“The unfairness of waiting in jail because you can’t pay your bail and it’s connected to a lot of the bigger things that we were thinking about this year,” said Andrew Yang, a principal member of Circle Mobilizing Because Black Lives Matter, about the group’s upcoming festival.
The local group is a compassion team that works as part of the Circle of Hope church in Philadelphia and New Jersey, and it core focus is bailing out Black mothers and fathers.
Yang spoke with Billy Penn about how the unfairness of not being able to pay one’s bail is connected to the group’s work on criminal justice reform, within what he called the racist law enforcement system.
In November, Circle Mobilizing Because Black Lives Matter will hold its first festival event, TurnUp to BailOut, aimed at raising awareness of the cash bail system. The festival will showcase music from Kingsley Ibeneche, Jasmine Cassell, Lauren Scott and Jon Williams, with all proceeds going toward bailing out Black mothers and fathers incarcerated during the holiday season.
Billy Penn was able to speak to three of the members of Circle Mobilizing Because Black Lives Matter — Yang, Bethany Stewart and Kris Eden — about the event to learn what they hope people will take away from attending.
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Dominique “Peak” Johnson is a North Philadelphia journalist. He is one of the founding editors and writers of the North Philly Metropolis. Currently he freelances for WHYY, Billy Penn and Citywide Stories. Click here to learn more about Peak.
