Image via Getty/Dave Kotinsky
Jay Z Bails Out Imprisoned Dads For Father’s Day
Father’s Day is usually spent celebrating the men who take care of their families through sacrifice and undying love. Unfortunately, there are a lot of father’s who do just that, but they are incarcerated and can’t afford to get home to their loved ones.
Jay Z has decided to do something about that, or help at least.
Shawn Carter penned a essay for TIME where he lays out the blatant unfairness of the bail bonds system.
Seventeen years ago I made a song, “Guilty Until Proven Innocent.” I flipped the Latin phrase that is considered the bedrock principle of our criminal justice system, ei incumbit probatio qui dicit (the burden of proof is on the one who declares, not on one who denies). 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. 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.
Instead of just shooting the breeze about it, Jay chose to be about it.
Last month for Mother’s Day, organizations like Southerners on New Ground and Color of Change did a major fundraising drive to bail out 100 mothers for Mother’s Day. Color of Change’s exposè on the for-profit bail industry provides deeper strategy behind this smart and inspiring action. This Father’s Day, I’m supporting those same organizations to bail out fathers who can’t afford the due process our democracy promises. As a father with a growing family, it’s the least I can do, but philanthropy is not a long fix, we have to get rid of these inhumane practices altogether. We can’t fix our broken criminal justice system until we take on the exploitative bail industry.
Hopefully those fathers were able to spend time with their children, wives, girlfriends and others on their special day.
You can read the essay in its entirety here.
