Bed-Stuy Pop-Up Library Feat. Black Women Authors To Benefit Jailed Teen

BED-STUY, BROOKLYN — The Free Black Women's Library is taking over Bed-Stuy's Brooklyn Movement Center on Thursday for a pop-up event in support of a 15-year-old girl in Ohio who was jailed for killing her father after he allegedly abused her mother. Bresha Meadows, who cops say killed her father with his own gun in July 2016, has gathered a following of over 100 organizations over the past year, including The Free Black Women's Library, calling for police to drop the charges against her. An online campaign to release Meadows also has over 26,400 signatures.

The teen is set to appear in court on Jan. 20, and by then she will have spent 175 days in jail, her attorney Ian Friedman confirmed to Patch.

"Unfortunately, this is not atypical," Friedman said, referring to Meadows' months-long incarceration period while waiting for her case to be heard. "Complex cases may take even longer."

Friedman told Patch that on Jan. 20 the goal will be getting Meadows a reasonable bond, which the judge has not yet set forth.

"Obviously there are serious charges, and the prosecutor feels that hearing out the case is warranted," Friedman said. "Our position has always been, and will be at trial, that Bresha's conduct was done solely for the purpose of self-defense."

Dozens of domestic violence and other activist groups around the country will push for Meadows' release on Thursday as part of The National Day of Action to Free Bresha.

"In order to continue to raise consciousness about the dynamics of domestic violence, the negative impacts of incarcerating young people, and the criminalization of survivors of violence, we take part in this National Day of Action to Free Bresha," The Free Black Women's Library wrote on its Facebook page for the pop-up event.

Meadows' extended family members clash on whether the alleged murder was in reaction to abuse from her father. Martina Latessa, Meadows' aunt, said Meadows ran away from home before the shooting and told her that her dad was abusing her mother and threatening to kill her entire family, the Huffington Post reported. But relatives of Meadows' 41-year-old father, Jonathan Meadows, told Fox 8 Cleveland at his funeral in August 2016 that they believed his murder was calculated and unrelated to any form of abuse.

The Free Black Women's Library is a mobile collection of over 500 books, all written by black women, featured as a pop-up library in different locations monthly around Brooklyn. The library "uses books to build community, and explore the intersections of race, class and gender while creating space that centers and celebrates the work Black women and girls," the group's Tumblr says. "This is a salute to our brilliance, creativity, resilience and grace."

The pop-up event to honor Meadows will take place at 375 Stuyvesant Ave. from 5 - 9 p.m. on Thursday, Jan. 19. Find more information here.

Lead photo via The Free Black Women's Library Facebook.