For Mother’s Day, Activists Are Bailing Black Mamas Out of Jail

“Let’s bail our mamas out for Mother’s Day,” suggested Mary Hooks, the executive director of the LGBTQ organization, Southerners on New Ground. She brought the idea up at a convening organized by the Movement for Black Lives Policy Table—a coalition of racial and economic justice groups—and the non-profit Color of Change, which I attended in Atlanta this January.

The idea lit up the room. “Everyone was immediately excited and inspired,” recalled Marbre Stahly-Butts, a lawyer and organizer with Law for Black Lives and the policy table.

Now, over a dozen organizations from Oakland to Birmingham are taking up the call—from reproductive justice groups like Sistersong to organizations focused on criminalization, like the Dream Defenders. They are joining together to raise funds to bail out black mothers currently languishing in jails nationwide.

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