Struggle to Serve: Larry Sapp and the push for political inclusion

“Struggle to Serve: Larry Sapp and the push for political inclusion”

Larry Sapp has dedicated the past 30 years to serving his community. In 2021, he was elected to the Sauk Village Board of Trustees, promising to get the community thriving again after years of decay.  His dream was deferred when he was removed from the Board for a decades-old felony drug conviction that he had openly disclosed during his path to elected office. Now, Sapp is fighting for the rights of returning citizens to serve their communities without limitations, including holding local public office.

Produced by Ruchi Nawathe and Vivienne Madsen for Reparations Media NFP In collaboration with Larry Sapp

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Episode Transcript

SPEAKER_01 (00:00):
Would you like to meet him real quick?

SPEAKER_00 (00:02):
71-year-old Larry Sapp practically glowed as he
talked about his favorite topic,his nine-year-old son.
He was off of school forPresident's Day and paused his
game to greet us, smilingbashfully from over his father's
shoulder.

SPEAKER_01 (00:15):
This is our key one.

SPEAKER_00 (00:18):
My name is Ruchi Nawathe, and my co-producer is
Vivian Madsen, in an interviewwith Larry Sapp for Change
Agents, the podcast.
Sap and his wife, Dorothy,adopted Kiwand after meeting his

(00:41):
mother through Hope for Change,one of two nonprofit
organizations Sap has founded.
They share the mission ofcommunity support in Chicago and
is now home, Sauk Village.
Sap, who was incarcerated in1998 for a felony drug
conviction, is currently on apersonal mission to gain
formerly incarcerated people theright to hold local public

(01:02):
office.

SPEAKER_01 (01:04):
It takes someone who's determined to and willing
to get the work done, and that'sme.
And then I have to get peopleinvolved that have gotten
comfortable with things beingthe way they are.
I have to get themuncomfortable.

SPEAKER_00 (01:23):
Sap's decades of community service come from a
childhood spent in the west sideof Chicago and a mother who
united the community throughcooking.

SPEAKER_01 (01:31):
My mom, every Sunday, she would cook a big
dinner.
I mean, huge dinner.
And so that went a long way ininfluencing me on how I behave
because I knew that everybodyknew my mother.
because she fed him at one timeor another.

SPEAKER_00 (01:54):
Sap is the middle child of 11 children.
He often found himself involvedin fights to protect his
brothers and sisters against hismother's best wishes.

SPEAKER_01 (02:03):
No, it wasn't easy in that time living in the
projects.
It was not easy at all.
But by my mom being who she was,it made it easy.

SPEAKER_00 (02:16):
His mother's legacy of service followed him all the
way to Sauk Village.
years of watching the village'sstandard of living decline, in
2021, he ran for and was electedto the city's board of trustees.

SPEAKER_01 (02:29):
When we first bought this house, we had grocery
stores and community centers.
We had all this stuff, and wesaw them decaying.

SPEAKER_00 (02:38):
As a trustee, Sapp planned on renewing and
repairing Sauk Village.
He had established strongrapport with many members of the
community, including the mayor,Derek Burgess.
The whole time, Sapp spokeopenly about his history with
drug abuse, trauma, and felonyconvictions, and how he
ultimately found solace inhelping his people.

SPEAKER_01 (02:59):
If I've served my time, If I met every condition
of whatever, of parole or anyextension of that sentence, if I
met that and I put myself in aposition to be a contributor to
society rather than one thattakes away from it, Allow me a

(03:21):
second chance.

SPEAKER_00 (03:23):
However, SAP's plans to revitalize Sauk Village were
cut short in 2022 when theIllinois state's attorney,
Kimberly Fox, suddenly had himremoved from the board.
Fox cited laws that preventthose who have committed
infamous crimes from holding anyoffice of, quote, honor, trust,
or profit, and a second one thatsays anyone with any conviction

(03:45):
cannot take an oath of office.

