Shawn Carter takes on the bail industry
Songwriters Hall of Fame inductee, JAY Z received his history making honor earlier this week during an event that he was unfortunately able to attend. Shawn “JAY Z” Carter wrote an op-ed for TIME Magazine, where he shares how a Mother’s Day initiative inspired his plan to take on the exploitative bail industry.
Hov plans to support the Southerners on New Ground and Color of Change organizations, who bailed out 100 mothers for Mother’s Day last month as a result of their fundraising drive to do the same for fathers this year for Father’s Day.
“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. This Father’s Day, I’m supporting those same organizations to bail out fathers who can’t afford the due process our democracy promises.”
Further inspiration that helped JAY’s effort to fight the bail industry, was his recent producer role of the Kalief Browder docuseries, Time: The Kalief Browder Story. Ever since, he’s become obsessed with the injustice after learning that Kalief’s family was too poor to post bond. As well as the case of Sandra Bland, who died in police custody last year, after being falsely charged of assaulting a public servant during a minor traffic infraction.
“On any given day over 400,000 people, convicted of no crime, are held in jail because they cannot afford to buy their freedom. One in 9 black children has an incarcerated parent. Families are forced to take on more debt, often in predatory lending schemes created by bail bond insurers.”
While he family continues to grow, JAY feels that helping out is the least that he can do. But in the long run, his philanthropy efforts won’t be the best fix. Calling on others to help get rid of the “inhumane practices altogether” and “fix our broken criminal justice system.”
You can read JAY Z’s full editorial here.
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