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Quigley: Injustice in Jena: The 'White Tree'
A White Judge, White Jury, and White Prosecutor Calling White
Witnesses Leads To Conviction of Black Youth
Witnesses Leads To Conviction of Black Youth
Injustice in Jena: The 'White Tree'
by Bill Quigley
In a small still mostly segregated section of rural Louisiana, an all white jury heard a series of white witnesses called by a white prosecutor testify in a courtroom overseen by a white judge in a trial of a fight at the local high school where a white student who had been making racial taunts was hit by black students. The fight was the culmination of a series of racial incidents starting when whites responded to black students sitting under the "white tree" at their school by hanging three nooses from the tree. The white jury and white prosecutor and all white supporters of the white victim were all on one side of the courtroom. The black defendant, 17 year old Mychal Bell, and his supporters were on the other. The jury quickly convicted Mychal Bell of two felonies - aggravated battery and conspiracy to commit aggravated battery. Bell, who was a 16 year old sophomore football star at the time he was arrested, faces up to 22 years in prison. Five other black youths await similar trials on attempted second degree murder and conspiracy charges.
Yes, you read that correctly. The rest of the story, which is being reported across the world in papers in China, France and England, is just as chilling.
The trouble started under "the white tree" in front of Jena High School. The "white tree" is where the white students, 80% of the student body, would always sit during school breaks.
In September 2006, a black student at Jena high school asked permission from school administrators to sit under the "white tree." School officials advised them to sit wherever they wanted. They did.
The next day, three nooses, in the school colors, were hanging from the "white tree." The message was clear. "Those nooses meant the KKK, they meant ^ÑNiggers, we're going to kill you, we're going to hang you till you die,'" Casteptla Bailey, mom of one of the students, told the London Observer.
The Jena high school principal found that three white students were responsible and recommended expulsion. The white superintendent of schools over-ruled the principal and gave the students a three day suspension saying that the nooses were just a youthful stunt. "Adolescents play pranks," the superintendent told the Chicago Tribune, "I don't think it was a threat against anybody."
The African-American community was hurt and upset. "Hanging those nooses was a hate crime, plain and simple," according to Tracy Bowens, mother of students at Jena High.
But blacks in this area of Louisiana have little political power. The ten person all-male government of the parish has one African- American member. The nine member all-male school board has one African American member. (A phone caller to the local school board trying to find out the racial makeup of the school board was told there was one "colored" member of the board). There is one black police officer in Jena and two black public school teachers.
Jena, with a population of less than 3000, is the largest town in and parish (county) seat of LaSalle Parish, Louisiana. There are about 350 African Americans in the town. LaSalle has a population of just over 14,000 people - 12% African-American.
This is solid Bush and David Duke Country - GWB won LaSalle Parish 4 to 1 in the last two elections; Duke carried a majority of the white vote when he ran for Governor of Louisiana. Families earn about 60% of the national average. The Census Bureau reports that less than 10% of the businesses in LaSalle Parish are black owned.
Jena is the site of the infamous Juvenile Correctional Center for Youth that was forced to close its doors in 2000, only two years after opening, due to widespread brutality and racism including the choking of juveniles by guards after the youth met with a lawyer. The U.S. Department of Justice sued the private prison amid complaints that guards paid inmates to fight each other and laughed when teens tried to commit suicide.
Black students decided to resist and organized a sit-in under the "white tree" at the school to protest the light suspensions given to the noose-hanging white students.
The white District Attorney then came to Jena High with law enforcement officers to address a school assembly. According to testimony in a later motion in court, the DA reportedly threatened the black protesting students saying that if they didn't stop making a fuss about this "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 put on lockdown for the rest of the week.
Racial tensions remained high throughout the fall.
On the night of Thursday November 30, 2006, a still unsolved fire burned down the main academic building of Jena High School.
On Friday night, December 1, a black student who showed up at a white party was beaten by whites. On Saturday, December 2, a young white man pulled out a shotgun in a confrontation with young black men at the Gotta Go convenience store outside Jena before the men wrestled it away from him. The black men who took the shotgun away were later arrested, no charges were filed against the white man.
On Monday, December 4, at Jena High, a white student - who allegedly had been making racial taunts, including calling African American students "niggers" while supporting the students who hung the nooses and who beat up the black student at the off-campus party - was knocked down, punched and kicked by black students. The white victim was taken to the hospital treated and released. He attended a social function that evening.
Six black Jena students were arrested and charged with attempted second degree murder. All six were expelled from school.
The six charged were: 17-year-old Robert Bailey Junior whose bail was set at $138,000; 17-year-old Theo Shaw - bail $130,000; 18-year- old Carwin Jones - bail $100,000; 17-year-old Bryant Purvis - bail $70,000; 16 year old Mychal Bell, a sophomore in high school who was charged as an adult and for whom bail was set at $90,000; and a still unidentified minor.
Many of the young men, who came to be known as the Jena 6, stayed in jail for months. Few families could afford bond or private attorneys.
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 sufficient money to put up bonds.
