A Respectful Appeal to President Donald J. Trump and His Administration
To the President of the United States, the Office of the Pardon Attorney, Members of the Administration, and the American People:

We, the undersigned, respectfully ask that President Donald J. Trump and his administration give thoughtful consideration to an act of presidential clemency for Durk Devontay Banks, professionally known as Lil Durk, should circumstances in his federal case make such relief appropriate.

This petition is not intended to disrespect the judicial process, diminish the seriousness of violence, or suggest that fame should place anyone above the law.

It is instead an appeal to one of the oldest principles behind presidential clemency: that justice can recognize not only a person's worst moments or the allegations against him, but also his capacity for growth, his responsibilities to others, the good he has accomplished, and the value he may still contribute to society.

FROM THE SOUTH SIDE OF CHICAGO TO A WORLDWIDE PLATFORM
Durk Banks came from circumstances that millions of American children understand but few successfully escape.

Born and raised in Chicago, Durk experienced instability and hardship from an extraordinarily young age. His father was incarcerated when Durk was still an infant, and Durk has spoken publicly about periods during his childhood when his family struggled even to have enough food.

He grew up surrounded by many of the realities that continue to confront young people in under-resourced Chicago neighborhoods: poverty, incarceration, violence, loss, and limited opportunity.

Durk did not begin life with wealth, powerful connections, or an easy path to success.

He built a career from those circumstances and eventually became one of the most recognizable musical artists to emerge from Chicago.

More importantly, his success gave him an opportunity to reach young people who see themselves in his story.

GROWTH SHOULD MATTER
Human beings are more than the environment in which they were raised, more than mistakes they may have made, and more than the darkest chapters of their lives.

The purpose of a second chance is not to pretend the past never happened. It is to recognize when someone's future can still serve a greater purpose.

Durk's life has included extraordinary success, but also extraordinary loss and hardship. Rather than allowing his platform to exist solely for personal wealth or celebrity, he has also invested time and resources into helping communities like the one that raised him.

Through Neighborhood Heroes Foundation, a community-focused nonprofit he founded, efforts have included educational and career opportunities, college and career readiness programs, campus tours, back-to-school events, food distribution, Thanksgiving service projects, programs exposing young people to professional careers, and assistance to under-resourced communities.

Those efforts matter.

They demonstrate that a young man who once needed opportunity himself grew into someone capable of creating opportunity for others.

HIS INFLUENCE CAN BE USED FOR SOMETHING GREATER
There are children growing up today on the South Side of Chicago and in communities across America who face many of the same circumstances Durk faced.

Some of those children will listen to a successful musician before they listen to a politician.

Some will relate more closely to someone who survived their neighborhood than to someone who has never experienced it.

That influence carries enormous responsibility—but it also creates enormous potential.

Imagine the message that could be delivered if the next chapter of Durk Banks's life were dedicated not simply to music, but to demonstrating what growth, fatherhood, responsibility, community investment, and second chances can look like.

His story has the potential to tell young people:

Your neighborhood does not determine your future.

Poverty does not determine your worth.

The incarceration of a parent does not mean you must follow the same path.

Your mistakes do not have to become your identity.

You can grow. You can change. You can become a father, a leader, an artist, an entrepreneur, and someone who gives back to the community that raised you.

Taking responsibility for one's future is a message that children in struggling communities desperately need to hear.

A FATHER, A SON, AND A HUMAN BEING
Behind the stage name "Lil Durk" is Durk Devontay Banks—a human being with children, parents, relatives, friends, employees, and a community that knows him beyond headlines and court filings.

His children know him simply as their father.

No petition should suggest that family responsibilities erase alleged wrongdoing. They do not.

But mercy has never required us to pretend that consequences do not exist. Mercy asks whether those consequences must eliminate every opportunity for redemption.

Children should not be forgotten when society considers the future of a parent.

Neither should the possibility that a father who receives another opportunity may spend the remainder of his life proving that the opportunity was deserved.

CLEMENCY IS NOT THE SAME AS SAYING ACTIONS HAVE NO CONSEQUENCES
We recognize the seriousness of the allegations surrounding Durk Banks's federal case and the devastating reality that a life was lost.

We do not minimize that loss, and we extend compassion to every family affected by violence.

We also recognize that Durk Banks has pleaded not guilty and is entitled to the same presumption of innocence and judicial process afforded to every American.

This petition therefore does not ask the President or the public to determine facts that belong in a courtroom.

Instead, should Durk ultimately become eligible for presidential clemency, we ask that his entire life be considered.

Consider where he started.

Consider what he overcame.

Consider the children who depend upon him.

Consider the communities he has invested in.

Consider the charitable organization he created.

Consider the educational opportunities his platform has helped provide.

Consider the millions of people his music reaches.

And most importantly, consider what he could accomplish with the rest of his life if given an opportunity to transform that influence into an even greater commitment to young people and underserved communities.

CHICAGO NEEDS EXAMPLES OF WHAT COMES AFTER SURVIVAL
Chicago has lost too many young people to cycles of violence, retaliation, incarceration, and poverty.

Breaking those cycles requires more than punishment.

It requires people who can reach the next generation before those children repeat them.

Durk Banks possesses something government programs often struggle to manufacture: the attention of young people who come from the very communities we are trying to save.

That platform can be extraordinarily powerful when directed toward education, conflict resolution, career development, fatherhood, entrepreneurship, community investment, and rejecting cycles of violence.

We would rather see that influence used to help a child choose a classroom, recording studio, trade school, college, business, or career instead of a jail cell or grave.

OUR REQUEST TO PRESIDENT DONALD J. TRUMP
Mr. President, we respectfully ask that, if and when the circumstances are legally appropriate, you consider Durk Devontay Banks as a person worthy of presidential mercy and a genuine second chance.

We are not asking for celebrity justice.

We are asking for human mercy.

We ask that any consideration of clemency take into account his upbringing, his family, his children, his growth, his charitable work, his investment in underserved communities, and the extraordinary opportunity he has to influence another generation of young Americans.

If given that second chance, we hope Durk will be challenged to make it count—to continue making music, to expand his charitable work, to invest even more deeply in Chicago's youth, to encourage education and legitimate careers, and to use his voice to discourage the violence that has taken far too many people from his community.

A second chance does not rewrite someone's past.

It gives that person the responsibility to write a better future.

We believe Durk Devontay Banks can still write that future.

We believe his children deserve the opportunity to see their father do so.

We believe young people in Chicago deserve to see that surviving difficult circumstances does not have to be the end of the story.

And we believe America can be a nation that holds people accountable while still believing in redemption, rehabilitation, family, faith, community, and mercy.

For these reasons, we respectfully ask President Donald J. Trump and his administration to consider presidential clemency for Durk Devontay Banks when legally appropriate and to give him the opportunity to demonstrate through his actions that a second chance can become a lifetime of positive impact.

WE, THE UNDERSIGNED, ASK FOR MERCY, REDEMPTION, AND A SECOND CHANCE FOR DURK DEVONTAY BANKS.
Give him the opportunity to come home to his family, continue his music, serve his community, and use his influence to help the next generation choose a better path.