I’m a bit clairvoyant every once in a while and I get the feeling that there are some folks out there who don’t really know what it is that the Black Lives Matter organization does outside of the protesting and tweeting.
So it is my great pleasure to present you with some receipts.
According to The Nation, Black Lives Matter is giving more than 30 incarcerate women their freedom, just in time for Mother’s Day.
As the subheadline states, “These women are in jail not because they’ve been convicted of a crime but because they can’t pay to get back to their lives as they await trial.”
The organization will help free more than 30 women in over a dozen jails across the country.
Southerners on New Ground (SONG), The Movement for Black Lives and ColorOfChange and other groups have come together to raise $250,000 for what they’ve dubbed the National Mama’s Bail Out Day.
The organizations are still accepting donations, if you’re interested in contributing.
Many of the women who will be freed from jail have cases that represent what is wrong with our criminal justice system. These women are in jail for low level offenses such as loitering and small-scale drug possession.
I don’t even have to tell you about the racial disparity when it comes to incarceration. Black women make up 44 percent of the women in jails.
The women who will be bailed out are being held in jails in Atlanta, Houston, Minneapolis, Los Angeles etc. The idea for the bailout came in January during a gathering of 25-Black led organizations who sought to collaborate on bail reform and enact part of the goal outlined by the Movement for Black Lives’ policy platform.
During the meeting, Mary Hooks, co-director of Atlanta’s LGBTQ organizing group SONG that works on economic and social justice issues said suggested “using our collective resources to buy each others’ freedom.” It was a thought embraced by the others in attendance.
The term mother, as Hooks described, is broad.
“When we talk about black mamas, we know that mothering happens in a variety of ways,” Hooks said. “Whether it’s the mothers in the clubs who teach the young kids how to vogue, or the church mothers who took care of me.”
The Nation adds, women who are birth mothers and chosen mothers will be eligible to be bailed out.
The bailouts are scheduled to happen today and tomorrow with a Mother’s Day event to follow.
The post Black Lives Matter Organizations Working To Free Incarcerated Women For Mother’s Day appeared first on MadameNoire.