The Chicago Tribune wrote a powerful story headlined "Racial Demons Rear Heads." The London Observer wrote: "Jena is gaining national notoriety as an example of the new 'stealth' racism, showing how lightly sleep the demons of racial prejudice in America's Deep South, even in the year that a black man, Barak Obama, is a serious candidate for the White House." The British Broadcasting Company aired a TV special report "Race Hate in Louisiana 2007."
The Jena 6 and their families were put under substantial pressure to plead guilty. Mychal Bell was reported to have been leaning towards pleading guilty right up until his trial when he decided he would not plead guilty to a felony.
When it finally came, the trial of Mychal Bell was swift. Bell was represented by an appointed public defender.
On the morning of the trial, the DA reduced the charges from attempted second degree murder to second degree aggravated battery and conspiracy. Aggravated battery in Louisiana law demands the attack be with a dangerous weapon. The dangerous weapon? The prosecutor was allowed to argue to the jury that the tennis shoes worn by Bell could be considered a dangerous weapon used by "the gang of black boys" who beat the white victim.
Most shocking of all, when the pool of potential jurors was summoned, fifty people appeared - every single one white.
The LaSalle Parish clerk defended the all white group to the Alexandria Louisiana Town Talk newspaper saying that the jury pool was selected by computer. "The venire [panel of prospective jurors] is color blind. The idea is for the list to truly reflect the racial makeup of the community, but the system does not take race into factor." Officials said they had summoned 150 people, but these were the only people who showed up.
The all-white jury which was finally chosen included two people friendly with the District Attorney, a relative of one of the witnesses and several others who were friends of prosecution witnesses.
Bell's parents, Melissa Bell and Marcus Jones, were not even allowed to attend the trial despite their objections, because they were listed as potential witnesses. The white victim, though a witness, was allowed to stay in the courtroom. The parents, who had been widely quoted in the media as critics of the process, were also told they could no longer speak to the media as long as the trial was in session. Marcus Jones had told the media "It's all about those nooses" and declared the charges racially motivated.
Other supporters who planned a demonstration in support of Bell were ordered by the court not to do so near the courthouse or anywhere the judge would see them.
The prosecutor called 17 witnesses - eleven white students, three white teachers, and two white nurses. Some said they saw Bell kick the victim, others said they did not see him do anything. The white victim testified that he did not know if Bell hit him or not.
The Chicago Tribune reported the public defender did not challenge the all-white jury pool, put on no evidence and called no witnesses. The public defender told the Alexandria Town talk after resting his case without calling any witnesses that he knew he would be second-guessed by many but was confident that the jury would return a verdict of not guilty. "I don't believe race is an issue in this trial--I think I have a fair and impartial jury--"
The jury deliberated for less than three hours and found Mychal Bell guilty on the maximum possible charges of aggravated second degree battery and conspiracy. He faces up to a maximum of 22 years in prison.
The public defender told the press afterwards, "I feel I put on the best defense that I could." Responding to criticism of not putting on any witnesses, the attorney said "why open the door for further accusations? I did the best I could for my client, Mychal Bell."
At a rally in front of the courthouse the next day, Alan Bean, a Texas minister and leader of the Friends of Justice, said "I have seen a lot of trials in my time. And I have never seen a more distressing miscarriage of justice than what happened in LaSalle Parish yesterday." Khadijah Rashad of Lafayette Louisiana described the trial as a "modern day lynching."
Tory Pegram with the Louisiana ACLU has been working with the parents for months. "People know if they don't demand equal treatment now, they will never get it. People's jobs and livelihoods have been threatened for attending Jena 6 Defense meetings, but people are willing to risk that. One person told me: ^ÑWe have to convince more people to come rally with us--..What's the worst that could happen? They fire us from our jobs? We have the worst jobs in the town anyway. They burn a cross on our lawns or burn down my house? All of that has happened to us before. We have to keep speaking out to make sure it doesn't happen to us again, or our children will never be safe.'"
Whites in the community were adamant that there is no racism. "We don't have a problem," according to one. Other locals told the media "We all get along," and "most blacks are happy with the way things are." One person even said "We don't have many problems with our blacks."
Melvin Worthington, the lone African American school board member in LaSalle Parish said it all could have been avoided. "There's no doubt about it," he told the Chicago Tribune, "whites and blacks are treated differently here. The white kids should have gotten more punishment for hanging those nooses. If they had, all the stuff that followed could have been avoided."
Hebert McCoy, a relative of one of the youths who has been trying to raise money for bail and lawyers, challenged people everywhere at the end of the rally when he said "You better get out of your houses. You better come out and defend your children--because they are incarcerating them by the thousands. Jena's not the beginning, but Jena has crossed the line. Justice is not right when you put on the wrong charges and then convict. I believe in justice. I believe in the point of law. I believe in accepting the punishment if I'm guilty. If I'm guilty, convict me and punishment, but if I'm innocent, no justice--" and the crowd joined with him and shouted "no peace!"
