John Legend Urges Fans and President Obama to Support ‘Ban the Box’ Effort

LOS ANGELES - John Legend released a video to his over 8M Facebook fans asking them to sign a petition urging President Obama to do more for formerly incarcerated individuals, including the 6,000 inmates who will be released from federal prison later this month.

Legend called on the President to issue an Executive Order "banning the box" (aka removing from their hiring applications the check box that asks if applicants have a criminal record) for positions offered by federal contractors. With the video, John Legend included a link for interested fans to support Ban the Box, "Please sign the Color of Change petition asking President Obama to sign an executive order to Ban the Box here: http://act.colorofchange.org/sign/tell-obama-ban-the-box."

John Legend also serves as the Honorary Chairman of the My Brother's Keeper Alliance, launched with support from the White House earlier this year.