Jay Z’s Father’s Day is going to be extra special this year. Not only could he be celebrating the birth of his twin babies, but he will also be doing good through charitable efforts to fight America’s bail industry.
In an op-ed for TIME, the Songwriters Hall of Fame inductee explained how a Mother’s Day initiative inspired his plans.
“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,” he wrote. “Color of Change’s exposè on the for-profit bail industry provides deeper strategy behind this smart and inspiring action. This Father’s Day, I’m supporting those same organizations to bail out fathers who can’t afford the due process our democracy promises.”
Hov said this cause became an obsession for him after working on “Time: The Kalief Browder Story.” He went on to say that cases like Browder’s and Sandra Bland’s have inspired him to study the issue. Through this, he’s learned astounding facts.
“On any given day over 400,000 people, convicted of no crime, are held in jail because they cannot afford to buy their freedom,” he explained. Later, he added: “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.”
With all of this in mind, he’s decided to do something about the “big bail companies” that prosper in this system. But, he says, this can’t be a one-man job. So, he called on others to join him. “As a father with a growing family, it’s the least I can do,” he said. “But philanthropy is not a long fix, we have to get rid of these inhumane practices altogether. We can’t fix our broken criminal justice system until we take on the exploitative bail industry.”
Jay Z was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame this week. He is reportedly working on 4:44, a mysterious project of some sort, that is due June 30.
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