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News :: Human Rights |
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Jena 6 Day of Action September 20 |
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by peace
(No verified email address) |
14 Sep 2007
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Jena 6 Day of Action: September 20th, 2007 |
Jena 6 Day of Action September 20!
http://www.colorofchange.org/jena/action.html?id=2115-227598
Justice for the Jena 6
Six young black men are headed for 20+ year prison sentences in a clear case of Jim Crow "justice."
Their families are fighting but need our support. Will you stand with them?
Last fall in Jena, Louisiana, 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."1
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 odds are stacked against them. Together, we can make sure their story is told, that this becomes an issue for the Governor of Louisiana, and that justice is provided for the Jena 6. It starts now. Please add your voice:
http://www.colorofchange.org/jena/
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 arrested for the theft of the gun.2
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.3
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. Bail was set so high -- between $70,000 and $138,000 -- that the boys were left in prison for months as families went deep into debt to release them.4
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.5 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. They will lose precious years to Jena's outrageous attempt to maintain a racist status quo. But if we act now, we can make a difference.
Demand 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/
Thank You and Peace.
-- James, Van, Gabriel, Clarissa, and the rest of the ColorOfChange.org team
July 17th, 2007
References:
1. "Injustice in Jena as Nooses Hang From the ‘White Tree,'" truthout, July 3, 2007
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/070307B.shtml
2. "Racial demons rear heads," Chicago Tribune, May 20, 2007
http://tinyurl.com/yvh7t5
3. See reference #1.
4. See reference #1.
5. "'Jena Six' defendant convicted," Town Talk, June 29, 2007
http://tinyurl.com/ysxtgg
Other resources:
NPR: Searching for Justice in Jena 6 Case (streaming audio)
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=11756302
Democracy Now! - The case of the Jena Six ...
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=07/07/10/1413220
Too Sense: Free The Jena Six Now
http://halfricanrevolution.blogspot.com/2007/07/free-jena-six-now.html
While Seated: Jena Six
http://www.whileseated.org/photo/003244.shtml
Nooses, attacks and jail for black students in Jena Louisiana
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/6/28/144445/384
Justice In Jena, by Jordan Flaherty
http://www.zmag.org/content/print_article.cfm?itemID=12783§ionID=30
The Perpetrator becomes the Prosecutor (and other related entries)
http://friendsofjustice.wordpress.com/blog/
'Stealth racism' stalks deep South
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/this_world/6685441.stm |
This work is in the public domain |
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Next battle over Jena 6: Sept. 20 |
by peace
(No verified email address) |
14 Sep 2007
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Next battle over Jena 6: Sept. 20
By Gloria Rubac
Published Sep 13, 2007 9:18 PM
Thousands of people will converge on the small, rural town of Jena, La., on Sept. 20 to stand up for the Jena Six, six high school students fighting Jim Crow injustice in a case involving a schoolyard fight between Black and white students.
Last week charges were reduced for three of the Jena Six, but Mychal Bell, the only one of the six to be tried and convicted, will be sentenced on Sept. 20 and could still face 22 years in prison. |
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Treatment of Jena Six Raises Questions of Racial Injustice |
by aclu
(No verified email address) |
15 Sep 2007
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Treatment of Jena Six Raises Questions of Racial Injustice
Appears to Be Symptom of Broader Problem, ACLU Says
JENA, LA - September 14 -The American Civil Liberties Union today expressed concern about the possibility of racially-motivated unequal treatment in the Jena Six case, in which six black high school students were charged with attempted murder and conspiracy to commit murder for fighting with a white student last year in Jena, Louisiana. Although some of the charges were later reduced to aggravated battery and conspiracy to commit aggravated battery, one student still faces an attempted murder charge and up to 50 years in prison without suspension, probation or parole. Mychal Bell, the only member of the Jena Six to be tried so far, was convicted of aggravated battery in July and could face a 15 year prison sentence.
The troubling story began in August 2006, when three black Jena High School students sat under a so-called "white tree" in the school’s courtyard where only white students traditionally sat. When they arrived at school the next morning, the black students found three nooses hanging from the tree. In the weeks following this incident, racial altercations engulfed the town of Jena. Under questionable circumstances, LaSalle Parish District Attorney Reed Walters charged six black teenagers with attempted murder. Only one white student was charged for his involvement in the fights—a minor charge of battery that put him on probation.
"Given the facts as reported, the Jena Six case raises serious questions about a possible double standard for whites and blacks in the criminal justice system—and in our schools. Unfortunately, this kind of problem is not exclusive to Jena, Louisiana," said Dennis Parker, Director of the ACLU’s Racial Justice Program. "Possible differences in treatment between students of different races, the apparent overcharging of students by law enforcement and questions about the possibility of discrimination generally in the school are emblematic of the "school-to-prison pipeline" cases that we are seeing nationwide."
The ACLU has been on the ground working closely with the families of the Jena Six since March 2007, before their story was reported nationally. As a lead advocacy organization on the issue, the ACLU has helped the families of the six young men charged in the Jena Six cases to form a defense committee and to develop and administer a legal defense fund to ensure qualified criminal defense representation. In addition, the ACLU has thoroughly monitored the cases to protect the civil rights of the Jena Six and their families.
"From racial profiling to unequal punishment in school to potential misconduct by authorities, the Jena Six case causes great concern," said Marjorie Esman, Executive Director of the ACLU of Louisiana. "It is time to fully examine the facts surrounding this case to determine if any racially-motivated misdeeds have taken place. Considering the concerns that the Jena Six bring up, we must redouble our commitment to equal protection—not just in Jena, but across Louisiana and the rest of the country."
Recently, the ACLU of Louisiana filed an "open records request" in Louisiana seeking all arrest and incident reports, broken down by race, for LaSalle Parish, which includes the town of Jena. The request also seeks records pertaining to Jena High School specifically, including documents listing the frequency of law enforcement visits to the school and charges issued to its students. Instead of following the standard procedure of turning over the appropriate materials, District Attorney Walters took the extraordinary step of suing the ACLU of Louisiana in state court so he would not have to comply with the order. The ACLU of Louisiana filed a motion to move the issue to federal court, where it is currently pending.
Coinciding with Mychal Bell’s September 20 sentencing date, the ACLU is working in coordination with the Jena Six family members to organize a demonstration from the courthouse to a baseball field in Jena. The event is expected to draw up to 5,000 people from across the country in support of the Jena Six and to bring attention to their tragic experience.
In light of media reports of questionable conduct by authorities involved in the Jena Six cases, the ACLU is calling on Louisiana Attorney General Charles Foti to seek justice for the Jena Six—including a thorough examination of the actions of District Attorney Reed Waters to determine whether or not prosecutorial improprieties have taken place.
More information on the Jena Six can be found at:
www.jenasix.org
More information on the ACLU Racial Justice Project’s work on the 'school-to-prison pipeline' can be found at:
www.aclu.org/crimjustice/juv/24761res20060328.html |
See also:
http://www.jenasix.org
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Other Ways to support the Jena 6 |
by defendjena6
(No verified email address) |
15 Sep 2007
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Other ways to support the Jena Six
How can I help
The Jena Six Defense Committee
PO Box 2798
Jena, LA 71342
jena6defense (at) gmail.com
For more information, you can also contact
Friends of Justice
507 North Donley Avenue
Tulia, TX 79088
www.friendsofjustice.wordpress.com
ACLU of Louisiana
PO Box 56157
New Orleans, LA 70156
www.laaclu.org
or 417-350-0536
TIMELINE - Jena 6
In the front yard at a high school in Jena, Louisiana, with a total population of 4,000, there sits a tree. This is "the white tree", where only white students sit during breaks.
In September of 2006, a black student asked 'permission' from the school administration, if he could sit under the tree. They said he could sit anywhere.
The very next day, three nooses, in the schools colors, hung from "the white tree".
Three white students were identified as being responsible and the principle recommended they be expelled from school. However, the white superintendent said, "Adolescents play pranks," the superintendent told the Chicago Tribune, "I don't think it was a threat against anybody," and gave them a three day suspension instead.
A few days later, the entire black student body protested the no-nothing 'punishment' and sat under "the white tree". That day the white District Attorney came to Jena High School for an impromptu assembly, with back-up law enforcement. It has been reported that the DA threatened the silent black students who were sitting under the tree, saying if the did not stop making a fuss about the "innocent prank...I can be your best friend or your worst enemy. I can take away your lives with a stroke of my pen." The school was then put on lockdown for the remaining week.
Thursday night, November 30th, 2006, a fire burned down the main academic building of Jena High School. This incident is still unresolved.
Friday night, December 1st, a black student was beaten by a group of white students at a "white party".
Saturday, December 2nd, at the Gotta Go convenience store, the black student who was beaten up the night before, along with his friends, ran into one of the white students who beat him. A confrontation broke out and the white student went to his vehicle to get his shotgun. The black students wrestled the shotgun away from him and brought it to the police department and told them of the incident. The black students were arrested for stealing the gun. The white student was not charged.
Monday, December 4th, 2006, a white student, Justin Barker, was attacked at school by a group of black students for taunting them with racial slurs and verbally supporting the nooses that were hung on "the white tree" and also supporting the white students who beat up the black student at the party. He was treated at a hospital and released the same day, attending a social function that evening.
Six black students were arrested for beating Barker, and charged with attempted second-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder. These charges hold a possible sentence of twenty to one hundred years in prison. They were all immediately expelled from school.
17-year-old Robert Bailey Junior -bail was set at $138,000 17-year-old Theo Shaw - bail was set at $130,000
18-year-old Carwin Jones - bail was set at $100,000
17-year-old Bryant Purvis - bail was set at $70,000
16 year old Mychal Bell - bail was set at $90,000 (a sophomore in high school, was charged as an adult)
There remains another unidentified minor
Mychal Bell remained in jail from December 2006 until his trial because his family was unable to post the $90,000 bond. Theo Shaw has also remained in jail. Several of the other defendants remained in jail for months until their families could raise the money for bond.
In the local paper, the 'incident' was reported as fact and the white DA Reed Walters published a statement saying, "When you are convicted, I will seek the maximum penalty allowed by law."
. . . .
On July 31st, 2007, Mychal Bell will be sentenced. He is facing up to twenty-two years in prison.
The remaining five students await their trial on charges of attempted second-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder. They face up to 100 years in prison."
The white student who was beaten at the convenience store was later arrested for bringing a hunting rifle loaded with 13 bullets onto a high school campus. He was released on $5000 bond. The white man who beat up the black youth at the off-campus party was arrested and charged with battery.
The white students who hung up the nooses in "the white tree" have never been charged. |
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HATE CRIMES FROM BLACKS AND WHITES |
by White man
(No verified email address) |
17 Sep 2007
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Hangung a noose is free speech..like NAMBLA's advetizing the raping of kids.
A bunch of people LYNCHING one person of a diffent colour is a HATE CRIME.
Both are haters....the Noose hangers(whites) and the thugs(blacks) who beat-up a person.
Don't snitch!! |
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NLG endorses Jena6 9/20 |
by nlg
(No verified email address) |
17 Sep 2007
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 14, 2007
7:14 AM
CONTACT: National Lawyers Guild / The United People of Color Caucus (TUPOCC)
Kerry McLean, 917-334-9331
Marjorie Cohn, NLG President, 858-204-3565
The United People of Color Caucus of the National Lawyers Guild Endorses September 20 Rally in Jena
WASHINGTON - September 14 - The United People of Color Caucus (TUPOCC) of the National Lawyers Guild (NLG) endorses the planned rally in Jena, Louisiana on September 20 in support of the six black high school students who have come to be known as the “Jena 6.” The rally takes place on the sentencing date of Mychal Bell, one of the Jena 6. “It is still the Jim Crow era in Jena,” said Kerry McLean, TUPOCC member, and member of the NLG national executive board. “The constitutional rights and human rights of these boys have been flagrantly violated. TUPOCC stands in solidarity with the Jena 6, and demands justice.”
Bell, originally charged with attempted murder for allegedly beating up a white student, was later charged with and convicted of aggravated second-degree battery and conspiracy to commit aggravated battery. A judge recently dismissed the conspiracy conviction, saying that juveniles could not be charged with conspiracy in adult court. The battery conviction remains. Bell faces up to 15 years in prison.
The other five teens, Robert Bailey, Theo Shaw, Carwin Jones, Bryant Purvis and an unidentified juvenile, face charges ranging from aggravated second-degree battery to attempted second-degree murder. Most of the boys spent months in jail before being able to raise tens of thousands of dollars for bail, and Bell was never able to raise the money to make bail.
