NBC Nightly News with Tom Llamas - Lester Holt interviews Meek Mill about criminal justice reform

Episode Date: January 24, 2019

Rapper Meek Mill was part of a group that launched the Reform Alliance, a new organization aimed at reforming the criminal justice system in the United States. He talks to Lester Holt about how he turned the momentum from #FreeMeekMill into a push for justice for all.

I remember you had been hours out of prison. We sat down and talked. You told me you wanted to be a voice for the voiceless. Is that what this is about? Yeah, definitely. I committed my word to some of them people that I knew were incarcerated where I was incarcerated at. People that stood up for me when I was in prison. A lot of people marched and came out in the rain, in the cold for me. And I know they have family members that are affected by the system. I just wanted to keep my word to most of them people that I told that I would get them a voice. Yeah, that's what it's about. What are you hoping this foundation will accomplish? First, shed light on injustices of the system actually kick in effect

and really does real damage to help fix the system. I say this is not us going against the system. This is us trying to fix the system for society because, as we spoke earlier, these problems affect America. They affect families. They affect taxpayers. They affect men. They affect women.

And they affect children. And, you know, I hope we bring real change and help fix the problem where we have people, millions of people sitting in prison actually for not even committing crime. I think it's a better solution as Americans meet. I always told people it was two Americas. I come from the other side of America where we don't, we didn't value ourselves much. We have been treated very bad. I always tell Robert Kraft or Mike, Jay-Z come from my world, I always tell a rival craft, like, yo, going to prison for something like this was just normal.

In my world, I got pulled over yesterday. If I didn't have this much support and public power behind me where people were actually standing behind me, this is the first time I actually got pulled over out of probably a hundred times and not fair for my freedom, you know what I'm saying? And it felt good to be pulled over out of probably 100 times and not fair for my freedom.

You know what I'm saying? And it felt good to be pulled over and not yanked out the car and put on the ground and placed in handcuffs just under suspicion because you have on a hoodie. You look the same color as me. And that's why I dressed today. I wore suits a lot this week. And I actually love wearing suits. But when I'm addressing this issue, I want to look like me. I want to look like the children in the ghettos of America who are smacked with 10, 20 years of probation, actually, for making a mistake and growing up and joining the cycle and coming in and out of prison. that they look even on a stage with all them powerful people and really show people that we can bring a voice to the voiceless and keep this thing going.

You're still on probation? Yeah, I'm on bail and probation right now. Basically, it's kind of confusing to this point. I don't know if I'm on bail for the case I initially court when I was 18 years old or if it's still probation and bail. But, yeah, as of now, I'm on probation until 2023. So you're still in the clutches of the criminal justice system for the next few years? Yeah, I can go to jail tomorrow. I'm on bail. A lot of people don't understand. My case was reopened due to a list of cops who had a pass of lying, corruption, and things like that.

They were on a do not testify DA list, which means like the DA had a list of officers that they felt that wasn't credible, and one of the officers that arrested me happened to be on that list, and the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania granted me bail for a new trial. One of the focuses of this foundation

is gonna be probation, stories like yours. What do people not understand? What should they understand about probation in this country? That even at a successful point, you could take a successful NBA player and put them on probation and not committing crime because send them back to prison, a mere mistake. In my world, that's go to prison shackles, six by nines, metal dollars, and being confined in a prison, just a mere mistake. Pop the willy. I was charged with an F1 felony, which was, I never knew you could even get an F-1 felony for popping a woolly,

which was thrown out immediately soon as I went to court. I didn't even get a traffic ticket for it. I was, I faced trial in New York. That case was thrown out. I came back to Philadelphia in front of probation, being as though I had police contact for popping a woolly. I did two to four years in prison. Before that, there was an incident in the airport. What you know, an airport in the United States has hundreds of cameras. I was

detained because we were attacked and we detained, we subdued that person. And after the cameras were reviewed, I was not charged with a crime. I was given a citation. The citation was ultimately tossed out from St. Louis District Attorney, and I had to come back to Philadelphia all at the same time for the willy and the brick-and-butter fight. And I was sentenced to four years in prison. And I just say, if you don't know about probation, the smallest thing can send you to prison. Missing an appointment to see a probation officer can send you to prison for years. You live in Philadelphia. You're in New York right now. If you didn't report being in New York, would that be a violation? I could go to prison from here to 2023 legally.

So you're in some legal jeopardy. You're on bail and you're on probation. But you've heard a lot of stories of people who are in more difficult circumstances than yours. Is that who you're fighting for now? Yeah, I'm fighting for the people who don't have a voice. Like a lot of people like to use, oh, he had a billionaire behind him, Jay-Z speaking up for him. No, now I'm speaking up for the people who don't have these things in place. And my situation is minor. Like I almost feel like a little funny when everybody in the room is like, Meek's situation was so bad

because I know situations that's a thousand times greater than mine. What does it say that this announcement today, you've got billionaires sitting here on the stage, white billionaires who are solidly behind this. Has something changed? Are you encouraged that people now really want to take on this issue?

Yeah, I think just the right people met the right people. You have good souls. It don't matter the color of your skin. I think racism is being addressed at high levels. You have social media where people are addressing racial issues. And, you know, you have people who are not racist who want to address these things. When you got out, do you remember telling me it's time to retire the hashtag Free Meek Mill? Yeah. You said retire that. Yeah, retire that

and create the hashtag Justice Reform. And actually, the woman who ran the prison where I was locked up she used to always question, like, why is it above Meek Mill? this, that, and the third? You need to retire that hashtag if you ever get out of this. And I'm like, I am going to retire. And I'm like, me, I'm just the face of it.

Even though I didn't commit the crime that I'm initially on probation for, even though I've been sent to prison four times, we don't have any time to feel sorry for me anymore. I went through that. The Free Meek hashtag was just the face and the voice and the platform they used to even make this a relevant conversation. But, you know, my situation was a spark, and I don't care if it was named Free Anybody. It's for the better. It's what's right, and we're doing what we need to do to make change. So, you know, we retired that because Meek Mill should never see a prison cell again. I believe I won't never

see a prison cell again. And reform should be the way we speak for all, no matter the color, no matter where you come from or who you are.