What happened to the white guys? The white victim of the beating was later arrested for bringing a hunting rifle loaded with 13 bullets onto the high school campus and released on $5000 bond. The white man who beat up the black youth at the off-campus party was arrested and charged with simple battery. The white students who hung up the nooses in the "white tree" were never charged.
The people in Jena are fighting for justice and they need legal and financial help. Since the arrests, a group of family members have been holding well-attended meetings, and have created a defense fund - the Jena 6 Defense Committee. They have received support from the NAACP, the Louisiana ACLU and Friends of Justice. People interested in supporting can contact: the Jena 6 Defense Committee, PO Box 2798, Jena, LA 71342 jena6defense [at] gmail.com; Friends of Justice, 507 North Donley Avenue, Tulia, TX 79088 http://www.fojtulia.org; or the ACLU of Louisiana, PO Box 56157, New Orleans, LA 70156 http://www.laaclu.org or 417.350.0536.
What is next? The rest of the Jena 6 await similar trials. Theodore Shaw is due to go on trial shortly. Mychal Bell is scheduled to be sentenced July 31. If he gets the maximum sentence he will not be out of prison until he is nearly 40. Meanwhile, the "white tree" outside Jena High sits quietly in the hot sun.
Bill is a human rights lawyer and law professor at Loyola University New Orleans. You can reach him at Quigley [at] loyno.edu Audrey Stewart contributed to this article.
by Bill Quigley
In a small still mostly segregated section of rural Louisiana, an all white jury heard a series of white witnesses called by a white prosecutor testify in a courtroom overseen by a white judge in a trial of a fight at the local high school where a white student who had been making racial taunts was hit by black students. The fight was the culmination of a series of racial incidents starting when whites responded to black students sitting under the "white tree" at their school by hanging three nooses from the tree. The white jury and white prosecutor and all white supporters of the white victim were all on one side of the courtroom. The black defendant, 17 year old Mychal Bell, and his supporters were on the other. The jury quickly convicted Mychal Bell of two felonies - aggravated battery and conspiracy to commit aggravated battery. Bell, who was a 16 year old sophomore football star at the time he was arrested, faces up to 22 years in prison. Five other black youths await similar trials on attempted second degree murder and conspiracy charges.
Yes, you read that correctly. The rest of the story, which is being reported across the world in papers in China, France and England, is just as chilling.
The trouble started under "the white tree" in front of Jena High School. The "white tree" is where the white students, 80% of the student body, would always sit during school breaks.
In September 2006, a black student at Jena high school asked permission from school administrators to sit under the "white tree." School officials advised them to sit wherever they wanted. They did.
The next day, three nooses, in the school colors, were hanging from the "white tree." The message was clear. "Those nooses meant the KKK, they meant ^ÑNiggers, we're going to kill you, we're going to hang you till you die,'" Casteptla Bailey, mom of one of the students, told the London Observer.
The Jena high school principal found that three white students were responsible and recommended expulsion. The white superintendent of schools over-ruled the principal and gave the students a three day suspension saying that the nooses were just a youthful stunt. "Adolescents play pranks," the superintendent told the Chicago Tribune, "I don't think it was a threat against anybody."
The African-American community was hurt and upset. "Hanging those nooses was a hate crime, plain and simple," according to Tracy Bowens, mother of students at Jena High.
But blacks in this area of Louisiana have little political power. The ten person all-male government of the parish has one African- American member. The nine member all-male school board has one African American member. (A phone caller to the local school board trying to find out the racial makeup of the school board was told there was one "colored" member of the board). There is one black police officer in Jena and two black public school teachers.
Jena, with a population of less than 3000, is the largest town in and parish (county) seat of LaSalle Parish, Louisiana. There are about 350 African Americans in the town. LaSalle has a population of just over 14,000 people - 12% African-American.
This is solid Bush and David Duke Country - GWB won LaSalle Parish 4 to 1 in the last two elections; Duke carried a majority of the white vote when he ran for Governor of Louisiana. Families earn about 60% of the national average. The Census Bureau reports that less than 10% of the businesses in LaSalle Parish are black owned.
Jena is the site of the infamous Juvenile Correctional Center for Youth that was forced to close its doors in 2000, only two years after opening, due to widespread brutality and racism including the choking of juveniles by guards after the youth met with a lawyer. The U.S. Department of Justice sued the private prison amid complaints that guards paid inmates to fight each other and laughed when teens tried to commit suicide.
Black students decided to resist and organized a sit-in under the "white tree" at the school to protest the light suspensions given to the noose-hanging white students.
The white District Attorney then came to Jena High with law enforcement officers to address a school assembly. According to testimony in a later motion in court, the DA reportedly threatened the black protesting students saying that if they didn't stop making a fuss about this "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 put on lockdown for the rest of the week.
Racial tensions remained high throughout the fall.
On the night of Thursday November 30, 2006, a still unsolved fire burned down the main academic building of Jena High School.
