Legend shares second passion for education, social activism

At 15 years old, John Legend entered an essay contest where he declared he would become a famous singer and use his fame to help others.

Now 36 years old, Legend, a Grammy- and Academy Award-winning singer and songwriter, and activist, is fulfilling both dreams.

The artist visited UB on Dec. 3 as this year’s Undergraduate Student Choice Speaker in the Distinguished Speakers Series and presented “An Evening of Speaking, Q&A and Songs with Piano” to a full house of more than 6,000 in Alumni Arena.

Most people know Legend for his accomplishments in the music industry: He has won nine Grammy Awards, a Golden Globe and an Academy Award for Best Original Song in 2015 for “Glory” from the film “Selma,” and released four albums, two of which reached platinum status.

After his speech at UB, Legend even performed his Grammy Award-winning song “Ordinary People” and first No. 1 single, “All of Me.”

However, fewer people are aware of his second passion — to break the cycle of poverty that affects millions in the U.S., primarily through reform of the education and criminal justice systems.

“While I’m the beneficiary of great teachers and a family that did their best to support me, I’m also the beneficiary of good luck,” said Legend, who was raised in Springfield, Ohio. “Like some of you, I was the exception in my neighborhood. I was not the rule.”

He described the death of his grandmother, the woman who first taught him to play the piano, as the beginning of a dark period in his childhood. The tragedy led to his mother’s depression and the eventual divorce of his parents.

Education, as well as music, helped him overcome his circumstances. Although in high school, Legend never considered writing one of strengths, he credits his teachers and counselors as the people who inspired him to develop the skill and provided him the confidence to set high goals.

He went on to graduate from the University of Pennsylvania with a degree in English with a concentration in African-American literature, all while building his music career.

Despite his success, the realization that the majority of his classmates failed to graduate high school, let alone attend college, led him to take action against the poverty that held back many in his community.

More than half of American public school students live in poverty, and 10 percent of public schools are responsible for half of dropouts, Legend said, referring to the schools as dropout factories.

Over the past decade, he has joined a number of causes geared toward educational reform, and is a board member for Teach for All, Education Equality Project, Stand for Children and Harlem Village Academies, a network of charter schools that raised the graduation rate of its students from 20 to 95 percent, he said.

Earlier this year, Legend launched the Free America campaign to battle mass incarceration in the U.S. The American criminal justice system, he said, operates more prisons than there are colleges or universities, does little to rehabilitate inmates and exercises control over more than 70 million people through imprisonment, probation or parole.

“The very system that could be interrupting the cycle of poverty and broken lives in America is all too often perpetuating the cycle of poverty and broken lives in America,” he said. “Institutions that have the power to heal and correct are usually making things worse. And that should be a call to action to all of us.”

As part of the initiative, Legend has travelled across the country to meet with politicians, activists and prison inmates to raise awareness and push for reform.

He cited Portugal as a model: The country in 2001 decriminalized drug use and is instead treating addiction and drug possession as a medical issue. As a result, the country has experienced a decline in drug use and drug-induced deaths, he said.

“I don’t expect everyone in the room to get involved with these issues. These are my personal passions … yours may be something completely different,” he said.

“Whatever your passion is, I want you to follow it, I want you to research it, I want you to empower yourself to make change. And I guarantee you, you won’t regret finding something that makes you want to wake up in the morning and make a difference in the world.”

The artist closed his speech with a challenge for audience members to make a difference by loving the rest of the world as they would a family member, and by putting an end to the fear that leads to hate and, eventually, inequality.

“Dr. Cornell West gives us a word for what this kind of love looks like in public,” Legend said. “He calls it justice.”