Activist groups are uniting behind a Father’s Day bailout campaign following the success of the recent “National Mama’s Bail Out Day.”
Like the Mother’s Day drive, National Bail out Father’s Day is aiming to raise money to bail fathers out of jail so they could spend Father’s Day with their children. More than 700,000 people are incarcerated each day because they cannot afford bail, according to the movement’s site.
“While we were able to bring some of our mamas home, tens of thousands of our loved ones remain caged in local jails simply because they cannot afford to buy their freedom,” the campaign’s website reads.
They have also pulled in some big names, including Jay-Z who wrote about his involvement in an op-ed for Time Magazine published Friday.
“If you’re from neighborhoods like the Brooklyn one I grew up in, if you’re unable to afford a private attorney, then you can be disappeared into our jail system simply because you can’t afford bail,” he wrote, adding he was changed by working on the Kalief Browder series. “Millions of people are separated from their families for months at a time — not because they are convicted of committing a crime, but because they are accused of committing a crime.”
He added: “This Father’s Day, I’m supporting those same organizations to bail out fathers who can’t afford the due process our democracy promises.”
The Mother’s Day campaign raised $700,000 from 12,000 people to bail out more than 100 mothers. Following the Father’s Day drive, there will be two more campaigns in June: National Juneteenth Bail Out (June 19) and National Pride Bailout Day (June 25).
The 24 organizations involved are Southerners on New Ground (SONG), Color of Change, Movement 4 Black Lives Policy Table, Black Alliance for Just Immigration, Texas Organizing Project, Neighborhoods Organizing for Change, Los Angeles Community Action Network, Brooklyn Community Bail Fund, Essie Justice Group, Law for Black Lives, Ella Baker Center, Dignity and Power Now, Black Lives Matter, Black Lives Matter Oakland, Black Lives Matter Memphis, Dream Defenders, Arch City Defenders, Decarcerate PA, Urban Youth Collaborative, Saint Louis Action Council, Philadelphia Student Union, Malcolm X Grassroots Movement, Black Youth Project, Baltimore Action Legal Team, The Ordinary People’s Society.
You can help by donating to the cause here.