Free Black Mamas with Veronica Rex
One out of three people who are arrested in America can’t pay their bail, leaving them to sit behind bars for months while they wait for a trial—losing jobs, homes, and even custody of their kids in the process. Most of those people are black or brown. We talk with community organizer Veronica Rex about why the cash bail system is so broken, how community bail funds work, and how we can help bring home black mamas this Mother’s Day.
Veronica Rex is a mother, grandmother, and activist with the Philadelphia Community Bail Fund. She’s also experienced the injustice of cash bail firsthand. Last year, she was arrested—and she had to choose between bail money and legal support. So she sat behind bars for three months before she learned about the bail fund. Now she wants to share her story with the world, and help more black mamas stuck in pretrial detention get back to their families.
It’s like being in slavery again because you have to pay for your freedom. We should not have to pay for our freedom, and we should not have to sit behind bars until the system decides to give me a court date, until the system decides it’s time for my arraignment.
—Veronica Rex, Philadelphia Community Bail Fund activist
On the agenda:
- What happens when people can’t make bail: they lose their jobs, homes, cars, and even their kids
- Why people who have to wait in jail for their trial are more likely to plead guilty, even if they’re not
- What it really looks like to be stuck in jail before trial, from lockdowns to strip searches to being denied medication
- How bail funds work, why they matter, and why you should give to one this Mother’s Day
Donating to a bail fund is an incredibly simple, incredibly powerful action. And right now, your money can go to bringing black mamas back to their families for Mother’s Day. Check out National Bail Out to find a bail fund near you, or check out the Philadelphia Community Bail Fund to support our local black mamas.