John Legend, the singer-songwriter and longtime racial justice activist, has thrown his weight behind political campaigns that not often get celeb endorsements: progressive candidates working for district lawyer.
The Grammy, Oscar, Emmy and Tony winner has lengthy been a vocal supporter of the motion to scale back mass incarceration within the US, and has backed a number of chief prosecutors and candidates who search to proper the wrongs of America’s racially biased legal justice system.
Legend, who has spoken brazenly concerning the affect of his mom’s stints in jail whereas fighting habit, is advocating at a time when progressive prosecutors are dealing with intense backlash; an uptick in gun violence throughout the pandemic has led conservatives, some Democrats and media pundits to push for a return to harsh punishments and “powerful on crime” insurance policies.
Legend – who has endorsed candidates in Tennessee, North Carolina, Oregon and California – spoke to the Guardian over Zoom final week concerning the significance of DA races, the “defund the police” motion, and his fears concerning the mounting opposition to reform. This dialog has been edited and condensed for readability.
How did you personally turn out to be involved in supporting progressive prosecutors?
It began with seeing the impact that mass incarceration had alone household and neighborhood. Each individual you lock up has a bunch of relations that really feel the consequences of that. Once you separate a toddler from their mum or dad, you’re extending this cycle of violence and trauma to that youngster, creating extra potential for them to get in bother sooner or later. We proceed to be the most incarcerated nation on this planet. We will do higher and be smarter about it. Incarcerating folks and eradicating them from their household needs to be a final resort, not a primary resort, and we needs to be actively looking for alternate options. Excited about mass incarceration and the way we are able to construct a extra equitable and simply society, how America could possibly be really free, I actually turned satisfied that prosecutors are a key lever as a result of they've a number of energy of their communities.
Why is it so vital for voters to care about their native DAs?
Prosecutors make coverage selections about which crimes they will deal with and prosecute, how a lot they’re going to cost somebody and what they’re going to ask for in sentencing. They determine whether or not to make use of money bail, which is a extremely discriminatory coverage that forces folks to remain in jail just because they will’t afford bail, main folks to be punished only for being poor. All these selections have an effect on our incarceration charge. In 2017, we began a “Know your DA” schooling marketing campaign with the ACLU, as a result of most individuals most likely couldn’t inform you who their DA was and didn’t vote that far down on the poll or simply voted for the incumbent. After which we began on the lookout for extra progressive alternate options to run.
This motion you’ve championed is now dealing with critical pushback throughout the nation – what do you make of the opposition?
Now we have to acknowledge that crime did go up on this nation throughout a once-in-a-century pandemic, which induced extra housing insecurity, meals insecurity, poverty and unemployment. It’s not simply in a single metropolis – it’s all over the place, together with in communities with extra conservative native management and prosecutors. The rise in crime is just not correlated as to whether or not that neighborhood had a progressive prosecutor. Blaming progressive prosecutors is just not per details, and it’s not a great way of assessing what occurred. Crime went up and that’s actual, and all of us have to care and discover methods to unravel these points. However we’re not going to unravel it by mass incarcerating our option to security. If incarceration was the important thing to us being safer, we’d be the most secure nation on this planet. We’re already essentially the most policed nation on this planet.
You will need to have pals in Los Angeles who need to see a “powerful on crime” response and are involved about George Gascón, the progressive prosecutor there. How do you speak to them about this?
You begin with details. George Gascón didn’t trigger the pandemic or the rise in crime because of the pandemic. After which we've to speak concerning the prices of incarceration, not simply financial, however the disruptions to our communities and households, the disruption that I felt myself. Now we have to speak concerning the heartbreak, despair and violence that incarceration may cause. And we'd like progressive prosecutors who're considering holistically concerning the neighborhood and ensuring we’re not overusing jails and prisons as an answer to every thing. Jails aren’t the answer to psychological well being points, homelessness or drug habit. When we've prosecutors in place who consider that, we are able to incarcerate fewer folks and divert these sources to interventions that may truly assist folks heal and get higher, moderately than jail, which exacerbates their ache and their points. Now we have a gun downside on this nation and all types of points that lead folks into crime. We have to deal with investing into our communities in order that we may also help forestall crime.
How do you're feeling about Democrats who're pushing again towards progressive DAs and reforms, together with Joe Biden who has strongly opposed calls to “defund the police”?
I’m mystified by the vehemence of the rejection to “defund the police” once we haven’t defunded the police. We’ve elevated funding, particularly because of the American Rescue Plan. We’re already spending extra on policing in America than any nation on this planet spends on their army, apart from China and the US. Spending an increasing number of on police with no higher restrict is just not the answer. I’m pissed off by Democrats who consider that throwing more cash at policing goes to unravel these issues and usually are not trying on the root causes. The answer to homelessness is rising the provision of reasonably priced housing and supportive housing. We will’t ship the police out to “clear up the streets”. The place are we going to place these people? In jail?
Regardless that crime total is considerably decrease now, do you are concerned we’re returning to the panic of the Nineties, when there was a push for harsh punishments surrounding the racist “superpredator” fable?
I'm frightened about it. Again then, it was bipartisan, and now seeing how Biden and others speak about crime, it sounds bipartisan, too. I do know that they’re responding to folks’s actual fears, and I actually do empathize. I’ve had pals who've been victims of crime just lately. It’s not an phantasm that persons are seeing crime go up because the pandemic. Persons are apprehensive and afraid. They really feel much less protected, and we are able to’t simply say, You’re not experiencing what you’re experiencing. However we've to say that there are higher options than extra police and prisons. And politicians have the flexibility to steer on this situation and never simply observe or suggest bandaids. They'll deal with systemic points that trigger crime and truly in the long term make folks safer.
What do you suppose folks ought to perceive concerning the realities of crime tendencies proper now?
The press has an vital position. They make selections concerning the sources they use – and which sources they use with out skepticism. You’ll discover that even newspapers just like the New York Instances simply repeat the road that the police communications division offers them with out scrutiny or skepticism. It’s vital that people who find themselves explaining crime to the general public, don’t sensationalize it and don’t take statements of police unions uncritically. And we've to keep in mind that a number of instances, progressive prosecutors are getting blamed for nationwide and systemic points. People are looking for a neighborhood scapegoat. Alvin Bragg, the progressive prosecutor in New York, bought blamed for crime even earlier than he began working.
This isn't essentially a straightforward situation to talk out about. I’m curious if you happen to’ve personally confronted backlash?
Once I communicate out about progressive prosecutors, I normally avoid my Twitter [laughs].
Good name.
As a result of there may be a number of vitriol thrown my means. However what I attempt to clarify is that, what's radical is how many individuals we’ve incarcerated on this nation. Our establishment is radical. I don’t suppose what I’m proposing about the right way to reform our system is that radical.
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