SPEAKER_01 (03:47):
My first reaction was I was very, very sad and
heartbroken because I felt likeI had been, like you just said,
mistreated by the system.
And I felt like the systemfailed me, period.

SPEAKER_00 (04:12):
In 1998, Sapp was sentenced to six months in
prison for possession of crackcocaine.
His drug use was initiallycaused by a trauma he suffered
after being sexually assaultedin his early 20s while serving
in the military.

SPEAKER_01 (04:25):
Because I chose to keep my ordeal a secret.
And the only way I could keep ita secret was to self-medicate.
And I got caught up in the drugepidemic and I started using
drugs.
And it cost me my freedom.

SPEAKER_00 (04:42):
Sapp's drug use resulted in two felonies.
He was told his first felonywould be removed from his record
after he completed his parole.
Despite having finished hisparole early, the felony was
never stricken.
His record ended up influencingthe courts in his second
conviction two years later.

SPEAKER_01 (05:00):
Over a year, I sat in the county jail for over a
year and I didn't see no end insight because they kept on
continuing, continuing.
I said, oh my God, and my bondwas so high, I could not post
bond because all this waspredicated upon my first
conviction.

SPEAKER_00 (05:27):
When Sapp was kicked off the Sauk Village board in
2022, he sued Illinois GovernorJ.B.
Pritzker and Kimberly Fox.
He argued that restricting himfrom holding public office
constituted cruel and unusualpunishment, far outweighing the
severity of his crimes.
Several courts rejected hisargument, and Sapp was never

(05:47):
able to reclaim his seat on theboard.
I

SPEAKER_01 (05:50):
knew what I was up against.
And it's sad.
It's sad because that's me.
being an ant fighting anelephant.
So in most cases, people like meget smashed right away.
But my determination has got mehere.

(06:10):
I'm going to keep fighting forjustice, even where I've been
wrongly accused.
I'm still going to go forwardwith it.
I'll be satisfied knowing that Idid everything that I possibly
could

SPEAKER_00 (06:27):
Sapp is now running for mayor, as open as ever about
his past.
Still, he's facing pushback oneven getting his name on the
ballot.
In December, Sapp went beforethe Cook County Criminal Court
to apply for a certificate ofrelief from disabilities, which
helps formerly incarceratedpeople get jobs through
expunging their records.

(06:47):
His disability, he argued, isthe continuous violation of his
civil rights.
When Sapp finally got his day incourt, his pardon was once again
denied.
Moments later, he sat in hiscar, disheartened by the loss.

SPEAKER_01 (07:01):
I'm disappointed.
Very disappointed.
People served their time andthey're worthy.
They should be able to come backto a normal way of living.
But I'm going to have to goahead and face the fact that I

(07:25):
won't be on that ballot.
And I'm not going to run as aright-wing candidate.
I'm tired of fighting like that.

SPEAKER_00 (07:43):
Sapp is one of more than 33% of black men in the
U.S.
who have felony convictions, instark contrast to just 8% of the
overall population.
In Illinois, governor-appointedprisoner review boards decide
who deserves a pardon.

SPEAKER_01 (07:58):
We've turned our life around and we're living
properly.
And yet when you ask for apardon, you can get denied that
pardon no matter what you'vedone, no matter what the
circumstances are.
And the kicker is there's noexplanation as to why you were
denied.

SPEAKER_00 (08:18):
Sapp will continue his fight for justice as far as
the courts will take him andpass on his values to his son,
Kiwan.
I

SPEAKER_01 (08:33):
got a son here that I want him to know that he has
to be a good man.
He has to respect women.
He has to respect himself.
He has to respect life, and hehas to know that there are going
to be challenges that he's goingto face.
I don't want him to be aquitter.
I want him to climb thatmountain, you know?

(08:53):
So that's what I'm doing.
I may not win, but it won't bebecause I didn't fight.