Two years after her release from state prison and fresh off of winning two BET Hip-Hop Awards, Bronx rap star Remy Ma is speaking out about the obstacles black women face both behind bars and after they re-enter society.
The artist, who was incarcerated for six years after being convicted of intentional assault stemming from an altercation over $3,000, stopped by HuffPostâs weekly rap show, âBARS,â on Friday. In the midst of her incredible comeback, she took a step back to reflect on her incarceration and vocalized the added difficulties black women face if they enter the criminal justice system.
âBlack women are overlooked all the time. People donât know all the hardships that being a black woman you have to face,â she told HuffPostâs Jacques Morel. She noted how many black Americans deal with âseparationâ from their fathers, husbands and sons, who are incarcerated at higher rates than their white counterparts. According to the NAACP, one in six black men have been incarcerated since 2001 and one in 100 black women are currently in prison.
But black women arenât just âforgottenâ by the system, she said. The maximum security Bedford Hills Correctional Facility, where the rapper did her time, holds up to 972 women. Remy said very few of these women actually had visitors. In her opinion, men didnât experience the same isolation.
âMeanwhile you go to a menâs facility and thereâs lines wrapping around the building,â she said. Some women would go years without visits from loved ones while in prison, Remy continued.
I know women who havenât seen their children in ten years and they live right here in Brooklyn. Theyâre 45 minutes away from the city. People whose husbands forgot about them, boyfriends forgot about them. Friends forgot about them. Their children forgot about them. [Black women] just get thrown away and Iâm tired of it.
Remy, who lauded Ava DuVernayâs documentary â13thâ for its take on the complex issues surrounding mass incarceration, explained that once a prisoner finally makes it out of the criminal justice system, oneâs slate is not wiped clean as some may assume. That criminal history lingers forever, she said.
âYou try to fill out ⊠a job application,â she said. âYou try to [apply] for housing. You try to do anything [as] simple as voting you canât do because of something that you did. So itâs never really like you paid your debt to society. Youâre constantly paying for it over and over. ⊠The system is designed for you to fail.â
Well, damn, Remy. DAMN. Thank you for speaking on how misogynoir manifests in the system, in our families, in how neglect of Black women destroys the whole community but no one stands up for usâŠexcept each other. đ