T.I. may still be shaking off the frustration from his recent arrest outside his own gated community, but he still has time to advocate for others. The Atlanta rapper took to Instagram to speak for what he sees as a double-standard at the expense of 17-year-old Texas rapper Tay-K, who is facing the death penalty for his role in a homicide. T.I. Thinks it’s a problem that 17-year-old Dimitrios Pagourtzis, who recently killed 10 people in the Santa Fe High School shooting, won’t also be facing the death penalty.
Both are facing capital murder charges, but Pagourtzis will be tried as a juvenile, whereas Tay-K was tried as an adult in a 2016 murder. Pagourtzis will be eligible for parole in 40 years when he’s 57.
The difference in their cases comes down to two high court rulings, according to Texas’ WWL TV. A 2005 Supreme Court ruling banned executions for offenders 18 and under, and a 2012 ruling abolished life without parole for juveniles. The criminal justice reforms work in Pagourtzis’ favor, but not for Tay-K, which apparently infuriated T.I. In a lengthy Instagram caption, he said, “we can’t keep just throwing ours away when they [f*ck] up, while they give [their] people every consideration possible…It ain’t fair, and It ain’t right!!!” He believes we should “hold every last one of US Americans to the same standards no matter the color of their skin. Or else we [gonna] do for ours the same you’re doing for yours!!!”
In other news, he recently told TMZ that he wanted the police department who arrested him to hold themselves accountable for what he called “trumped up charges” that may tarnish his image and hurt his opportunities in the future with sponsors and other endeavors.
