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John,
We won historic legislation all but ending cash bail in New York--and now it’s under threat. Before the law could even be implemented, racists everywhere from law enforcement, to the media, and even Trump have launched a smear campaign against it. The hard work of thousands of community organizers, advocates, and Color Of Change members like you could go down the drain. But we won’t let the racists win--are you with us?
Because of our fight, thousands of people who have not been convicted of a crime will no longer suffer in jail simply because they can't afford bail. The law doesn't go into effect until January, but local officials are preparing to release people who are in stuck in jail because they couldn't pay bail early so there isn't too much of a backlog in January. It only makes sense. But last week the New York Post wrote multiple inflammatory articles claiming 900 criminals would be released onto the street and spread lies that New York City Mayor Bill De Blasio would be giving people Mets tickets and gift cards as a "reward." The city hasn't even determined what their supervised release program will need to look like for people released under the new law yet. And it's not even confirmed that Mets tickets are a part of the plan. These are clever lies that the NY Post is telling to scare people into thinking we need mass incarceration.
We know the truth and we have a plan to defeat this smear campaign against justice. Meeting community needs is proven to increase community safety way more than jails ever could, but we need more people to know that. So we’re launching a campaign to spread the truth about what ending mass incarceration really means and we need your help to do it.
Will you chip in $4 to help us get the truth out about NY Post’s scare tactics?
The NY Post reaches over 400,000 people everyday and is the third most read paper in New York, following the NY Times and the Wall Street Journal. If we can’t stop them, what they’re doing will work. Lawmakers have already introduced new legislation to roll our bail reform win back--and the country is watching. But with the support of members like you, we can do full scale media advertising that will combat the lies NY Post and law enforcement is spreading--that looks like meeting everyday New Yorkers where they are to tell them the truth. With your donations we can do things like put up bus stop and radio ads, and hire staff to work on a media strategy full-time. We’re up against really powerful opponents with a huge platform, but if we all put our support together, one by one, person by person, we can defeat them.
Releasing people pre-trial is working better than jail, which is costing taxpayers A LOT more without improving public safety. In fact, extensive research--and real-life examples from across New York State show that LESS reliance on incarceration actually delivers MORE public safety. For the past four years, NYC's supervised release program has helped people meet their needs in order to make it back to court. They get $10 gift cards to put food on the table, cellphones so they can get court reminders, and metrocards so they can show up to court. These are basic necessities that help families who couldn’t afford bail navigate the justice system and stay together. In New York City, the jail population has dropped from 22,000 to 7,000 over the past three decades but at the same time crime is lower than ever before. How? Legislators, advocates and stakeholders focused on keeping people out of jail, and investing more in community-based resources such as housing, treatment, services and care. The result? Less incarceration and more public safety.
The real danger is inside of cages, not in granting people their rightful freedom. Kalief Browder nearly died spending two years in solitary confinement on Rikers Island and later committed suicide because of the trauma he faced there. He was innocent and should have never been jailed in the first place.
Despite the New York Post’s racist scare tactics, we aren't scared. And we can't be silent. The stakes are really high in New York. If we can put an end to this smear campaign, it will mean this law gets implemented without hiccups and we can keep moving towards real justice in this country.
I support the TRUTH, not NY Post’s lies.
Until justice is real,
--Clarise, Rashad, Arisha, Scott, Erika, Malachi, Marybeth, Marena, Madison, Leonard, Tamar, Neosho, and the rest of the Color Of Change team
References:
1. "Highlights of New York's 2019 Bail Reform Law," Vera Institute for Justice, July 2019
2. "City Courts Are Getting A Jump Start on Bail Reforms Ahead of January," Gothamist, 4 November, 2019
3. "Nearly 900 city inmates may be freed before bail-reform law takes effect," New York Post, 3 November 2019
4. City Courts Are Getting A Jump Start on Bail Reforms Ahead of January," Gothamist, 4 November, 2019
5. Ibid
6. Ibid
7. "Comptroller Stringer: Despite a Decline in Incarceration, Correction Spending, Violence, and Use of Force Continued to Rise in FY 2018," NY Comptroller's Office, 22 January 2019
8. City Courts Are Getting A Jump Start on Bail Reforms Ahead of January," Gothamist, 4 November, 2019
9. "Neighborhood Stat: Strengthening Public Safety Through Community Empowerment," Center for American Progress, 2 October 2019
10. "If We Left Everybody Go There Would Be No One In Prison," NY Times, 13 May 2018
11. "NY Bail Reform Would Be Curbed Under GOP Proposals In Legislature," New York Law Journal, 7 November 2019
12. "The New York Post's Craven Ilhan Omar Cover Was An Insult to All New Yorkers," GQ Magazine, 12 April 2019
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