John Legend- The Ex-Felon Advocate

By Demond A. Jackson

The Grammy- award winning artist has publicly stated:

“We have a serious problem with incarceration in this country,” “It’s destroying families, It’s destroying communities and we’re the most incarcerated country in the world, and  when you look deeper and look at the reasons we got to this place we as a society made choices politically and legislatively, culturally to deal with poverty, deal with mental illness in a certain way and that way usually involves using incarceration.”
The artist has officially launched a campaign,  his campaign will include help from other artist. He’s planning on visiting state correctional institutions, co-hosting criminal justice events and starting an organization committed to ending mass incarceration.
JL: “I’m just trying to create some more awareness to this issue and trying to make some real change legislatively,” “And we’re not the only ones. there are senators that are looking at this, like Rand Paul and Cory Booker, there are other non-profits that are looking at this, and I just want to add my voice to that.”
The singer campaign has already rendered positive results, last year John legend supported Proposition 47 in California, which made shoplifting, forgery, fraud, petty theft and possession of small amount of controlled substances a misdemeanors instead of a felony offenses.
JL: “Once you have the tag felony on your name, its hard for you to do anything,” “Getting those reduced to misdemeanors really impacted a lot of lives and we hope to launch more initiatives like that around the country.”

As columnist and advocate for the empowerment of ex-felons, this Oscar Award winning artist empathy and compassion for a class of people who are extremely misunderstood and demonized is inspiring. Because the reality of majority of ex-felons in America is one of economic injustice, family dysfunction and the side effects of social ills plaguing our nation.
John Legend is a much needed advocate and it brings joy, just knowing he’s a soldier in the battle for fairness and equality for ex-felons in America.

Demond Jackson
As you can see my name is Demond Andrae Jackson. My comrades and Love one's call me D-jay. I'm the co-founder of Convicted Soap Box, and the MENSTOP!/GIRL...STOP! re-entry programs. I consider myself a literary artist, be it poetry, editorials, composition, music or screenplays "My pen...is my power and words are my weapons..."
I'm the son of an African American queen, born and raised in Los Angeles California, where I was groomed in its infectious gang culture. For the past decade and half, the federal Bureau of Prison has been a institution of self-education, self-evaluation and the reason I now possess knowledge of self. That being so, I now strive to expose the solution to the problems that our plaguing our communities, America's youth and this country as a whole. There's a saying: "There's nothing new up under the sun." Simply put, if there's one thing in this universe existence, that has seen all thing that mankind has done or not done, it is the sun. That means the moral dissension that taking place currently is nothing new. Historian have written about times where the moral fabric of a nation was so tattered where the only solution for change was war a destruction. This country was built and establish to be the nation it is today. By the disenfranchised, those who were being oppressed by the Queen and her fellow Aristocrats. Therefore if this country is to change once again for the better. It will begin and must begin with the actions and the voice of the disenfranchised i.e, America's minorities, poor and it's third class citizen the American Ex-felon. That being said I'm committed to "WRITING MY WRONGS..." and sewing seed of knowledge and truth that will blossom into peace, prosperity and positive change

Writing Contact:

DEMOND JACKSON #05934-088
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