I was Arrested.
The same day that I launched this company, I was arrested.
Pulled over for a very minor traffic infraction, the police officer informed me that I have a warrant for my arrest. The root cause? A speeding ticket from two months prior that, amidst work and life, I’d forgotten to pay. I had no idea of this warrant.
I was handcuffed, searched, taken to jail, booked, paid bail, and told to go see judges in two separate courts. In court, I realized that despite having a reasonable explanation (the reminder had been sent to a former address), I was well out of my element. I had little information about how my charges had accrued, what order to approach them, nor how to address them. I needed to obtain counsel, and I did.
I thought that maybe one day I would see some humor in this, but honestly I’m not sure.
Most importantly, I was reminded of the profound degree of my privilege, and the equal amount of responsibility I have to use that privilege to contribute to justice reform.⠀
I was treated gently and kindly by the officer. I was able to afford bail. I was able to take Ubers to court during work hours, 3 days in a row. I’m able to obtain counsel. I am surrounded by supportive family and friends. I actively benefit from generations of access.
The racist, classist system our nation has created is an expensive mess to navigate and millions of people lose their livelihood and lives to it. Families and communities are torn apart due to the circumstances it creates. Among the atrocities Bryan Stevenson writes about in “Just Mercy” is the story of a mother who is in prison due to some relatively small bounced checks. What a horrific nightmare.
Thanks to my experience at Lowercase Capital and the truly, profoundly caring and impactful folks who run it (Hi Chris and Crystal!) my eyes have been open to the importance of criminal justice reform.
The glimmers of hope in justice reform come from organizations that tackle it head-on and the people who run them. There are so many more than the ones listed here, but a couple to begin your research:
The Bail Project:
On any given night in America, there are 450,000 people locked up in jails simply because they can’t afford bail. Pretrial detention is a key driver of mass incarceration, accounting for 100% of all jail growth in the past 20 years. We cannot end mass incarceration without meaningful bail reform. The Bail Project pays bail for people in need, reuniting families and restoring the presumption of innocence.
The Anti-Recidivism Coalition:
The ARC believes that criminal justice reform begins with currently and formerly incarcerated people being treated with dignity, respect, and fairness. ARC’s work begins within the walls of the facilities with rehabilitative programming, youth offender parole workshops, and peer mentorship programming. In each institution, ARC offers workshops and conduct weekly mentoring—encouraging better decision making, building positive relationships, and shifting the internal culture. When it’s time to transition back into the outside world, ARC offers reentry support. ARC also puts those directly impacted by the justice system at the forefront of changing it. They provide advocacy trainings to inform its members of the current policy landscape and provide the tools (public speaking, persuasive writing, storytelling) to share their experiences to advocate for fairer and more humane criminal justice policies.
#Cut50:
Run by Van Jones, Cut50 is a bipartisan effort to cut crime and incarceration across all 50 states. To do this, they bring together leaders impacted by the criminal justice system with unlikely allies spanning the political divide to push for criminal justice solutions.