The US justice system is effed the eff up. So part of me doesn’t care that TI will be serving a measly year (if that) for some serious 2007 gun charges. But another part of me is screaming WHAT IN THE BE-JEESUS IS WRONG WITH PEOPLE?!

 

I think about Martha Stewart having to bake cookies behind bars for that same amount of time for doing what many in the “boy’s club” do every day. I think about Foxy Brown getting a year and a day for a minor confrontation at the nail spot. But mostly, I think about all of the poor black, brown and even white men and women who are in jail serving exorbitant sentences for nonviolent offenses who the public doesn’t give two fucks about. And the many more whose remaining years will be spent in captivity due to bullshit 3-strikes technicalities.

 

I think about all of this and I get angry, I want to shake my fists at the sky and curse to the high heavens. But then I see the silver lining: The Art of Public Relations is alive and well. This, my friends is a real sliver of light. In this recession, many a journalist is pondering their next move. Clifford Harris’ success and Michael Vick’s stumbles (more on this in a minute) are proof that that your next move, and perhaps your best move would be to PR. Some of you may have thought it sleazy before (I had a pretty good time doing PR, myself), but you might be able to help folks escape the slammer, and that’s kinda cool.

 

Through a series of smart PR moves, TI has been able to prove to the world that he’s “cured.” He’s self-diagnosed his problem, taken the liberty to set himself on a path, no, a Road to Redemption (his official get outta jail brand), and convinced the man that somehow the best year and a half of his ENTIRE CAREER was pennance for trying to buy a small arsenal of assault weapons as a felon. He had a show, he had a song, he had numerous viral videos where he talked as slow as somebody’s granddaddy about the perils of the life he chose. Hell, he even stumped for local candidates who had no chance in hell of winning. 

 

Never mind that there were moments this past year when he seemed to be regressing –moments when he seemed to be fanning the flames of ignorance rather than dousing them– those paled in comparison to the ones when he was seen publicly using his celebrity for good. Overnight he went from being just “another trap rapper,” albeit a talented one, to being wholely accessible to the main stream. He became friends with Kathy Griffin.

 

TI’s PR people created a positivity buzz around him and used it to his advantage, both monetarily (if I hear about one more “farewell Tip” party/performance I’m going to scream) and in regard to his case. Their biggest success was making people who never even heard a TI song care about his plight. I got into a psuedo-argument at a BBQ here in ATL recently for suggesting that TI might one day do something illegal again. It was like I’d comitted the ultimate party foul– complete strangers gave me the stink eye and others rushed to Tip’s defense.

 

This knee-jerk defense of celebrities is nothing new; the black community is often prone to blind support or amnesia when it comes to prominent black men going awry of the law (see: Kelly, Robert). But what bothers me about it is that many of us don’t show that same level of defensiveness or interest in our own incarcerated loved ones. We resign ourselves (and them) to the wheels of the justice system. So maybe we champion TI’s duping of The Man because we weren’t able to do that for cousin JoJo, even though all he had was a large bag of weed on him and a few warrants for parking tickets. Perhaps we live vicariously through Tip because he has the money and the PR team that we do not. In the end I am not mad at TI, because whether his words are genuine or not, and even if his motive is a bit sleazy, he’s using his celebrity to tell kids that they can do better. 

 

 

On the other hand, we have Michael Vick. Michael Vick who’s taking a $10/hr job in construction while he waits to see if he’ll get to play professional football again. He and his friends did some horrible, heinous things to those dogs. But one could argue that killings dogs isn’t the nearly as bad as plotting to buy assault weapons on your way to an awards show full of people. I really don’t care which is worse. The fact of the matter is Vick already served his time (and lost his money), yet PETA still wants to scan his brain for psychopath tendencies (seriously), and many more people don’t think he’s been punished enough.

 

You cannot escape the premeditated viciousness of Vick torturing and killing animals for a number of years under the guise of an underground business enterprise. It was no accident, no instance of criminally poor judgment. It was a savagely calculated plan.

You cannot forget that. Ever. [Drew Sharp, Detroit Free Press]

 

When Vick left jail earlier this morning, he avoided the media, got in his fiance’s car and got on the road to Virginia like a normal emancipated convict. This is PR eff-up #1. You think TI will be slinking out of his resort prison a few months from now without a press conference full of mea culpa and “I’m gonna do good” talk? Hell.to.the.naw. You have to set the right tone on day one. Vick does plan to work with the Humane Society on anti dog fighting campaigns, so why not play that up when you have a platform to do so? Even if he does (and I think he will) get to play football again come September, the more he hides from the press right now, the more people who are against him will solidify their positions, and the less likely other people will be swayed to side with him. Anybody with a modicum of PR sense could have advised him better.

 

So, ladies and gentlemen, instead of shaking your fists at the sky about TI’s lenient Arkansas vacation bid, or Vick’s tragic tale, pat your publicist friends on the back. Buy them a drink. They just might save your ass one day.

Tags: Michael Vick, Public Relations, Road to Redemption Sentecning, T.I., US Justice System