September is Suicide Prevention Month — a time to raise awareness of this urgently important crisis. Suicide impacts persons of all genders, races, ethnicities, religions, and other demographics. This month is an opportunity to shift public perception, spread hope, and share vital information to people affected by suicide. If you are reading this and feeling discouraged, or experiencing a mental health crisis, call or text 988 immediately.

For this episode of Faith Talks we are sharing a conversation Jennifer Farmer had with Desmond Meade. Meade is a formerly homeless returning citizen who overcame many obstacles to eventually become the President of the Florida Rights Restoration Coalition (FRRC), Chair of Floridians for a Fair Democracy, a graduate of Florida International University College of Law, a Ford Global Fellow, and a 2021 MacArthur “Genius” Fellow. Recognized by Time Magazine as one of the 100 Most Influential People in the World for 2019, Meade presently leads efforts to empower and civically re-engage local communities across the state, and to reshape local, state, and national criminal justice policies. 

As President and Executive Director of the FRRC, Meade led the successful passage of Amendment 4, a grassroots citizen’s initiative which restored voting rights to over 1.4 million Floridians with past felony convictions. Amendment 4 represented the single largest expansion of voting rights in the United States in half a century and brought an end to 150 years of a Jim Crow-era law in Florida.
But Meade didn’t start out with all these awards. In this video, we talk about his experience considering suicide. In this touching segment, he makes an appeal for all of us to see the humanity in persons who’ve made mistakes, made amends for those mistakes, and are striving to live with peace in dignity.

Now please settle in and enjoy this conversation.