The story of the Jena 6 began last September, when three black high school students sought respite from the sun under a leafy tree in the school yard where usually only white students sat. The next day nooses were found hanging from the tree. Though the culprits who hung the noose were discovered and recommended for expulsion by the principal, the school board chose to reduce their expulsions to a three-day, in-school suspension. After the entire black student body protested peacefully by sitting under the tree, Jena District Attorney Reed Walters informed the school in an assembly that he could take away the lives of the black students with a stroke of his pen.
Over the following months several incidents occurred, including threats and acts of violence against black students to which DA Walters did not respond. However, after a white student was beaten up by black students in December, Walters charged six black students with second-degree attempted murder and conspiracy to commit murder. The white student was treated at the hospital, released that same day, and was seen at a social function that very night.
“The situation in Jena makes it apparent that racism continues to thrive in the U.S. ‘criminal justice’ system, and that we must raise our collective voice to a deafening pitch in order to oppose the systems of oppression that continue to treat us as second-class citizens,” said Anne Befu, co-chairperson of TUPOCC. TUPOCC calls on all allies in the fight for racial justice to join the rally on September 20 in Jena, Louisiana.
Founded in 1937as an alternative to the American Bar Association which did not admit people of color, the National Lawyers Guild is the oldest and largest public interest/human rights bar organization in the United States. Its headquarters are in New York and it has chapters in every state. |
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Racially Biased Justice Still Infects American Courtrooms |
by Jesse Jackson
(No verified email address) |
18 Sep 2007
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Published on Tuesday, September 18, 2007 by The Chicago Sun Times
Racially Biased Justice Still Infects American Courtrooms
by Jesse Jackson
They cut down the “white tree” at Jena High School last month — about a year too late. On Thursday, a mass civil rights march will take place in Jena, La., demanding justice for the Jena Six — the six young men unjustly charged with felonies, jailed on prohibitive bonds and facing years in prison. As we march for the Jena Six, we will protest a racially biased U.S. criminal justice system that is creating explosive conditions across this country.
Jena, La., was Klan country, and racial divides still run deep. At Jena High School, there was a “white tree” where it was known only white kids could sit. Blacks and whites sat separately in the auditorium. Last year, at the beginning of school, a freshman asked the principal if blacks could sit under the “white tree.” The principal said they could sit anywhere they wanted. The next day, three nooses — in school colors — were hung from the ”white tree.” In the South, a noose is not a laughing matter. This is a hate crime: a direct racial threat in a region with a terrible history of hanging.
The principal took it seriously and expelled the white students responsible. The school board and superintendent overruled him, dismissing it as a “prank,” reducing the expulsions to three-day, in-school “suspensions.” Racial tensions rose. A sit-in took place, followed by a series of fights. Then a white youth, apparently taunting an African American who had been beaten, was thrown to the ground and kicked. He went to the hospital, but was released that night and attended the school’s “ring ceremony.”
The prosecutor had six black teenagers arrested and charged with attempted murder. The first, Mychal Bell, a 16-year-old sophomore star on the school football team, was tried as an adult for aggravated assault and conspiracy, both felonies. He was tried before a white judge with an all-white jury. He had only a court-appointed counsel who called no witnesses. The prosecutor argued that the gym shoes on his feet constituted a “deadly weapon.” He was convicted, jailed with prohibitive bond and faced 20 years in prison.
This month, the appellate court ruled that he should not have been tried as an adult. The prosecutor has appealed that ruling. And astonishingly, Bell remains in jail, a fact that intensifies the struggle around the nation to free the Jena 6 and will no doubt swell the crowds at Thursday’s demonstration.
Across this country, there are two justice systems — one for blacks and one for whites. Black (and Latino) young men are not more likely to commit crimes than whites. But they are more likely to be stopped by police, more likely to be arrested if stopped, more likely to be charged if arrested, more likely to be jailed if convicted, more likely to be charged with felonies, and more likely to be tried and imprisoned as adults.
One of every eight young black men in his 20s is in jail or prison on any given day. This isn’t just a Southern problem. A study of five states in the Northwest and Midwest showed that blacks are incarcerated at 10 times the rate of whites.
Mass incarceration of African Americans, mostly for nonviolent crimes, is poisonous and destructive. Today, according to the U.S. Civil Rights Commission, bans on ex-felons voting is the “biggest impediment to voting since the poll tax,” with more than 5 million people of color losing their right to vote. Thursday in Jena, the protest will begin. But it won’t end there. This situation is explosive — not only in Jena but across the country.
Jesse Jackson can reached at jjackson (at) rainbowpush.org |
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