#FreeBlackMamas
How to support #FreeBlackMamas?
DONATE: We depend on individual donors like you to support our work.
By becoming a one-time or monthly donor, spreading awareness in your community, or organizing fundraisers, you are part of building a society where it is possible to address harm without relying on structural forms of oppression or the violent systems that increase it. The#FreeBlackMamas Communications Toolkit will support you in fundraising and messaging.
ORGANIZE: We support you in organizing a bail out, or starting a bail fund in your community.
We excitedly invite people from every community to learn from our work and disrupt this system that harms us all. Our bail outs are a key component of our broader strategy to build the power of local organizations to end the use of money bail and experiment with community-based support systems that will replace cages. The #FreeBlackMamas Bail Out Toolkit will serve as a useful guide as you begin your bail out journey. If you want to connect with a Black-led organization in your community, please refer to our Directory of Black-led Organizations.
TRANSFORM: We understand that abolition is transformative work.
You're not just bailing out Mamas and caregivers and providing supportive services; you're accepting the invitation into something bigger than yourself. This commitment requires questioning, unlearning, and challenging yourself. You’re redefining how you interact with harm, handle harm, and address its causes.
Recommendations:
Why #FreeBlackMamas?
ANTIBLACKNESS AND MISOGYNOIR:
Despite the reality that Black cis and trans women, femmes, gender nonconforming people, and non-binary folks bear the brunt of incarceration, both as the fastest growing population in jails and as caregivers for our families and communities, there has been little discussion of the specific ways Black cis and trans women, femmes, gender nonconforming people, and non-binary folks experience the impacts of incarceration.
STATE FAILURE:
The cities and counties we live in are failing to support our people. Many of our Black Mamas and caregivers often become involved with the criminal punishment system as a result of efforts to cope with life challenges such as poverty, unemployment, and significant physical or behavioral health struggles, including those related to past histories of trauma, mental illness, or substance use. Once we post bail to free our Black Mamas and caregivers, we ensure that they are supported with what they need to resolve their cases and thrive in their communities. We don’t assume what people need; we ask. We offer all Black Mamas and caregivers short and long-term supportive services. Our supportive services include court reminders, childcare, grief counseling, groceries, transportation, ongoing housing assistance, employment, mental health support, and legal counsel.
WEAKENED TIES:
Black cis and trans women, femmes, gender nonconforming people, and non-binary folks—Black Mamas and caregivers—are often without support or a safety net when they are condemned to a cage: there is no one to come for them. Because so many women in jail are single parents, their incarceration aggravates already strained finances and support systems. Research has linked these parental stresses to incarcerated women’s re-incarceration. This also especially rings true for our transgender, gender nonconforming, and non-binary siblings, who face further harm and marginalization due to pervasive profiling, targeting, criminalization, and structural exclusion from housing, employment, and medical care that increases arrest rates and incarceration.