Next week, I’ll be visiting our State Capitol along with other NFL players to talk to lawmakers and policymakers about the state of criminal justice reform, with a special emphasis on lobbying for the Clean Slate Act, which I’ve written about here before.
Twice before, I’ve joined my fellow football players on trips to Washington, D.C. on similar fact-finding missions. The first time, late last year, we met with members of Congress—Democrats and Republicans— and spent some time with staffers of Paul Ryan, who later joined us for a photo op. In March, a group of us spent three days meeting with congressmen on both sides of the aisle, including New Jersey Senator Cory Booker.
On both trips, we talked about mass incarceration, the costly war on drugs, unjust mandatory minimums and juvenile life without parole. There was bipartisan consensus for common-sense reform, which led us to ask, “So what’s holding up action?” The answer, sadly, was “politics.”
Next week, I’ll update you on our Harrisburg trip. Meantime, check out the video below we produced, arguing for bail reform, which I wrote about last week:
EndCashBail from The Philadelphia Citizen on Vimeo.