Meek Mill has been sentenced to 2-4 years in prison for violating his probation, and the hip-hop world is not happy about it. Many entertainers have begun standing up for him, from Jay-Z’s calling the sentence “heavy-handed and unjust” to T.I., Rick Ross, and others holding a rally in Philly in support of the incarcerated rapper. Now, Chicago firebrand Vic Mensa has weighed in on Meek’s sentence with his typicall, highly-informed brand of passion and insight.
In an interview with HipHopDX, the “Rage” rapper railed against the legal system’s inadequate justice. “The powers that be want Meek Mill to be a slave of the state. Point blank, period,” he said. “Let’s not forget that a fat cat in a tall building gets paid off of every inmate…. There are still privatized prisons all across this country. There’s prison labor being used to produce everything from Starbucks cups to pencils. And slave laborers, you know what I’m saying? And they want Meek Mill as a ward of the state.”
Vic is referring to the exception in the Thirteenth Amendment, which reads: “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.” That bolded line means that criminals can be forced to work without compensation, which provides a handy explanation (or at least part of one) for why the incarceration rate for Black males is sky high and climbing.
He also noted that the judge in the case, who may be under investigation for inappropriate relationships in Philadelphia that could affect her judgments, is complicit in this system, despite being Black herself. “What’s even more convoluted about it is that the judge is a black woman. But this is nothing new … That’s a common function of neocolonialism. The colonized and the oppressed will begin to identify with the oppressors. That’s just classic Stockholm Syndrome type shit, but it is twisted.”
Vic’s never been one to hold back when sharing his views. He recently took the gun lobby and its puppet politicians to task, advocating for more gun control and holding representatives accountable to their constituents rather than their donors.