On Friday night, December 1, a black student who showed up at a white party was beaten by whites. On Saturday, December 2, a young white man pulled out a shotgun in a confrontation with young black men at the Gotta Go convenience store outside Jena before the men wrestled it away from him. The black men who took the shotgun away were later arrested, no charges were filed against the white man.
On Monday, December 4, at Jena High, a white student - who allegedly had been making racial taunts, including calling African American students "niggers" while supporting the students who hung the nooses and who beat up the black student at the off-campus party - was knocked down, punched and kicked by black students. The white victim was taken to the hospital treated and released. He attended a social function that evening.
Six black Jena students were arrested and charged with attempted second degree murder. All six were expelled from school.
The six charged were: 17-year-old Robert Bailey Junior whose bail was set at $138,000; 17-year-old Theo Shaw - bail $130,000; 18-year- old Carwin Jones - bail $100,000; 17-year-old Bryant Purvis - bail $70,000; 16 year old Mychal Bell, a sophomore in high school who was charged as an adult and for whom bail was set at $90,000; and a still unidentified minor.
Many of the young men, who came to be known as the Jena 6, stayed in jail for months. Few families could afford bond or private attorneys.
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 sufficient money to put up bonds.
The Chicago Tribune wrote a powerful story headlined "Racial Demons Rear Heads." The London Observer wrote: "Jena is gaining national notoriety as an example of the new 'stealth' racism, showing how lightly sleep the demons of racial prejudice in America's Deep South, even in the year that a black man, Barak Obama, is a serious candidate for the White House." The British Broadcasting Company aired a TV special report "Race Hate in Louisiana 2007."
The Jena 6 and their families were put under substantial pressure to plead guilty. Mychal Bell was reported to have been leaning towards pleading guilty right up until his trial when he decided he would not plead guilty to a felony.
When it finally came, the trial of Mychal Bell was swift. Bell was represented by an appointed public defender.
On the morning of the trial, the DA reduced the charges from attempted second degree murder to second degree aggravated battery and conspiracy. Aggravated battery in Louisiana law demands the attack be with a dangerous weapon. The dangerous weapon? The prosecutor was allowed to argue to the jury that the tennis shoes worn by Bell could be considered a dangerous weapon used by "the gang of black boys" who beat the white victim.
Most shocking of all, when the pool of potential jurors was summoned, fifty people appeared - every single one white.
The LaSalle Parish clerk defended the all white group to the Alexandria Louisiana Town Talk newspaper saying that the jury pool was selected by computer. "The venire [panel of prospective jurors] is color blind. The idea is for the list to truly reflect the racial makeup of the community, but the system does not take race into factor." Officials said they had summoned 150 people, but these were the only people who showed up.
The all-white jury which was finally chosen included two people friendly with the District Attorney, a relative of one of the witnesses and several others who were friends of prosecution witnesses.
Bell's parents, Melissa Bell and Marcus Jones, were not even allowed to attend the trial despite their objections, because they were listed as potential witnesses. The white victim, though a witness, was allowed to stay in the courtroom. The parents, who had been widely quoted in the media as critics of the process, were also told they could no longer speak to the media as long as the trial was in session. Marcus Jones had told the media "It's all about those nooses" and declared the charges racially motivated.
Other supporters who planned a demonstration in support of Bell were ordered by the court not to do so near the courthouse or anywhere the judge would see them.
The prosecutor called 17 witnesses - eleven white students, three white teachers, and two white nurses. Some said they saw Bell kick the victim, others said they did not see him do anything. The white victim testified that he did not know if Bell hit him or not.
The Chicago Tribune reported the public defender did not challenge the all-white jury pool, put on no evidence and called no witnesses. The public defender told the Alexandria Town talk after resting his case without calling any witnesses that he knew he would be second-guessed by many but was confident that the jury would return a verdict of not guilty. "I don't believe race is an issue in this trial--I think I have a fair and impartial jury--"
The jury deliberated for less than three hours and found Mychal Bell guilty on the maximum possible charges of aggravated second degree battery and conspiracy. He faces up to a maximum of 22 years in prison.
The public defender told the press afterwards, "I feel I put on the best defense that I could." Responding to criticism of not putting on any witnesses, the attorney said "why open the door for further accusations? I did the best I could for my client, Mychal Bell."
At a rally in front of the courthouse the next day, Alan Bean, a Texas minister and leader of the Friends of Justice, said "I have seen a lot of trials in my time. And I have never seen a more distressing miscarriage of justice than what happened in LaSalle Parish yesterday." Khadijah Rashad of Lafayette Louisiana described the trial as a "modern day lynching."
Tory Pegram with the Louisiana ACLU has been working with the parents for months. "People know if they don't demand equal treatment now, they will never get it. People's jobs and livelihoods have been threatened for attending Jena 6 Defense meetings, but people are willing to risk that. One person told me: ^ÑWe have to convince more people to come rally with us--..What's the worst that could happen? They fire us from our jobs? We have the worst jobs in the town anyway. They burn a cross on our lawns or burn down my house? All of that has happened to us before. We have to keep speaking out to make sure it doesn't happen to us again, or our children will never be safe.'"
