Pusha T is doing his part to help free those serving life sentences under the federal three-strikes laws, and he’s started a new campaign to help get it done. He’s also released a new song with Lauryn Hill to bring attention to his efforts.
The lawyers Brittany K. Barnett and MiAngel Cody have partnered with Pusha as well, and they’ve already freed 40 people who were given life sentences under federal drug laws. Plus, according to their website, in three months’ time during their “90 Days of Freedom” campaign, Barnett and Cody were able to free 17 people serving life on drug charges.
The new campaign is called “Third Strike Coming Home,” which Pusha tweeted about on Wednesday. And the new cut that goes with it is titled “Coming Home.”
“This is way more than a song, it’s a movement,” Pusha tweeted. “We are doing everything in our power to bring home men and women trapped behind the wall due to an outdated 3 strikes drug law. Check out http://thirdstrikecampaign.com/cominghome to support and learn about the campaign.”
Pusha has already donated $25,000 to the campaign and he, Cody and Barnett are asking for others to help out too.
As for the song, which was co-produced by Kanye West, the Virginia native provides all the verses and raps about some of those affected by the three-strikes laws.
“I’m speaking to the soul of my black native bros / Who ain’t get to go to school like J. Cole / Who ain’t have a silver spoon or a bankroll / Who weren’t taught the golden rule but they made do,” he raps.
Hill, who provides the chorus and bridge, shares her personal vision on what the campaign can do.
“New plan but it’s a new day / Black people past their due date / Setting the captives free in a new way / I’m coming home, I’m coming home, I’m coming home,” she sings.
The federal three-strikes law is a part of the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994, which gives mandatory life prison sentences to convicted in federal court of a serious violent felony and who have at least two previous convictions in federal or state court. And one of those previous convictions must have been a violent felony, while the other can be a major drug charge.
The Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 was signed by former president Bill Clinton, who later said he regretted it and contributed to mass incarceration.
“I signed a bill that made the problem worse and I want to admit it,” he said at the NAACP’s convention in Philadelphia in 2015.
The vast majority of prisoners sentenced under three-strikes law are serving state sentences, not federal.
You can listen to Pusha and Hill’s new song below.
