We're reuniting Black mamas with their babies for Mother's Day !
Dear friend,
May 12th is Mother’s Day and this year, like many others, thousands of Black mamas will eat their Mother’s Day meal locked up in a small cell--separated from their kids.
At this very moment, thousands of Black mamas are sitting in jail, while they await their trial, simply because they cannot afford to pay bail. These mothers have not been convicted of a crime or even had a trial yet. They are there simply because they don’t have enough money to pay for their freedom.
Our movement has made the decision to not wait on anyone to give our Black mothers freedom, so we're doing it ourselves. In just 9 days, the National Bailout Collective is going to post bail for Black mothers all across this country to guarantee their freedom just in time for Mother's Day--and we're fueling the efforts to galvanize support and make it happen. Together, we are literally buying our own freedom.
Dear friend, your $8 will help support the movement to bail out Black mamas just in time for Mother's Day.
We cannot reunite Black mothers with their babies alone. Every year the donations of thousands of Color Of Change members are used to support our work with the National Bail Out Collective, a Black-led collective working towards ending systems of pretrial detention and ultimately ending mass incarceration. Every dollar donated is used to power the online fundraising campaign to ensure that as many Black mamas get bailed out as possible. We run ads to get the word out, create the fundraising videos that millions of people watch to get involved, help develop the toolkits for local organizers, and place national media stories to bring attention to this work and amplify the stories of the mamas we bail out.
From May 6-12th, a symphony of organizers, lawyers, activists, organizations, and volunteers, led by National Bailout Collective, will literally walk to courthouses to pay the bail of Black mothers. Simple as that. And their work will go beyond Mother’s Day by providing extra support to the bailed-out Black mothers through employment opportunities and fellowship programs. Together our support will empower our movement to end the abusive and violent nature of the bail industry.
We cannot afford to lock away the power and potential of Black mothers. Our families and communities suffer when we lock them away from their lives. And especially for our babies, they need their mothers. Black mothers tend to be the bedrock and primary providers for their families. When that is snatched away, the very livelihood of so many children is put into jeopardy. Kids miss school, bills go unpaid, and the emotional scars last for a lifetime. By posting bail for incarcerated Black women who are awaiting trial, we're affirming their dignity because everyone deserves to have their freedom, whether or not they can pay for it.
Since our movement started freeing Black mamas on Mother’s Day in 2017 :
- 308 Black mothers have been bailed out
- 22,500 people donated to support this effort
- $985,945 has been paid in bail money to bring our people home
The human cost of bail cannot be understated. If you cannot afford bail, you are left locked away from the world in a cage. While sitting in jail for days and months Black women can get fired from their jobs and lose their means to survival. Black trans women are often left unsafe and vulnerable to rape and sexual assault due to being placed in the same jails as men. Black mothers who go in at a young age end of with traumatic scars for life due to the abuse and inhumane conditions that often take place in jails. We cannot afford to allow Black mothers to be ripped from their babies who need them.
By creating a tradition of raising money to buy our own freedom, we’re envisioning the future we want. The future we want is void of the bail industry because we don’t believe in the profiteering of the separation of Black families. Our love and compassion for Black women will not be deterred.
Until justice is real,
Scott, Rashad, Arisha, Erika, Clarise, Marybeth, Kristen, Marena, Leonard, Madison, Tamar, and the rest of the Color of Change team
Color Of Change is building a movement to elevate the voices of Black folks and our allies, and win real social and political change. Help keep our movement strong.
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