#FreeBlackMamas
One of the things that God is up to in the city of Philadelphia is releasing his precious people who are locked down in cages. The criminal justice system has discriminated and continues to discriminate against people of color. The Philadelphia Community Bail Fund is an organization in Philadelphia that is committed to putting an end to the cash bail business and creating a world without prisons. Until this is accomplished, we are committed to bailing as many people as we can in the city of Philadelphia. We are inviting you to help us reach our goal of $90k by May 6 to free Black mothers who are held on cash bail.
The criminal justice system is designed to keep a revolving door open for predominantly people of color to cycle in and out of prison. Michelle Alexander vividly paints the horror of our criminal justice system in her classic book, The New Jim Crow. She writes, “The cyclical rebirth of caste in America is a recurring racial nightmare.” This nightmare has lasting effects that impact communities of color in ways that words can’t capture. Citing the Bail Fund’s website:
Research shows that just three days in jail makes people more likely to lose their jobs and housing, be separated from their families, and commit crimes in the future. Inability to pay bail forces people to plead guilty to get out of jail, even if they are innocent and the evidence against them is weak. Defendants are nine times more likely to plead guilty to a misdemeanor charge if they cannot pay bail. People who are held on bail receive longer sentences than those who can afford to post bail for the same crimes. In Philadelphia, more than 70% of the 5,198 inmates detained in the city’s jails as of May 31, 2018 have not been convicted; they are merely awaiting trial. The annual cost of detaining the jail population has, in previous years, amounted to roughly $126 million to the City of Philadelphia.
This needs to stop. God is doing something about this injustice, and the church has an invitation and a responsibility to join God in the mission of liberation.
The purpose of this article is to invite you to participate in the liberating work of God in Philadelphia. This work is not glamorous nor does it find much notary. The work to liberate people who exist in cages is not sexy, but it is the work of Jesus and must be the work of the church. Click here to join God in setting the captive free.
“The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free.”
—Luke 4:18, NIV
