, he wants to shine a light on all of the people trapped in the system.

“But it’s time we highlight the random ways people trapped in the criminal justice system are punished every day,” he writes. “The system treats them as a danger to society, consistently monitors and follows them for any minor infraction — with the goal of putting them back in prison.”

You can read the whole thought-provoking piece here.