Meek Mill And T.I. Issue Calls For Action After Nathaniel Woods’ Execution
UPDATE (03/06 at 6:00 PM): Following T.I.’s remarks, Philly MC Meek Mill issued a call for action in response to Nathaniel Woods’ execution on Thursday (March 5). Meek took to Twitter where he expressed his grievance with the U.S. justice system, comparing Woods’ execution akin to a modern day lynching. Additionally, he called on white Americans to “step up” and help fight against systemic racism.
“A Black man that didn’t kill nor plan to kill got lynched in 2020 in Alabama!” he tweeted. “As a Black man, how can you believe in the American justice system...that s**t gotta change and if you are white and not a racist STEP UP because you guys have majority control over the system today!!!”
Reactions have been flooding in from across social media after 44-year-old death row inmate Nathaniel Woods was put to death by the state of Alabama on Thursday (March 5) despite public pleas for his case to be reconsidered.
Momentarily, it seemed Woods’ life would be spared after the U.S. Supreme court ordered a temporary stay to review his case. However, the high court ultimately declined to intervene, according to NBC News, and thus, sealing his fate. Woods was put to death by lethal injection and pronounced dead at 9:01 p.m.Hours before Woods’ execution, many celebrities had added their voices to the chorus of activists imploring Gov. Kay Ivey to re-evaluate the evidence amid renewed questioning over some of the details of his case. In 2004, Woods was sentenced to death row in connection to the slaying of three police officers, Carlos “Curly” Owen, Harley Chisholm III, and Charles Bennett. Even though he did not shoot the officers himself, Woods was charged as an accomplice to the crime — an offense that is punishable by death. Kerry Spencer, Woods friend and co-defendant in the case, identified himself as the one who fired the gun that claimed the officers' lives. Spencer’s case is still awaiting appeal.
Atlanta trap icon T.I. reacted to Woods’ execution on Instagram where he condemned the state of Alabama.
“The state of Alabama has blood on its hands,” he decreed. He then advocated that “all of [the fair & decent people] who work for the state & the city should walk out everywhere.”
“Show them what WE CAN DO!!! BUT IT ONLY WORKS IF EVERYONE STICKS TOGETHER!!!!” Tip rallied. He concluded his post with one final message in the form of a hashtag: “#NothingChangesIfNothingChanges.”
His message came in response to a tweet that noted Thomas Edwin Blanton Jr., the white supremacist that killed Addie Mae Collins, Carole Robertson, Cynthia Wesley and Denise McNair after he bombed their church in Birmingham, Alabama back in 1963, will be up for parole in 2021.
See T.I.’s message below:
