quest51210

Dear friend,
I just learned about a case of segregation-era oppression happening today in Jena, Louisiana. I signed onto ColorOfChange.org's campaign for justice in Jena, and wanted to invite you to do the same.

http://www.colorofchange.org/jena/?id=2207-227649

Last fall in Jena, the day after two Black high school students sat beneath the "white tree" on their campus, nooses were hung from the tree. When the superintendent dismissed the nooses as a "prank," more Black students sat under the tree in protest. The District Attorney then came to the school accompanied by the town's police and demanded that the students end their protest, telling them, "I can be your best friend or your worst enemy... I can take away your lives with a stroke of my pen."

A series of white-on-black incidents of violence followed, and the DA did nothing. But when a white student was beaten up in a schoolyard fight, the DA responded by charging six black students with attempted murder and conspiracy to commit murder.

It's a story that reads like one from the Jim Crow era, when judges, lawyers and all-white juries used the justice system to keep blacks in "their place." But it's happening today. The families of these young men are fighting back, but the story has gotten minimal press. Together, we can make sure their story is told and that the Governor of Louisiana intervenes and provides justice for the Jena 6. It starts now. Please join me:

http://www.colorofchange.org/jena/?id=2207-227649

The noose-hanging incident and the DA's visit to the school set the stage for everything that followed. Racial tension escalated over the next couple of months, and on November 30, the main academic building of Jena High School was burned down in an unsolved fire. Later the same weekend, a black student was beaten up by white students at a party. The next day, black students at a convenience store were threatened by a young white man with a shotgun. They wrestled the gun from him and ran away. While no charges were filed against the white man, the students were later arrested for the theft of the gun.

That Monday at school, a white student, who had been a vocal supporter of the students who hung the nooses, taunted the black student who was beaten up at the off-campus party and allegedly called several black students "nigger." After lunch, he was knocked down, punched and kicked by black students. He was taken to the hospital, but was released and was well enough to go to a social event that evening.

Six Black Jena High students, Robert Bailey (17), Theo Shaw (17), Carwin Jones (18), Bryant Purvis (17), Mychal Bell (16) and an unidentified minor, were expelled from school, arrested and charged with second-degree attempted murder. The first trial ended last month, and Mychal Bell, who has been in prison since December, was convicted of aggravated battery and conspiracy to commit aggravated battery (both felonies) by an all-white jury in a trial where his public defender called no witnesses. During his trial, Mychal's parents were ordered not to speak to the media and the court prohibited protests from taking place near the courtroom or where the judge could see them.

Mychal is scheduled to be sentenced on July 31st, and could go to jail for 22 years. Theo Shaw's trial is next. He will finally make bail this week.

The Jena Six are lucky to have parents and loved ones who are fighting tooth and nail to free them. They have been threatened but they are standing strong. We know that if the families have to go it alone, their sons will be a long time coming home. But if we act now, we can make a difference.

Join me in demanding that Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco get involved to make sure that justice is served for Mychal Bell, and that DA Reed Walters drop the charges against the 5 boys who have not yet gone to trial.

http://www.colorofchange.org/jena/?id=2207-227649

Thanks.

captain howdy

Man....It's hard to comprehend why and very sad that **** like this still happens in America. It's embarrassing for the country and backward progress of what so many have fought and died for.

quest51210

thanks for the comment. i think we should all sign up to their petition. i would also like some of our own members who may live in the area to chime in. assault is one crome, but charging them with attempted murder and conspiracy to attemped murder is going a bit overboard.

rcsart

It seems to me that Louisiana is the last place that needs this type of bad press. I mean I for one have been exposed to this all my life, and have never understood how people can act like this. I remember riding the bus with my grandmother in El Paso in the early 60s and asking why these people were treated different. Then when I moved to Lubbock, Texas in the early 90s there was a major divide, you really had to be careful what you said there. This last year I read another story about a high school prom where blacks and whites had their own separate proms. I’m sure that in some places this will never change, I just have a really hard time understanding. I agree this is unjust and I will be adding my name to the list of supporters.

Curtis

quest51210

funny thing is that dallas/farmers village is segregated due to the Mexican immigrant issue. seems frisco and plano texas are now the new "white" communities. i am a member of LULAC and deal with issues like this on a weekly basis, but this is really absurd.

Vivid

To say that that's messed up would be a major understatement.

hhrcrafty

What's sad is that it's nothing that I don't see every day as a public defender in southeast Missouri. Nothing but courts of patronage and prejudice, and if you're poor it's just as bad as if you're black and middle-class.

The kid that was convicted by an all-white jury has a pretty good Batson challenge for appeal, but it'll take getting picked up in federal court to make it happen. The problem with his case is that there were probably only the "victim" and the suspects present when the altercation occurred. The State will call the victim to testify, all you can really do at that point is cross-examine him, and your co-defendants certainly aren't going to testify for you because that would open themselves up to making incriminating statements. The defendant's friends and family could testify at the sentencing hearing, but that hasn't happened yet and probably won't help anyway.

The justice system in Louisiana is abysmal, at best, worse so in New Orleans where the judges just removed the public defender board because they didn't like the fact that they were trying to defend cases rather than rubber stamp them like before Katrina.

quest51210

good to see input from a pro, but i think we all know that public opinion and media attention has changed cases like these in the past when it WAS tolerated behavior. so if you can and feel compelled to help...just sign up to the petition.

aven11

Hi All,Very sad indeed!! I have sent my "VOICE OF THE PEOPLE" comments,heres what i sent:

It FIGURES YOUR A ANOTHER DEMOCRAT WITH NO BACKBONE AT ALL!! GET READY FOR RUDY CAUSE HE'S COMING IN 2008!!

A Floridan Republican,Craig Dxxxxxxxx

GDZHHR