|
Dear John,
This July 4th, as the country attend cookouts, enjoy the fireworks and reflect on, “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” -- hundreds of thousands of Black people are locked up behind bars, separated from loved ones, and denied the chance to live freely as human beings. Black children are forced to navigate the world without their parents. And entire communities are left in the wake of mass incarceration. On this July 4th, we are reminded of a stark and painful truth -- so many of our people are not free.
With millions of Black people locked in cages, we have been doing everything in our power to tear down the walls that keep our people alone and separated from beloved community. Over the years, our efforts have included helping Black mothers escape the nightmare of money bail and reuniting them with their children, stopping corporations from making millions off the suffering of Black people and so much more. Our work is making a real impact, but we need your support to continue.
At Color Of Change, every day our Criminal Justice team works hard to move our country from a punishment-based system to one that recognizes the dignity of our people. While there are many crucial ways to tackle this problem, we have been focusing on a few key strategies:
- Force prosecutors to do their part in ending mass incarceration. District attorneys are the most powerful single actors in the criminal legal system and historically, have been incentivized to prosecute as many people as possible. Collectively, no decisions fuel mass incarceration and the disproportionate criminalization of Black communities more than the decisions of prosecutors.
- End the system of money bail and pretrial detention. The number of people currently sitting in a cell awaiting trial accounts for nearly 80 percent of the total jail population. That means Black people who have been accused, and not convicted of a crime are languishing behind bars simply because of their inability to pay bail. We can effectively begin to decrease the jail population by working to win bail reform.
- Stop corporations from profiting from incarceration. Profit remains one of the main drivers for mass incarceration. Several private companies are contracted by the state to provide food and health services, telecommunications and so much more. What's worse - much of these costs are then unloaded and shouldered by incarcerated people and their families. As such, we can shift power by providing less of an incentive for companies like JPay to participate in this exploitative and dehumanizing industry
And our fighting has paid off in a number of wins:
- Passed legislation in New York and Colorado that ends cash bail for misdemeanors. In New York, police officers are only allowed to issue appearance tickets instead of jailing Black people and putting them at risk of losing their jobs, homes, and custody of their children
- Pressured local prosecutors in Boston, San Antonio, and Durham to stop needless prosecution on a county-wide level by declining to prosecute marijuana possession, petty theft, and other misdemeanors
- Secured free phone calls from New York City jail so incarcerated people are not deterred from making phone calls to their loved ones because of prohibitive costs
This is what forging a path towards freedom looks like. With your help, we can create a new paradigm where alternatives that address structural racism are prioritized over systems that extract wealth and inflict harm on poor Black communities.
Can you chip in $3 to support our work to transform the criminal legal system?
Until justice is real,
--Scott, Rashad, Arisha, Clarise, Erika, Leonard, Kristen M., Marena, Marybeth, Tamar, Madison, 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.
If you're absolutely sure you don't want to hear from Color Of Change again, click here to unsubscribe.
