On Thursday (April 12) night, Lester Holt interviewed Meek Mill over the phone, while the rapper was continuing to serve his controversial two to four year prison sentence. This conversation was shot for "NBC Nightly News."
During the interview, Meek admitted that his probation, which he's been on for 10 years, has always haunted him. In the back of his mind, he consistently worried that it would land him back behind bars because of any minor situation. "It was always a thought in the back of my mind that 10 years of probation would bring me back to prison because a technical violation is police contact," Meek told Holt.
"Like, police contact you don't have to be charged with a crime. you don't have to be found guilty of a crime; you can be sentenced to what you were sentenced for like ā what I was facing. [Judge Genece E. Brinkley] said I was facing five to 10 years, she said. So, if I was stopped by the police for jaywalking, legally she has the right to give me five to 10 years."
Meek also said that he doesn't want people to feel sorry for his current situation because he believes that he's going through all of this for a divine reason. "I think God delivered me a job to help people, helping minorities that come from these situations like myself," the rapper said. "I say don't show me no pity because this is my life. This is what I've been going through and I think God put me in this position to be able to do a show with Lester Holt and open up eyes for other young black men."
In the same show segment, Holt also spoke to Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner who admitted that the justice system needs to be amended. "Across the board, African-Americans are ending up with worse sentences over and over than white people, even if you control for the type of offense," he said.
Since Meek was locked up, many people have shown support for his release. Just this week alone, Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney visited the artist in prison, as well as New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft and Philadelphia 76ers co-owner Michael Rubin. Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf even agreed that Meek should be released, too.
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