RadioOnFire.com - T.I. has really been revving up his calls for social justice, with his Instagram page looking more and more like the front of the New York Times as of late. A couple of his posts have drawn criticism from even those who maybe support the messages but stand conflicted over the credibility of the facts being presented to make his arguments.
Last week, Tip became one of the scores of social media participants who circulated a meme highlighting the disparities that black prisoners face relative to their white counterparts, by presenting a side-by-side comparison of how Tay-K's sentence stacks up against that which will be handed down to Santa Fe school shooter Dimitrios Pagourtzis. The post lists both suspects as 17-year-olds who committed their crimes in the state of Texas, but it underscores how Tay was fighting the death penalty for two capital murders, while Pagourtzis killed 10 people and is looking at life in prison. Problem is, the fact that Tay is actually not facing the death penalty prompted many to accuse T.I. of propagating fake news.
On Sunday, May 27, Tip drew mixed reactions over yet another unvetted meme. This time, his post juxtaposed the public's reaction to Tim Tebow kneeling in prayer throughout the 2012 NFL season, and Colin Kaepernick kneeling in protest in 2016.
"Again... this is about equality!!! Holding America to the same standards of treatment no matter the color of your skin. Why does the NFL think so highly of Tebow when he knelt but thought so little of @kaepernick7 & others when they did it???" Tip wrote. "It’s this type of hypocrisy we face every day. This is why we protest... to receive the same consideration as the white citizens of this nation. That’s why it’s #USorELSE"
T.I. may have been coming from a helpful place, but many raised question as to how potent his message could be considering the number of falsities that littered the meme. Its text suggests that Tebow knelt during the National Anthem as part of a pro-life campaign. It even goes so far as to state that he "specifically said that he couldn't stand for a flag that allowed for abortion."
In reality, while Tebow was indeed known for kneeling in prayer, he never did so during the anthem, and never did he pose that he was praying in protest of abortion (although he has been known to take a pro-life stance off of the field.)
Tebow was simply an outspoken Christian who was celebrated for how open he was about exhibiting his faith. For a lot of people who've come across the post, him being celebrated for and allowed to parade such polarizing practices may be enough to reveal the discrimination faced by Kaepernick for standing on what he believes. But a good portion of them, the fact that the dichotomy presented in the meme is based on a false narrative makes it hard to share.
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