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Is there a future in politics for will.i.am?

The super producer and leader of the Black Eyed Peas paid a visit to NBC’s Meet the Press on Sunday to talk about ‘i.am.angel,’ his foundation that profiles the importance of education on today’s youth.

In a roundtable discussion with host David Gregory, will ended up elaborating on a plethora of topics, such as the lack of pressure from officials to engage more policies and programs regarding education, private sectors, and more.

Addressing fellow guest and Tea Party Republican Rep. Jason Chaffetz, will.i.am inquired as to why the country has failed to champion youth education.

“We [America] fought a war on drugs and lost,” he said. All it did was put young people in jail for petty drug crimes and now our prisons are over populated and prison guards are paid more than teachers. Why can’t we all agree that we should fight a war on education starting from 8-years-old to 19? Why can’t we as a country keep all the jobs for technology here in America?”

The “#ThatPower” musician continued, expressing why children growing up in dangerous inner city areas like Detroit deserve a well-rounded education like everyone else.

“When you come to America, we grow but our citizens aren’t growing,” Will.i.am explained to the panel. “Our colleges are still the best colleges but the people in the neighborhood I come from aren’t trying to go to MIT. They’re not thinking of Stanford or Harvard. People from India come to attend these colleges and then they get educated and go to their country and create jobs in their developing countries. When you travel the world, you get to see like the country you are from and how we are developing or not.

And then you look at this industrial prison complex where half of — actually the majority of people in prison are African and Latino, African-American and Latino. That breaks my heart.”

will’s presence provided a spark on the show that continues to stagger in ratings against CBS’ Face the Nation and ABC’s This Week. And after this, we’re sure it won’t be the last time we see the musician next to our country’s biggest politicians. 

SOURCE: Think Progress | VIDEO CREDIT: YouTube