Whites in the community were adamant that there is no racism. "We don't have a problem," according to one. Other locals told the media "We all get along," and "most blacks are happy with the way things are." One person even said "We don't have many problems with our blacks."
Melvin Worthington, the lone African American school board member in LaSalle Parish said it all could have been avoided. "There's no doubt about it," he told the Chicago Tribune, "whites and blacks are treated differently here. The white kids should have gotten more punishment for hanging those nooses. If they had, all the stuff that followed could have been avoided."
Hebert McCoy, a relative of one of the youths who has been trying to raise money for bail and lawyers, challenged people everywhere at the end of the rally when he said "You better get out of your houses. You better come out and defend your children--because they are incarcerating them by the thousands. Jena's not the beginning, but Jena has crossed the line. Justice is not right when you put on the wrong charges and then convict. I believe in justice. I believe in the point of law. I believe in accepting the punishment if I'm guilty. If I'm guilty, convict me and punishment, but if I'm innocent, no justice--" and the crowd joined with him and shouted "no peace!"
What happened to the white guys? The white victim of the beating was later arrested for bringing a hunting rifle loaded with 13 bullets onto the high school campus and released on $5000 bond. The white man who beat up the black youth at the off-campus party was arrested and charged with simple battery. The white students who hung up the nooses in the "white tree" were never charged.
The people in Jena are fighting for justice and they need legal and financial help. Since the arrests, a group of family members have been holding well-attended meetings, and have created a defense fund - the Jena 6 Defense Committee. They have received support from the NAACP, the Louisiana ACLU and Friends of Justice. People interested in supporting can contact: the Jena 6 Defense Committee, PO Box 2798, Jena, LA 71342 jena6defense [at] gmail.com; Friends of Justice, 507 North Donley Avenue, Tulia, TX 79088 http://www.fojtulia.org; or the ACLU of Louisiana, PO Box 56157, New Orleans, LA 70156 http://www.laaclu.org or 417.350.0536.
What is next? The rest of the Jena 6 await similar trials. Theodore Shaw is due to go on trial shortly. Mychal Bell is scheduled to be sentenced July 31. If he gets the maximum sentence he will not be out of prison until he is nearly 40. Meanwhile, the "white tree" outside Jena High sits quietly in the hot sun.
Bill is a human rights lawyer and law professor at Loyola University New Orleans. You can reach him at Quigley [at] loyno.edu Audrey Stewart contributed to this article.
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photo: The t-shirt of LaTara Hart, cousin of Carwin Jones and Robert Bailey, two of the Jena Six.
--
WHILE SEATED: Jena Six
In September 2006, a group of African American high school students in Jena, Louisiana, asked the school for permission to sit beneath a "whites only" shade tree. There was an unwritten rule that blacks couldn't sit beneath the tree. The school said they didn't care where students sat. The next day, students arrived at school to see three nooses (in school colors) hanging from the tree.
The boys who hung the nooses were suspended from school for a few days. The school administration chalked it up as a harmless prank, but Jena's black population didn't take it so lightly. Fights and unrest started breaking out at school. The District Attorney, Reed Walters, was called in to directly address black students at the school and told them all he could "end their life with a stroke of the pen."
Black students were assaulted at white parties. A white man drew a loaded rifle on three black teens at a local convenience store. (They wrestled it from him and ran away.) Someone tried to burn down the school, and on December 4th, a fight broke out that led to six black students being charged with attempted murder. To his word, the D.A. pushed for maximum charges, which carry sentences of eighty years. Four of the six are being tried as adults (ages 17 & 18) and two are juveniles.
Yesterday, I was in Jena for the first day of the trial for Mychal Bell, one of the Jena Six. The D.A., perhaps in response to public pressure, tried to get Bell to cop a plea. Bell refused, and today, jury selection began. After today, we'll know whether or not the case will be tried in front of an all-white jury. Jena's 85-percent white, and it remains to be seen whether or not the six can get a fair trial.
Both off-the-record and on, Jena residents told me racism is alive and well in Louisiana, and this is a case where it rose above the levee, so to speak.
In the next few days, I'll be posting a few photos from Jena that are related to the case, as well as linking to a multimedia piece I'm working on. CNN began reporting on the story today, following the lead of the BBC, who crafted an excellent hour-long documentary that can be found on P2P networks.
Update: Mychal Bell, the first of the Jena Six to face trial, was found guilty of aggravated second-degree battery and conspiracy to commit the same on June 28th. A comprehensive look at the case, the trial and the verdict was published on July 2nd at friendsofjustice. Plus, Democracy Now did a full story.
--
WHILE SEATED: Jena Six
In September 2006, a group of African American high school students in Jena, Louisiana, asked the school for permission to sit beneath a "whites only" shade tree. There was an unwritten rule that blacks couldn't sit beneath the tree. The school said they didn't care where students sat. The next day, students arrived at school to see three nooses (in school colors) hanging from the tree.
