John Legend Receives Philanthropist of the Year Award at the 2025 Social Impact Summit | THR Video - video Dailymotion

The Hollywood Reporter

John Legend speaks at the second annual Social Impact Summit, hosted by the Social Impact Fund and The Hollywood Reporter, after receiving the award for Philanthropist of the Year for his longtime work to advance equity and criminal justice reform.

Transcript

00:00Wow, thank you so much.

00:09I want to say a very special thank you to my friend, my collaborator, my co-conspirator,

00:19Susan Burton, for that beautiful introduction.

00:26You know I love you, and I appreciate you, and it's truly a joy to fight for justice alongside you.

00:39Thank you to the Hollywood Reporter and Social Impact Fund for honoring me and for bringing us together.

00:48There is a long, rich history in this country of the two worlds represented here,

00:55the world of arts and culture and the world of social impact,

01:01joining in common cause for our common good, indeed for our collective liberation.

01:09And today I'm reflecting especially on the lifelong partnership and friendship between two heroes of mine,

01:20the embodiment of these often intersecting worlds.

01:26Harry Belafonte and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

01:35During the final days of Dr. King's life, they sat together in Mr. Belafonte's home.

01:43Now this was March 1968, not August 1963, so it was king in the valley, not king on the mountaintop.

01:52He had grown weary from the heavy burden he had shouldered.

01:58He had lamented to his friend that America was, in his perfectly chosen phrase,

02:05a burning house, a burning house, a house on fire.

02:12I'm afraid, he said then, that America has lost its moral vision,

02:18that absent meaningful equality and opportunity and justice, we will, and I quote,

02:24continue to perpetuate the anger and violence that tears at the soul of this nation.

02:31Sound familiar?

02:32They say history often rhymes, right?

02:40Mr. Belafonte then asked, well, Dr. King, what would you have us do?

02:46Dr. King replied simply,

02:50become the fireman.

02:54We gather this afternoon in our own house on fire.

02:59We gather in a city, still reeling, heartbroken, painfully struggling to rebuild from the literal fires.

03:14Homes and lives are still in ruin.

03:18We also gather in a nation ablaze.

03:23All across this country, the air is thick.

03:28It can be hard to find a voice.

03:31It can be hard to breathe.

03:35The grief and the fear.

03:39The pervasive sense of how much we've lost and how quickly.

03:44It can be suffocating.

03:48My heart is heavy.

03:51Our government is kidnapping and disappearing.

03:56Our friends and neighbors.

04:00Our kids' caregivers in the park.

04:03Our builders.

04:04And then occupying our streets to silence the voices of those exercising their constitutional rights

04:15and responsibilities, I might add, to dissent.

04:20Our government is stealing from the poorest children in our communities.

04:24The poorest children on earth, taking away food, taking away aid, taking away health care.

04:33To line the pockets of the wealthiest.

04:37Day after day, our government is abandoning the shared values that have inspired us to become our best.

04:45To serve as a beacon for the world.

04:49To serve as the hope of the tired, of the tempest-tossed, of all who yearn to breathe free.

04:56To say nothing of the corruption and the cruelty and the malice and the seeming impunity.

05:07And the arsonists, the ones who ignite and stoke this destructive fire, are the ones we elected.

05:19The ones who swore an oath to protect this house.

05:26To defend its people.

05:28To defend its constitution and the rule of law.

05:31And yet, and yet, I can hear my grandmother saying,

05:40Rejoice in hope.

05:43Be patient in tribulation.

05:48And yet, we might imagine Mr. Belafonte and Dr. King sitting together,

05:53maybe somewhere in some humble living room,

05:56maybe plastic covering the sofas, just like at my grandmother's house.

06:01Maybe somewhere on the other side.

06:03And Dr. King, despite it all,

06:05imploring Mr. B and all of us simply,

06:08Become the firemen.

06:11Fight these fires.

06:12Susan Burton is a fire fighter.

06:21Nearly three decades ago,

06:22she asked formerly incarcerated women at a bus stop if they needed a place to stay.

06:29A new way of life.

06:33Susan's righteous organization was born.

06:36And with it, an audacious leader who ennobles and emboldens and inspires us all.

06:46Ann Lee and Sean Penn are firefighters.

06:50Through CORE, they've shown us that even amidst disaster,

06:53disaster, our shared humanity can transcend devastation through neighbors serving neighbors,

07:02strangers serving strangers.

07:06You saw my friend Norris Henderson on that video.

07:09He's a fire fighter, too.

07:10He's a fearless leader in the crusade to ban the box and to reduce Louisiana's incarceration rate,

07:19which is currently the highest rate in the country, which means it's the highest in the world.

07:25The most incarcerated place on the planet.

07:30Mike De La Rocha is a firefighter.

07:37Mike's here tonight.

07:38He's one of the earliest architects of our organization, Free America.

07:42And he presses always for us to get proximate,

07:46to hear and heed the voices of the people closest to injustice.

