#FreeMeekMill.

I see the hashtag everywhere. Celebrities and fans alike are sad to hear he’s going away for awhile. As of right now, 322,195 people have signed a petition titled ‘Somebody Save Meek Mill’ on change.org. The blurb below the petition cited heavy handedness on behalf of the judge, a skewed justice system and Meek’s incremental improvements during his readjustment to society.

While I am also sad for Meek Mill, I can’t help but feel conflicted about the public support he is receiving, particularly from the black community. I cannot ignore several facets of Meek Mill’s predicament: classism that allowed Mill to circumvent consequences on multiple occasions, the perpetuation of injustices against black men through law and order and most importantly the denial or disregard for observing the objective facts about Meek Mill’s criminal history and how he represents himself to the world.

Meek Mill was sentenced two to four years in prison for violating his probation. He received this probation for illegal weapon possession and assaulting police officers in 2008. Meek Mill did not serve time for this crime, he was granted probation. Conditions of Mill’s probation included testing negative for narcotic drugs, maintaining a positive image and lifestyle (via community service, etc.) and reporting to the court when he desired to travel out of the state of Pennsylvania. According to NBCnews.com, Mill was arrested in St. Louis in March for misdemeanor assault after a conflict with airport employees. In August, he was arrested for reckless driving in NYC. He was riding dirt bikes in city streets.

While I can openly acknowledge that the American justice system systemically targets black men, I cannot justify Mill’s actions. Although both of these cases were dropped, he violated his probation after getting arrested twice, in addition to several failed drug tests and miscommunication with the court system regarding his whereabouts to other states.

I think there’s something to be said for the conditions and circumstances that fostered Meek Mill as a person. The circumstances of being an inner city black male comes with several societal stigmas, disadvantages (advantages in some cases) and mindsets associated with experiences had while growing up. Based on the lyrics I’ve heard Meek Mill rap, I believe he has a generally negative, confrontational, no frills approach towards his disdain for law enforcement and systemic injustices against black people. However, the general discontent our community and Meek Mill has with police officers and law enforcement has created a situation where we feel comfortable enough to deny Mill’s responsibility for his actions. Oftentimes, we assume the same attitude when Meek Mill is targeted to ourselves. Undoubtedly the complaints, critiques and calling to action on civil rights issues is fair, but conflating inappropriate behavior with targeting black men is not.

Although the system is set in a way that disadvantages black people, that does not take away the personal responsibility we have to ourselves, our communities, each other and our actions. The undertone of black complacency has always been a counterpoint for people within and outside of our community to question the genuineness of our outcries for occurring transgressions against our group of people. Concurrently, complacency in these matters allow cycles of negative behavior within our communities to continue. Complacency in these matters is what allows Jay-Z, somewhat of an elder or godfather type of individual within the hip-hop community, to come out in support of Meek Mill without truly taking on a reflective perspective.

I suppose I am assuming a more outdated calling. The one that belonged to the forefathers of the civil rights movement. That the only crime worth committing was civil disobedience. As a people, I strongly believe we have grown accustomed to being the victim, or the target of someone else's cast of of misfortune. Instead of modifying our own behavior, we try to fix a system that will continue to be broken until we mend our own fences.