The boys who hung the nooses were suspended from school for a few days. The school administration chalked it up as a harmless prank, but Jena's black population didn't take it so lightly. Fights and unrest started breaking out at school. The District Attorney, Reed Walters, was called in to directly address black students at the school and told them all he could "end their life with a stroke of the pen."
Black students were assaulted at white parties. A white man drew a loaded rifle on three black teens at a local convenience store. (They wrestled it from him and ran away.) Someone tried to burn down the school, and on December 4th, a fight broke out that led to six black students being charged with attempted murder. To his word, the D.A. pushed for maximum charges, which carry sentences of eighty years. Four of the six are being tried as adults (ages 17 & 18) and two are juveniles.
Yesterday, I was in Jena for the first day of the trial for Mychal Bell, one of the Jena Six. The D.A., perhaps in response to public pressure, tried to get Bell to cop a plea. Bell refused, and today, jury selection began. After today, we'll know whether or not the case will be tried in front of an all-white jury. Jena's 85-percent white, and it remains to be seen whether or not the six can get a fair trial.
Both off-the-record and on, Jena residents told me racism is alive and well in Louisiana, and this is a case where it rose above the levee, so to speak.
In the next few days, I'll be posting a few photos from Jena that are related to the case, as well as linking to a multimedia piece I'm working on. CNN began reporting on the story today, following the lead of the BBC, who crafted an excellent hour-long documentary that can be found on P2P networks.
Update: Mychal Bell, the first of the Jena Six to face trial, was found guilty of aggravated second-degree battery and conspiracy to commit the same on June 28th. A comprehensive look at the case, the trial and the verdict was published on July 2nd at friendsofjustice. Plus, Democracy Now did a full story.
For more information:
http://www.whileseated.org/photo/003244.shtml
This is the "Gotta Go" in Jena, Louisiana. On December 2nd, 2006, one of the fights that followed the noose incident (and the burning of Jena High School) was here. Three black teens were in the store, including two of the Jena Six, and when they left, they were confronted by a white man with a loaded shotgun. The teens wrestled the gun from him and fled. The gun was later found in a car in the backyard of one of the Jena Six.
In court documents, I found this statement, from the gun owner, who tells a very different story:
"I drove up to the Gotta Go and started to walk in the store and saw three black males and one hollered 'we've got action'. I saw them running after me so I turned and sprinted to my truck and then got my gun out. RB, RS, and TS were wrestling for the gun. After wrestling the gun away, hitting me in the face, they ran behind the store. AC & the Gotta Go owners saw."
The gun was a 12-guage Riot shotgun with a black laser sight on the side.
In court documents, I found this statement, from the gun owner, who tells a very different story:
"I drove up to the Gotta Go and started to walk in the store and saw three black males and one hollered 'we've got action'. I saw them running after me so I turned and sprinted to my truck and then got my gun out. RB, RS, and TS were wrestling for the gun. After wrestling the gun away, hitting me in the face, they ran behind the store. AC & the Gotta Go owners saw."
The gun was a 12-guage Riot shotgun with a black laser sight on the side.
For more information:
http://www.whileseated.org/photo/003244.shtml
Melissa Bell on Monday, June 25th, outside LaSalle Parish Courthouse. Her son, Mychal Bell, was convicted of 2nd degree aggravated battery and conspiracy to commit same today for his role in a fight at Jena High School.
Keep in mind that when one of Mychal Bell's friends (one of the Jena Six still facing trial) had his head cracked open with a beer bottle at an all-white party a few nights before the school fight on Dec. 4th, his assailant received a "simple battery" charge.
In Louisiana, simple battery is a misdemeanor. Bell, who was convicted by an all-white jury, faces 20+ years in prison.
Keep in mind that when one of Mychal Bell's friends (one of the Jena Six still facing trial) had his head cracked open with a beer bottle at an all-white party a few nights before the school fight on Dec. 4th, his assailant received a "simple battery" charge.
In Louisiana, simple battery is a misdemeanor. Bell, who was convicted by an all-white jury, faces 20+ years in prison.
For more information:
http://www.whileseated.org/photo/003244.shtml
Theodore Shaw's son has been in prison for the last six months awaiting trial because the District Attorney charged him with attempted murder for a schoolyard fight, and set bail so high that his father can't get him out. Theodore's son (Theo) will probably be the second member of the Jena Six to go on trial later this summer, unless some kind of deal is reached.
It's unclear whether or not the DA will lessen Theo's charges, as he did with Mychal Bell who was found guilty last week of 2nd degree aggravated assault and conspiracy to commit same. All told, Theo will most likely be facing 20-80 years in prison.
It's unclear whether or not the DA will lessen Theo's charges, as he did with Mychal Bell who was found guilty last week of 2nd degree aggravated assault and conspiracy to commit same. All told, Theo will most likely be facing 20-80 years in prison.
For more information:
http://www.whileseated.org/photo/003244.shtml
Listen now:
Listen to an mp3 of a song about injustice in Jena, Louisiana: “Sitting on the Wall” by Alan Bean
For more information:
http://friendsofjustice.wordpress.com/
You mean that these black kids beat the tar out of a white kid because the white kid allegedly called the black kids names? Isn't that a little extreme? How bad was the victim injured?
