Russell Simmons has invited the public to attend All Def Digital’s first-ever town hall on police reform on June 23 at the Montalban in Los Angeles.
“We created this event to honor the lives of Rekia Boyd, Freddie Gray, Tamir Rice, Trayvon Martin, Sandra Bland, Eric Garner, Ayana Stanley-Jones, Mike Brown and anyone else that has been killed or victimized by excessive police force,” Simmons said in a post announcing the meeting. “Please come and join us in pledging to use our collective social influence to help end any more senseless deaths by reforming and reframing police officers practices, policies, and procedures. Join us! Learn your rights – we all have a voice.”
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You can click here to RSVP for the event.
Social activist and hip-hop entrepreneur Simmons has been talking about the topic for years, including during a 2014 meeting he and Jay Z set up with New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo on the subject, during which they urged Cuomo to assign special prosecutors to handle cases involving police. “We want to promote the end of police protecting police and not prosecuting police,” Simmons said at the time.