Rapper Meek Mill and Darrin Manning were both stopped on Girard Avenue in Philly because they looked suspicious, which is code word for black.
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Rapper Meek Mill and Darrin Manning were both stopped on Girard Avenue in Philadelphia because they looked suspicious, which is code word for black. In both situations, the officers who stopped the innocent Negro youth had previous encounters with Internal Affairs.
Andre Boyer, one of the officers involved in Meek Mill’s 2012 stop on Halloween night, was under investigation at the time and later was fired for lying to Internal Affairs about another traffic stop. Manning’s attorney, Lewis S. Small, claims Thomas Purcell—the white male officer who stopped the 16 year-old on the 1400 block on Girard Ave on January 7th of this year—had two prior complaints of false arrest but has been cleared both times by Internal Affairs.
Meek Mill’s stop only caused him to miss a flight to Atlanta, a potential loss in endorsements and a tarnished reputation with his fans. Manning on the other hand, after being stopped by the boys in blue, required emergency surgery on his testicles—he claims a white female officer squeezed him so hard that he heard something pop. Both boys were found to have nothing illegal on their person—except for their skin color of course. Both Meek Mill—whose real name is Robert Williams—and Manning had their civil rights violated, although it’ll never be viewed that way by judge, jury and—if the system had their way—executioner.
Although separated by 10 years in age, both Manning and Meek Mill are forever connected by a sense of institutional injustice and their numbness to being targeted by law enforcement simply for being the right color in the wrong country.
Meek Mill is quoted as saying in a report published by Philly.com:
“In neighborhoods like where I come from, four black males in a car… we’re always being asked to be searched.”
Manning, when asked his reason for running when he saw the police, stated truthfully that he—and the friends he was traveling with—are instinctively guarded when noticed by police officers; they’re terrified by their mere presence. When confronted with this fact, Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey wasn’t willing to admit that there’s a citywide fear among black boys when interacting with the police; he would say, however, that there’s probably “some” apprehension, but nothing gets solved if you don’t talk.
It seems nothing gets solved in Philadelphia even if you do talk, particularly if the words are coming out of a mouth attached to a black face. Both Manning and Meek Mill convey—in their own words—that they have grown up in Philadelphia with a basic understanding that they won’t be treated with dignity, humanity or compassion, simply because they’re young and black; and thus something to fear.
If guilty of anything, it’s that both Manning and Meek Mill had faith the size of a mustard seed in Lady Liberty and her virtue of justice. But Lady Liberty, with her 50 state home decorated on the outside with red, white and blue lights, has shown her true colors to be none other than off-black…
Thanks for reading. Until next time, I’m Flood the Drummer® & I’m Drumming for JUSTICE!™
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Photo: AP/David Goldman
