Artists For Prop 47
All of our worlds are connected in ways we don’t see. Like the connection between the amount of tax dollars spent on inmates in the state prison system and the number of students receiving state tax dollars in state funded schools.
There is a disproportionate amount of dollars spent on inmates, all the while school funding continues to suffer. Prop 47 suggests a plan to reclassify several nonviolent felonies as misdemeanors. This would immediately release select inmates and avail the funds that would otherwise be spent on maintaining them while incarcerated. These funds will be redirected toward education, as there is a strong correlation to crime and education.
Another not so obvious connection is between art and government. It’s not that artists are becoming politicians, instead they are taking an active role as citizens. Artists For 47 is an coalition of artists committed to the passage of Proposition 47.
Names like Brad Pitt, Jay-Z, Kerry Washington and Russell Brand are a few of the artists who have united to support this initiative and what it could mean for California students. Among such artists is poet, Natalie Patterson, who created a video to bring awareness to the initiative.
View the video below and be sure to visit artistsfor47.com and safetyandschools.com for more information on the proposal.
Voting takes place on November 4th and you can find your local polling place here: http://www.sos.ca.gov/elections/find-polling-place.htm