Spotlight on Black Liberation: National Bail Out Challenges the Racist Bail System
/The continuation of injustices against Black people despite an end to overt legal subjugation is a facet of this country that we encourage our supporters to actively resist.
As an organization, we understand the U.S. to be rooted in systems of racist and colonial violence (like Israel), and we seek to uplift the work of Black and Indigenous people fighting for their own liberation on this occupied territory as we support advocates for Palestinian liberation.
As part of this commitment, Palestine Legal's spring fundraising campaign will invest in Black Freedom and Liberation.
We pledge to contribute $1,500 of every $20,000 we raise to the following organizations, with the goal of donating $15,000 in total:
We commit to sharing the work of these organizations and the larger Black Freedom struggle.
This week we focus on National Bail Out (NBO).
National Bail Out
National Bail Out is a Black-led and Black-centered collective of abolitionist organizers, lawyers and activists building a community-based movement to support Black people and end systems of pretrial detention and ultimately mass incarceration.
Bail is a system of pretrial detention conditioned on an individual's ability to pay to be released.
Here are National Bail Out's primary campaigns:
Black Mama’s Bail Out, a campaign to bail out Black Mamas and caregivers from jails and migrant detention centers across the country every year before Mother’s Day.
COVID-19 Bail Outs, since people who are incarcerated cannot practice social distancing inside a cage.
Uprising Bail Outs to support those who are detained for exercising their right to protest and covering legal fees to ensure they can stay out.
Free Black Mamas Fellowship which began this year with an 8-week program that explores the experience of Black mamas around the U.S. and provides an opportunity for Black mamas to devise solutions and cast vision together for the future of their communities.
National Bail Out describes "The Black Codes of Bail" as "policies and practices associated with pretrial detention that trap people in the criminal legal system, exploit them economically, condemn them to debt, attempt to control their movement and interaction with family and loved ones, or make them vulnerable to further criminalization."
These Black Codes include:
Unreasonable Curfew Requirements
Loss of Public Defender
Two Year Waiting Periods
Forced Payment for Electronic Monitoring
Forcing People to Plea Guilty
Learn more about the Black Codes of Bail here or at the video below.