John legend and jesse williams are known mainly as, respectively, a Grammy-winning R&B singer and a lead actor on ABC’s long-running medical drama Grey’s Anatomy. But they are also outspoken about racial injustice and the continuing struggle for civil rights.
Legend, 39, has headlined benefit concerts and festivals dedicated to social justice. In 2015 he led a nationwide “listening and learning” tour in prisons and immigrant detention centers about problems in the U.S. criminal-justice system. Williams, 36, protested in Ferguson, Missouri, in 2014 alongside activists and community members after a policeman killed Michael Brown, an unarmed black teenager. He has participated in #JusticeForFlint, a charity event for poor Michiganders who lost their access to clean water, and sits on the board of the Advancement Project, a human-rights group. Both have used their creative talents for political projects. Legend co-wrote “Glory,” the theme song for the 2014 film Selma, which depicted Martin Luther King Jr.’s 1965 civil-rights march in Alabama. Williams has produced documentaries about the Black Lives Matter movement and the school-to-prison pipeline, and starred in Versus, a short film about the obstacles to love in a time of cultural tension. They comment regularly on politics in their tweets and media appearances.
The two artists have been friends for years. They’re set to co-produce a documentary about the Olympic sprinter Tommie Smith, who gave the Black Power salute from the gold-medal podium at the 1968 Summer Olympics. The Atlantic brought them together with the magazine’s managing editor, Adrienne Green, at a studio in Los Angeles to discuss the racial progress yet to be made since Martin Luther King Jr.’s death—and how artists can help.
[For more on this story by ADRIENNE GREEN, go to https://www.theatlantic.com/ma...sse-williams/552578/]
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