The Philly rapper Meek Mill, who recently has turned into a criminal justice-reform advocate (or is it just another hustle to sell more albums?), recently showed up at the Cosmopolitan Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas and was surprised to be turned away at the door. My question is, given his reputation for precipitating violence, why was he surprised?
Mill was told that if he didn’t leave he’d be arrested for a misdemeanor. “I’m not accusing you of doing anything,” said the security staffer at the door, and then added, “This is way bigger than me.”
His lawyer, Joe Tacopina, is saying it’s because the rapper is black. In a letter sent to the Cosmopolitan, Tacopina wrote, “We have learned that the Cosmopolitan maintains a list of African American recording artists who should be denied access for no other reason than their culture and skin color.” Duhhh.
Uh, what about the possibility that someone might get shot if they let these little thug-assed motherfuckers in their casino? Isn’t every other word out of their mouths usually something about busting a cap in someone’s ass? Yeah, I’d say their culture has something to do with the ban, and for good reason.
Does Las Vegas have a well-deserved reputation for being a racist town? Does Pinocchio have a wooden dick? Is a frog’s asshole watertight? It’s one of the worst cities in the country in terms of having a reputation for prejudiced police and public officials. And bigotry still abounds in certain segments of the gaming industry, no doubt about it. But that’s not what’s at play in this case.
I can just imagine the lawyer for the surviving spouse of someone that got hit by stray gunfire suing, claiming that the casino was negligent for letting someone known to engage in behaviors that could turn violent into the hotel in the first place. What part of this doesn’t Mill get? It has nothing to do with him being black or being a rapper; it has everything to do with him and other rappers eagerly engaging in taunts and behaviors that could lead to shootouts in public spaces. Granted, most of these beefs are just bullshit ways of selling records to stupid-assed fans, but there’s always that one someone who believes the bullshit is real and wants to act out on it, just to be some kind of ghetto hero.
As for Mill now becoming a criminal justice reform-advocate (more precisely he wants to reform the probation system in this country, probably because he’s been on paper perhaps longer than anyone else in the history of the U.S.), there’s no doubt that reform is needed. But I just don’t know if Mill is the right person to lead the effort. Again, with him, it could all be about the publicity.
Meek, this isn’t Philly; they really play hardball in Vegas — there’s simply too much money at stake. Start fucking around out there in the desert with those rednecks, and those petty beefs that y’all keep kickin’ back and forth will seem like child’s play when they get through with your ass. But I guess what irks me the most is that this little ill-bred piece of shit has got the nerve to play the race card. If we allow him to misuse and abuse it, we won’t have it in the deck when a real issue comes along and we really need it.
From CoolCleveland correspondent Mansfield B. Frazier mansfieldfATgmail.com. Frazier’s From Behind The Wall: Commentary on Crime, Punishment, Race and the Underclass by a Prison Inmate is available in hardback. Snag your copy and have it signed by the author at http://NeighborhoodSolutionsInc.