Kansas City’s Morgan Cooper is using his ‘Bel-Air’ clout to fight debt-based poverty | Opinion

Thursday was Morgan Cooper Day in Kansas City, Mayor Quinton Lucas proclaimed during a ceremony at City Hall. Cooper is director, co-writer and executive producer on “Bel-Air,” a dramatic take on the original “Fresh Prince of Bel-Air,” a 1990s sitcom starring Will Smith.

Cooper was obviously emotional about the proclamation. At the podium, he cried more than once.

Now in its second season, the critically-acclaimed show airs on NBCUniversal’s Peacock subscription streaming service, which says it’s the most-streamed original series it’s had in two years.

Cooper is just a kid from Kansas City trying to “put the town on” the entertainment map, he told me. But he is using his platform for good.

This week, Cooper joined a push to end debt-based poverty. He donated a sizable (but still undisclosed) amount of money to support Project Green Light, a pilot program created by his sister, Chloe Cooper, as director of the 501(c)(3) nonprofit Kansas City Community Bail Fund.

The goal of the program, the first of its kind in the country, is to help drivers pay down outstanding traffic fines and fees associated with license reinstatement.

Keeping people out of debt and out of jail because of vehicle-related payments is costly, but a worthy cause in need of more volunteers and donations. The amount of money it takes to insure a car, pay personal property taxes, renew a driver’s license and pay for inspection fees or registration is astronomical for some drivers, Chloe told The Star.

Not having paperwork to legally drive can create an endless cycle of poverty, she said.

The Project Green Light initiative is an important one we should all support.

Driving while poor holds people back

Unlike lawmakers in Missouri, the Cooper family wants to undo the economic harm caused by car-related issues. But the Missouri legislature must act to end this cycle of poverty imposed on mostly low-income people.

“There are a lot of people who are driving around the city who have suspended licenses who can’t pay these fees and they get buried in tickets and can’t find their way out of it,” Morgan said. “That has to change.” It does.

In Kansas City, at least 6,700 cases of driving while suspended or driving without insurance cycled through Kansas City municipal court in 2022, according to data analyzed by Project Green Light.

Nationwide, the problem is worse. Tens of millions of people have lost their driving privileges because they couldn’t afford to pay fines and fees, the American Civil Liberties Union reported.

Debt-based license suspensions throw drivers into a cycle of poverty, and don’t improve debt repayment rates, according to the ACLU’s report on reckless lawmaking.

In its report, the ACLU offered policymakers a simple fix: End debt-based license suspension. Agreed.

This week, The Star’s Natalie Wallington recounted the impact traffic-related fees had on Kimberly Williams, a Kansas City, Kansas, mother of two. Her driving saga began with no insurance and expired registration and license plates. It ended with Williams spending four days in a Wyandotte County jail and amassing thousands of dollars in fines. Thanks to Project Green Light, Williams is debt-free and legally licensed to drive.

Driving while poor shouldn’t be a thing. But motorists in Kansas and Missouri struggling to make ends meet face an uphill battle once they’re trapped in the legal system. No one should lose their ability to get around over unpaid fines for minor traffic infractions.

That is why Morgan Cooper joined the push to end debt-based driving restrictions in Missouri and Kansas, he told us. Lawmakers in both states must end debt-based poverty.

Thanks to Cooper’s insistence, the work of talented creatives from our area is featured on his update of “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.”

“Kansas City is in everything I do,” Cooper said, dressed Thursday in a dapper gray suit and white button-up dress shirt. “The best and most talented people are here.”

Visits to Boys & Girls Club, Paseo High

On Wednesday, Cooper spent time at the Thornberry unit of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Kansas City. The visit was low-key, without much fanfare. I met Cooper at the club building at 3831 E. 43rd Street. He was dressed in an all-black ensemble with a gray puffer vest and black hoodie.

He was joined by close family members and Abram Shaffer, a Kansas City-based videographer documenting Cooper’s trip back home from Los Angeles.

Cooper offered advice to about 30 teenagers on career goals and aspirations. He encouraged them to pursue their passion with intense focus. For more than an hour, he fielded questions from inquisitive teens and adult staff with poise and patience. Photo opportunities followed.

The next day, he spoke with students at Kansas City’s Paseo High School, some of whom later joined Cooper at City Hall.

“I love you guys,” he said to the group.

Twenty-two states from Maine to Montana have laws against debt-based driving restrictions. A bill that would remove mandatory jail time for driving on a suspended license for nonpayment of fines moved through the Kansas House unanimously and awaits a hearing in the Kansas Senate. Why have lawmakers in Missouri been slow to act?

Project Green Light officially launched this week. To apply for help or volunteer, visit the project’s webpage at kcbail.fund/project-green-light/