Before we say anything disrespectful about Black men voters today, or propose some more patronising nonsense like crypto "digital monkey avatar insurance," let's talk about an issue that Black men really care about: bail reform.

mekka okereke :verified:

Today is the start of Bob Lee's murder trial. Bob Lee was the founder of Cash App, and was stabbed in San Francisco. A whole bunch of you jumped to the conclusion that a Black homeless pandemic shoplifter did it. Because racism.

But no.

https://hachyderm.io/@mekkaokereke/110201036259171919

1/N

mekka okereke :verified:

A lot of y'all that are against bail reform, are against it for Fox News reasons. You believe lies.

You haven't even bothered to look into the data, so you just accept a system that incarcerated 2 million+ innocent people in horrendous conditions. You accept this because most of the innocent are Black, and you can't see yourself as ever being in the situation of being accused of a crime that you didn't do. So you don't care about the experience of innocent people being accused of a crime.

2/2

Fifi Lamoura

@mekkaokereke I find it really weird Harris's campaign is making out that crypto is a Black thing when all the crypto lobbyists are ridiculously wealthy White guys. It almost feels like they're using Black men to basically run cover for and obscure the White techbro scammers.

mekka okereke :verified:

Many of my friends were laid off in the past few years. Being laid off can be devastating. If you work in tech, you may be fortunate enough to get severance. Even still, some of my friends have been out of work for a year. The severance has stopped, but they still have bills. This can be terrifying.

Now imagine being out of work, for two years, with no severance. No ability to talk or move freely. Your relatives have to pay extra money and fees.

That's pre-trial detention.

3/N

Killick

@mekkaokereke I was a juror in a trial where we ultimately found the accused to be not guilty. He was in jail awaiting trial for years. His first lawyer knew the plaintiff so it took time to find a second lawyer. Then COVID blew up. Then his new lawyer died. More time went by. He got a new lawyer and the courts re-opened. The trial took 3 days. Two years of this guy's life in jail only to be found not guilty. That's because he was too poor to afford bail.

mekka okereke :verified:

Every Black man in this country knows that they can be arrested by police on any given day at any time. That can start this spiral of two years of incarceration, while being 100% innocent!

Here's part of my economic plan: don't lock up millions of innocent Black men for 2 years, so that they don't lose their jobs, have their credit destroyed, get evicted, lose custody of their children, and become a financial burden to their families.

4/4

Nate Vack 🍴

@mekkaokereke It has always been baffling to me that this shit doesn't flagrantly violate the 6th amendment. To me, "speedy trial" would mean, for most arrests, like three days *from arrest to verdict.* Tops. Two years isn't a joke; it's abuse.

Okay. I guess it doesn't baffle me. It just makes me really angry.

P J Evans

@njvack @mekkaokereke
Courts are actually very busy, and while they try to do speedy trials, there are too many for the available judges and space.

Jenniferplusplus

@PJ_Evans @njvack @mekkaokereke Ok? That doesn't change the 6th amendment. Those people still have a right to a speedy trial. If the court system can't provide one, that's the court's problem. This exact situation, where people are locked up for months and years without ever being tried or convicted, is exactly the one that the 6th amendment is meant to prevent.

Nate Vack 🍴

@PJ_Evans @mekkaokereke If courts can't provide a speedy trial, holding people in jail seems awful unconstitutional to me. You should be free until your trial date. Full stop.

Yes, in some *very rare* cases there's an imminent public safety argument for pretrial detention. But that's not what bail is for -- you shouldn't be able to pay your way out of that at any price.

If we'd like trials to be speedier, we *could* always arrest fewer people for trifling bullshit.

Hrefna (DHC)

@njvack

Recently I saw one of those rare cases where it is understandable that he would not have been released pending trial, but instead he was offered $100 million bail.

Which just seems… wrong. Is he a threat or isn't he? Is he a flight risk or isn't he?

Paying $100 million in bail—which would have come from a bail bond—just doesn't seem like it would have changed any of the fundamental dynamics of the case.

@PJ_Evans @mekkaokereke