With regard to the shotgun incident, why don't you believe the white guy's version of the story?
If Louis Farakan refers to me as a cracker, am I justified in beating the tar out of him? According to your twist on this story, I am.
With regard to the shotgun incident, why don't you believe the white guy's version of the story?
If Louis Farakan refers to me as a cracker, am I justified in beating the tar out of him? According to your twist on this story, I am.
I think that what's extreme is how hypocritical everything going on is. A white kid breaks a beer
bottle over a black kids head, he gets a slap ono the wrist. A group of black kids beat up a white kid for calling them a racil slur, they get put in jail and face serious jail time. It seems a bit extreme to me. If he was seriously injured, or in critical condition i might understand, but fights happen. And people dont go to jail for twenty years over getting into a fight. That's some bullshit.
bottle over a black kids head, he gets a slap ono the wrist. A group of black kids beat up a white kid for calling them a racil slur, they get put in jail and face serious jail time. It seems a bit extreme to me. If he was seriously injured, or in critical condition i might understand, but fights happen. And people dont go to jail for twenty years over getting into a fight. That's some bullshit.
A previous comment wrote, "You mean that these black kids beat the tar out of a white kid because the white kid allegedly called the black kids names? Isn't that a little extreme? How bad was the victim injured?""
It's not just the matter that the white student called them names, it's the fact that he showed support for the hate crime involving hanging nooses and death threats for sitting under a segregated tree. Names are names, but hate crimes are hate crimes. Also to clarify the condition of the 'victim', the article says "The white victim was taken to the hospital treated and released. He attended a social function that evening."
In response to "If Louis Farakan refers to me as a cracker, am I justified in beating the tar out of him? According to your twist on this story, I am." I don't know who Faraken is. But as I said before, the white student not only called his students the "N" term- which has much more depth than the word cracker- because it recalls the recent centuries of slavery in the south- where white people had ultimate power. From the condition of segregation, fear, and hate among the school and community, using the N word calls on the power and entitlement that the majority of the white community still feels they have over African Americans. You have to recognize the difference in power in the community- and know who is being let off the hook and who is being patted on the back.
Do the other details of the story not shock you? I respect critical analysis of articles and biases- but if you are not shocked by the details of this story- I am terrified at your lack of compassion.
It's not just the matter that the white student called them names, it's the fact that he showed support for the hate crime involving hanging nooses and death threats for sitting under a segregated tree. Names are names, but hate crimes are hate crimes. Also to clarify the condition of the 'victim', the article says "The white victim was taken to the hospital treated and released. He attended a social function that evening."
In response to "If Louis Farakan refers to me as a cracker, am I justified in beating the tar out of him? According to your twist on this story, I am." I don't know who Faraken is. But as I said before, the white student not only called his students the "N" term- which has much more depth than the word cracker- because it recalls the recent centuries of slavery in the south- where white people had ultimate power. From the condition of segregation, fear, and hate among the school and community, using the N word calls on the power and entitlement that the majority of the white community still feels they have over African Americans. You have to recognize the difference in power in the community- and know who is being let off the hook and who is being patted on the back.
Do the other details of the story not shock you? I respect critical analysis of articles and biases- but if you are not shocked by the details of this story- I am terrified at your lack of compassion.
I believe in the report it stated that the 'white' kid went out that night so he couldn't have been very hurt and kid's fights that occur in a school yards are usually broken up quickly and they never end in charges of attempted murder like these kids. There have always been different laws and penalties for people of color in this country.
I feel rage at injustice!
What justice is there in a town that does not support all of it's kids? There are no kids more important than any another. None of these kids need prison. They all need antiracism workshops and so do all of the adults.
Blessings!
I feel rage at injustice!
What justice is there in a town that does not support all of it's kids? There are no kids more important than any another. None of these kids need prison. They all need antiracism workshops and so do all of the adults.
Blessings!
Attached you will find two PDF's. Please download and distribute. They contain the same information but are designed differently.
In addition, please immediately call District Attorney Reed Walter's office today and tell him to drop the ridiculous charges against the boys.
The more calls they get, the more they realize the world is watching: 318.992.8282
Indymedia.org coverage
http://www.indymedia.org/en/2007/07/889165.shtml
Türkçe translation
http://www.indymedia.org/en/2007/07/889209.shtml
In addition, please immediately call District Attorney Reed Walter's office today and tell him to drop the ridiculous charges against the boys.
The more calls they get, the more they realize the world is watching: 318.992.8282
Indymedia.org coverage
http://www.indymedia.org/en/2007/07/889165.shtml
Türkçe translation
http://www.indymedia.org/en/2007/07/889209.shtml
I can't believe in this day and age things like this could happen. It's disgusting! I agree with one of the other comments all of the kids need is to go to anti-racism workshops. I think the whole school board should. When the kids put up nooses they should have been suspended or the police should have went to there house and talked to them. If the adults would have gotten off there buts and nipped this in the bud then there wouldn't have been a fight. Teens will be teens, they fight and do stupid things, these teens shouldn't be going to prison. Prison isn't going to help any of them.
