It’s been two years since Bronx rapper Remy Ma was released from New York’s Bedford Hills Correctional Facility. Now the hip-hop artist is using her voice to speak out about the hardships incarcerated black women face.
On The Huffington Post‘s weekly rap show, BARS, Remy lamented, “Black women are overlooked all the time. People don’t know all the hardships that being a black woman you have to face.”
The rapper noted that many of the struggles black women encounter after leaving prison are similar to what incarcerated black men face: lack of job opportunities, housing, and simple rights afforded to others.
She also praised Ava DuVernay’s documentary 13th for taking on the issue of mass incarceration. However, while there are some similarities in the struggles incarcerated black women and men deal with after prison, women inside often endure greater isolation than men.
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“You go to a men’s facility and there’s lines wrapping around the building,” she said. “I know women who haven’t seen their children in ten years and they live right here in Brooklyn. They’re 45 minutes away from the city. People whose husbands forgot about them, boyfriends forgot about them. Friends forgot about them. Their children forgot about them. [Black women] just get thrown away and I’m tired of it.”
Remy added that even after serving time, once you’re out it’s like you’re still being punished: “You’re constantly paying for it over and over. The system is designed for you to fail.”