07:51You saw my friend Desmond Meade from Florida.

07:54He's a firefighter.

07:56My dear friend and partner in the vanguard of the campaign

08:00to restore the voting rights of more than 1.4 million Floridians and far, far beyond.

08:07And here in Los Angeles, we celebrate the 15,000-plus first responders

08:15who ran headfirst into the inferno earlier this year.

08:22We appreciate them.

08:24We owe so much to them.

08:26Among them, more than 1,000 incarcerated firefighters

08:33embedded alongside Cal Fire crews

08:38to help contain the Palisades and Eton fires.

08:43Sometimes these individuals worked for 24 hours at a time,

08:47often returning to a prison cell

08:50with little more than a dollar an hour to show for it.

08:55In January, I spent time with a group of them in Eton.

09:01And I was moved deeply by their reflections,

09:07by their courage, by their sacrifice.

09:09I was moved by what many of them told me.

09:11Fighting fires made them feel part of something bigger than themselves,

09:16part of a community, often for the first time.

09:19My friend Brian Stevenson, founder of the Equal Justice Initiative,

09:27says, we are more than the worst thing we've ever done.

09:33These men and women represent all of us at our best.

09:38No matter where we come from, no matter what we've been through,

09:41we all have the capacity to pick ourselves up,

09:45dust ourselves off, and rebuild anew.

09:49To rebuild our own lives and families,

09:51to rebuild our neighborhoods and cities,

09:54to rebuild, starting wherever we stand,

09:57with whatever we can, by whatever means we can.

10:01For more than a decade, I have sought out these firefighters,

10:09the courageous leaders who are dousing the flames of inequality and injustice.

10:18I've listened to their stories.

10:21I've sat in their living rooms.

10:23I've had them come sit in mine.

10:26I've learned from their experiences.

10:28And I've sung and danced and marched to their beat,

10:34doing all I can, in all the ways I can,

10:37to serve them as they serve all of us.

10:41So, while this extraordinary recognition may bear my name,

10:46and I'm so grateful,

10:48when I look at this award,

10:50I see the names of all the people who helped this work grow

10:55and helped me grow.

10:58I see the names of my team members and my co-conspirators,

11:02the wonderful folks at Proper Daily,

11:05who inform me and keep me connected.

11:09My manager and business partner,

11:11Ty Sticklorious, and the team at Friends at Work.

11:15My longtime friend and advisor, Hassan Smith.

11:18All of them have been by my side,

11:22often literally visiting prisons,

11:25visiting detention centers,

11:27doing the work together for all these years.

11:32Now, another kind of team might have preferred

11:36that this work be an afterthought

11:37and focus solely on making money,

11:42doing my day job.

11:44But they've always supported this work

11:49and they have made it our shared priority.

11:53When I look at this award,

11:54I also see my grandmother, Elmira Lloyd.

12:00She was our church organist.

12:03And she colored my world with music and joy.

12:09And I see my mother, who's still with us.

12:11Her name is Phyllis Stevens,

12:14and she showed me that change is possible.

12:17Redemption is possible.

12:19It's not inevitable, but it's possible with grace.

12:25I see my family, Chrissy, Luna, Miles, Esty, Wren,

12:33the names that fill my life with faith and hope and love.

12:38The Bible says the greatest of these is love.

12:45Love has to power everything we do,

12:50everything we fight for.

12:52And seeing and loving my babies

12:55reminds me why I keep fighting for their future,

13:01our future.

13:02I see the names of people who do the heavy lifting every day,

13:09the people who are fighting the raging flames,

13:13the people who are working to restore,

13:15in Dr. King's words,

13:17America's moral vision

13:19to repair the soul of this nation,

13:24the people who understand,

13:26like those incarcerated firefighters in Eaton,

13:28that giving liberates the giver,

13:33that the road to salvation,

13:35personal, collective, moral,

13:37runs through service.

13:40It is because of all these people that I am here,

13:44and it is with humility,

13:46with reverence and gratitude for them,

13:49that I accept this award on their behalf.

13:53Thank you so much.

13:56I'm Craig Sitchi.

13:58I'm the executive director of the Social Impact Fund.

14:02I'll come out later and talk.

14:04But I wanted to just, number one,

14:07thank John and congratulate you on this recognition.

14:12If you don't know,

14:13John Legend and the Show Me Campaign

14:14was our first sponsored program

14:16at the Social Impact Fund.

14:18I'm still here today.

14:20I'll talk a little bit about that later.

14:22But I just wanted to just congratulate you again.

14:25And on behalf of this board

14:26of the Social Impact Fund,

14:28I want to give you this check for $25,000

14:30for the Show Me Campaign.

14:33I'm out of breath.

14:34I just ran down the aisle.

14:36It was like the price is right, for God's sake.

14:41What a pleasure.

14:42Thanks so much.

John Legend Receives Philanthropist of the Year Award at the 2025 Social Impact Summit | THR Video

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