On Sunday, a Nashville Waffle House restaurant became the latest site in what appears to be an epidemic of mass shootings across the United States when 29-year-old, Travis Reinking, walked into the restaurant naked and began firing at the customers with a semi-automatic AR-15 rifle. It was due to the brave actions of James Shaw, an unarmed man who managed to wrestle the gun away from Reinking's hands, that the death count wasn't more severe, but Reinking still killed four people and injured two others. He was arrested the next day and taken into custody, where he's currently being held on a $2 million bail bond.
There are those, however, who believe that justice still isn't being served, and that Reinking is being treated better due to his race. One of those people is singer Trey Songz, who took to Instagram to comment on the racial prejudice being put on display.
In the caption, he writes, "So racism isn’t real right? White privilege isn’t real, right? Black/Brown/Muslim man would have gotten the same bond right? Right."
While it's highly unlikely that Reinking would ever be able to raise the $2 million in the first place, it's hard to argue with Trey's point when there are blatant examples all around us. T.I. seems to agree, as he also went to his Instagram to point out that while Reinking has a bond after murdering four people, Meek Mill is still stuck in jail, unable to even obtain a bond. Bobby Shmurda, another prominent black artist who has never been charged with a murder, wasn't even allowed to pay his $2 million bond. Whether or not you agree with Trey and T.I., it's important that these issues be addressed so that progress can be made.
Check out the posts from Trey and T.I. below.