Page 4 - Amendment 4 News Today

War when black people were granted the right to vote and white floridians adopted a constitution that disenfranchised anyone with a felony conviction and added to the felony roster a variety of crimes they believed african-americans were more likely to be convicted of. i sat down today with john legend and a couple floridians who are urging -- >> organizers of the amendment 4 campaign. i thought maybe, december monday, if you could dell us how you came to this issue? >> first of all, thank you f...

Hearings and all of the sort of sexual trauma that people are dealing with, assaults. you strike me as someone with a very kind of optimistic in your is outlook about things. >> i am. i think im naturally optimistic. so my kind of disposition is to be optimistic. >> because i talk to people that are news junkies all the time. you can imagine. people are wound up like that. >> well, i get upset by the things i read. i get upset when i see the president mocking sexual assault survivors. i get upse...

Likely to be convicted of. i sat down today with john legend and a couple floridians who are urging -- >> organizers of the amendment 4 campaign. i thought maybe, december monday, if you could dell us how you came to this issue? >> first of all, thank you for having me, chris. back in 2005 i found myself standing in front of the railroad tracks waiting on a train to come so i could jump in front of it, homeless, addicted to drugs, recently released from prison. i didnt see any light at the end o...

Never did talk about politics with him. >> right. youve been real focused on criminal justice reform particularly. >> yeah. >> and really in the weeds of it. a really interesting initiative in louisiana, which is one of two states in the nation that you dont need a unanimous verdict. >> correct. >> to convict. thats something youre working on? >> yes. >> and then theres amendment 4, were going to talk about here in florida, that does seem a place you both have firsthand experience of how mass in...

Went through being convicted? >> you know, going through the process i went through did teach me a whole lot. i think thats one of the things that we see is that every once in a while you find somebody who has a reaction to what were doing. weve found weve got this 20 minutes and a cup of coffee rule, you can get them to support amendment 4. its common sense stuff. it helps create saufr communities, helps create job growth in the state and so yeah i do think there was a piece of it that i did le...

Few of his songs. hes not really that much of a political thinker in general, one way or the other. we never had conversations about it. and so when im around him, like i can easily not talk about politics with him because i never did talk about politics with him. >> right. youve been real focused on criminal justice reform particularly. >> yeah. >> and really in the weeds of it. a really interesting initiative in louisiana, which is one of two states in the nation that you dont need a unanimous...

See people talk about it, even today, right, people running ads right now, these are crooks, these are bad people, what -- did your mind change? did you have a sort of world view shift when you actually went through being convicted? >> you know, going through the process i went through did teach me a whole lot. i think thats one of the things that we see is that every once in a while you find somebody who has a reaction to what were doing. weve found weve got this 20 minutes and a cup of coffee ...

This is a bipartisan issue. it is not black. its not white. its not republican. its not democrat. it is a basic american value. our basic right as guaranteed by the constitution as a citizen of the united states. >> thats our reporter trymaine lee covering the amendment 4 issue in florida. watch the full report this week on msnbc. in 34 days, millions of floridians could regain their right to vote. amendment 4, which is on the ballot, would automatically restore voting rights to felons with the ...

Crimes. >> yeah. you seem like your outlook, its a time in the country where a lot of people feel like its very dark times. you hear a lot about how raw and were watching the kavanaugh hearings and all of the sort of sexual trauma that people are dealing with, assaults. you strike me as someone with a very kind of optimistic in your is outlook about things. >> i am. i think im naturally optimistic. so my kind of disposition is to be optimistic. >> because i talk to people that are news junkies a...

To vote? >> it would mean the world, that i can do something about it by punching in the ballot, you know? >> do you know amendment 4 is to restore voting rights to individuals, its time to let my people vote. this is a bipartisan issue. it is not black. its not white. its not republican. its not democrat. it is a basic american value. our basic right as guaranteed by the constitution as a citizen of the united states. >> thats our reporter trymaine lee covering the amendment 4 issue in florida....