#FreeMeek

Image Via:Google Images. Cover Art for DC4

By Alex Horton

I want to talk about the #FreeMeek Docuseries. This Docuseries is a must watch, however if you unfortunately don’t have Amazon Prime Video you will have to find an alternative way to watch it. There are things in life that supercede sports. I am not a very political person and I don’t try to be one or show it in my writing. My opinions on this country don’t matter and they won’t change the way this country is or how it is run. But there are some things that you watch or see that are powerful enough to set aside everything else and make you think about your own situation and how lucky you may be. #FreeMeek will do that; at least it did for me.

Robert Rihmeek Williams was arrested in January of 2007 and charged with simple assault for allegedly pointing a weapon at a police officer and for possession of crack cocaine with intent to sell along with 17 other crimes. Meek served seven months in prison before his family could make bail for him. Meek went to court and was sentenced to 11 ½ to 23 months in prison with 10 years probation. All based off the testimony of only one witness, his arresting officer who provided the evidence. We know the outlines to the story of rapper Meek Mill, but let me ask you something. Do you know the world of the criminal justice system we as average Americans don’t see? Have you seen a judge take such an interest in a case that they involve themselves emotionally in it? And if this can happen to a person of celebrity with money and resources at his disposal, how is this effecting the youth of color in communities where these kids don’t know their legal rights or how to go about fighting their case if wrongly accused? This series follows Meek Mills story of the mistake he made one night in 2007.

In 2007, in South Philadelphia Robert Rihmeek Williams left his house with a gun in his waistband as a special narcotics task force ran up on him to raid his home for drugs, where the narcotics unit believed they were being sold. Williams said he took the gun out of his waistband and placed it on the ground before cops began to beat him and cuff him, using him as a battering ram to break down the door. The rapper admits that it was a terrible choice to leave his home carrying a firearm. But what choice is a young man at that age given in a community where people are literally shot right around the corner?

People seem to believe that jail is the system that keeps people down. The reality is probation is what the justice system has used to try to keep people out of jail and in check. There are those that abuse this system. Enter Judge Genece E. Brinkley. Notice I did not say honorable, because what she has done has been anything but. Giving Meek Mill a “break” on charges that were either made up or exaggerated by a crooked cop, she looked like she was out to help the aspiring rapper when he was 19. Judge Brinkley has called for 26 probation hearings, and 11 years later she has done nothing short of harass and try to tear down Meek’s life. Three separate times Brinkley brought him in on probation violations and sent him to jail, two of which cases he was arrested and the cases were dropped. Two times he was sent to jail when the District Attorney and Meek’s probation officer testified saying that jail time was not needed. Two times she ignored those people and sent him back to prison. She put him on house arrest barring him from leaving the city or making a living. There have been advancements in his case where his lawyers asked for a PCRA (Post Conviction Relief Act) based on evidence that the arresting officer Reginald Graham, was on a list made up by the original District Attorney. This list was a ‘Do Not Call’ list implementing that Graham could not be trusted to be a liable witness. She originally denied a PCRA due to her belief that the Meek and his lawyers did not have sufficient evidence. But as the rapper said in one of his songs, “Innocent until guilty, guilty the verdict.”

Look if you don’t listen to Meek Mill’s music that’s fine, you can call it ghetto rap and go on and on to me about how bad it is or that all he does is yell. But watching this docuseries as a fan of his, man it gives you so much more appreciation for his music and the way he came up. He puts his experiences and life into his music there is a lot to respect earned in that. Like a lot of rappers and African American athletes he had to survive. He had no father, was poor, sometimes going without clothes, had a single mother taking care of two children. But this documentary doesn’t just highlight that. It shows community, family, and friends. Rich and poor, young and old, white and black, everybody is coming together to protest an injustice that has been done to not just Meek Mill, but to the community of African American men as a whole. The wrong doings of those in power have been left unchecked for long enough.

The docuseries is powerful, it strikes you at the heart and leaves you feeling, either angry or heart broken for those people who don’t have the means that Meek Mill has to fight the injustice done to them. It talks about the REFORM Alliance that was started by not only Meek, but also Jay-Z and Michael Rubin. These men have a platform from which they can be heard, where they can rally people to their cause. In my opinion this is a watch for everyone. It hits you hard; it was well put together and showcases a problem that we need to face in our own country. Am I saying that everyone is innocent, hell no; there are people out there who do commit crimes and belong in prison. Prison is meant to keep those who are an actual menace to society out of society. I am saying that you will look at your life and the life of those around you differently after watching this. Maybe just maybe it will help spark change.

A revolution is taking place not just in rap or in sports but in the country. There are American citizens, human fucking beings being brought down by the same people telling them that they can succeed in this country. We as a country turn its backs on problem we either don’t want to see or are too ignorant to face head on. This is something that needs to end. To turn our back on other human beings, to let those in power do as they please, it’s sickening and heart wrenching. This is supposed to be the land of the free. How can someone be free if they spend their entire lives in a system meant to keep them from being free? So let me ask you this What’s Free?

#FreeMeek.