Colin Kaepernick is once again putting his money where his mouth is.
The former San Francisco 49ers QB knows their is a heightened risk of infection for people in jail during the ongoing pandemic. There are a bunch of people stuck in jail who cannot afford to get out because of the bail.
That’s where Kaepernick and his Know Your Rights camp is standing in to team up with Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights to announce that $1 million will be donated to community bail funds.
“Our legal system unjustly criminalizes our Black and Brown communities, penalizing poverty under the guise of keeping our communities safe,” Kaepernick said in a press release. “We must reimagine the current system and abolish wealth-based detention, freeing our brothers, sisters, and siblings from a racist system.”
Jails and prisons currently entail the five largest clusters of COVID-19.
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“Predatory cash bail is part and parcel of the institutionalized anti-Black racism that has plagued our country,” added Kerry Kennedy, the president of Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights. “This $1 million commitment from Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights and Colin Kaepernick’s Know Your Rights Camp will empower community-led bail funds and accelerate their crucial work freeing people caged in our local jails, but our funding alone will never be enough. Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights’ team of lawyers and advocates will work with local organizers to stop the aggressive policing and endless cycle of mass incarceration that have targeted poor and Black communities and move to end cash bail now.”
“There is an urgency that I feel when it comes to getting people out of a cage,” Rahim Buford, manager of the Nashville Community Bail Fund said. “One hour, or two, or three in a jail cell — it can traumatize you for life, and the risks are even greater now with COVID-19 in jails across the nation. Of the 1,000 people we’ve freed since 2016, over half of those cases were ultimately not prosecuted. Had they stayed in jail, they would’ve more than likely pled guilty.”
