In the past year, music star John Legend has become increasingly active in social issues, most prominently education reform and prison policy reform. His non-profit #FREEAMERICA wants to “change the national conversation” about about the country’s incarceration policies specifically, and the US criminal justice system in general, by focusing attention on what works and what does not.
In 2015, Legend engaged in a nationwide “listening and learning tour,” visiting with people who are incarcerated, law enforcement figures, legislators, academics and other experts “who’ve been thinking critically about America’s prison problem.”
More recently, #FREEAMERICA has launched My Potential, a digital storytelling project that highlights the experiences and perceptions of people affected by America’s criminal justice system, including leaders in the field, union workers, currently and formerly incarcerated individuals, and their families.
The video above is a part of the My Potential series. It was produced together with Homeboy Industries and features Hector Verdugo, who is now the Associate Executive Director of HBI, but who was once very active in a high profile Boyle Heights gang, and has spent time in juvenile justice facilities, and then in prison, before finding the wherewithal to steer his life in a new direction. In this video Verdugo talks about his experiences—-both having to do with when he was himself in prison, and as a reformer as one who works with men and women coming out of gang involvement and incarceration settings.
We at WLA have known Hector Verdugo well for more than a decade, and he and his story are the real deal.
So, enjoy, and have a good Labor Day weekend.