I can't believe any trial could hold up for 2nd degree battery where the 'victim' was partying the next night, and the weapon was a tennis shoe.
The fact that such an incident, with the segregated tree, the shotguns, the all white trial and the D.A can occur in a country which alludes to offering 'justice for all' is absurd.
Justice for everybody or justice for nobody
support for the Jena 6 from England
Bill
The fact that such an incident, with the segregated tree, the shotguns, the all white trial and the D.A can occur in a country which alludes to offering 'justice for all' is absurd.
Justice for everybody or justice for nobody
support for the Jena 6 from England
Bill
Who's surprised by this?! Things havent changed, racism wears a new face and is more clever in its actions. Maximum sentences, make an example, the letter of the law says, their intentions were severe, public defenders, bail set beyond reach, etc. Black Americans know these terms well. Each one will be used for sentencing, setting bail, representation, there is no end to these terms. Bottom line, you will lose if go against this system. Chose your battles well, angry is the emeny. Be smarter than your adversaries.
SAM BROOKS
ATLANTA, GA
SAM BROOKS
ATLANTA, GA
Hello. I am a white person from Ohio who is ashamed that white people would hang nooses from trees, especially at a school. I am a chrisitan and I certainly do not promote violence but I can certainly see how the young men would be so angry. We have some so far in our nation, an incident like this takes us back to pre- civil war. I live in southern ohio which is rich in the history of the underground railroad. We have a freedom center in cincinnati which promotes the freedom of slaves, the ones who lived and the ones who died, and all the people black and white who helped to abolish slavery. I learned this summer from one of the people who work in the Freedom Center, That our Ohio River was like the River Jordan for the slaves. Jena 6, If there is any way I can support you, I will!!! I will pray for redemption. Sincerely, Cyndi in Ohio
Dear:
Your email to Governor Kathleen Blanco regarding the Jena Six case has been forwarded to me for a response.
Your input and concerns are vital as we make critical decisions to move this state forward. The Jena 6 case is a matter in the Judicial System and any defects must be addressed in that system with the appeals court. The State Constitution provides for three branches of state government - Legislative, Executive, and Judicial - and the Constitution prohibits anyone in one branch from exercising the powers of anyone in another branch. Certainly, the Governor hopes for and expects fairness.
Thank you for emailing and if this office can be of further assistance, please do not hesitate to contact us.
Sincerely,
Cheryl Shuffield, Director
Constituent Services
Your email to Governor Kathleen Blanco regarding the Jena Six case has been forwarded to me for a response.
Your input and concerns are vital as we make critical decisions to move this state forward. The Jena 6 case is a matter in the Judicial System and any defects must be addressed in that system with the appeals court. The State Constitution provides for three branches of state government - Legislative, Executive, and Judicial - and the Constitution prohibits anyone in one branch from exercising the powers of anyone in another branch. Certainly, the Governor hopes for and expects fairness.
Thank you for emailing and if this office can be of further assistance, please do not hesitate to contact us.
Sincerely,
Cheryl Shuffield, Director
Constituent Services
It makes me angry when SOME white people overlook the big picture of this story. The white youth were actually applauded for their actions and the black youth were tried to the fullest extent of the law. This really makes me realize that we have not moved any further forward than the days of slavery.
The message is clear. Whites can do what they please, when they please, and however they please.
The sad part about this is that the hanging of nooses from a tree is a form of a hate crime that is against not just state law, but federal law. The federal legislative has not stepped in and done anything, but what can I expect from a nation founded by cowards and ran by thieves.
I wonder what would happen if the color of the children was the other way around. WOW now that's a thought.
The message is clear. Whites can do what they please, when they please, and however they please.
The sad part about this is that the hanging of nooses from a tree is a form of a hate crime that is against not just state law, but federal law. The federal legislative has not stepped in and done anything, but what can I expect from a nation founded by cowards and ran by thieves.
I wonder what would happen if the color of the children was the other way around. WOW now that's a thought.
It is time for black americans to come out of their shells. Stand up and fight for something that counts. For far to long we sit on the side lines and let these things happen. Where are the bad asses that plague our communities. Cowards and real black people need to assemble. For blacks have shown cowardness when its time to fight for our freedom. We need to assemble and represent. Show solidarity one strong people need to show up and act up. Make them give us our children back. Stop begging now is the time to fight. Let them know that time in America has come to an end. BY ANY MEAMS NESSASARY.
Why is this going on what happen to freedom of speech, the boy wasn't doing nothing , why did the judge allow or even the atto. allow this to happen an all white jury the president of the united states need to hear this also it needs to go to the surpreme court.
For more information:
http://White Tree
What I will like to know is where are all the Attorney's that was raised up in places like these. I feel they should step in and become these kids attorney with no fee. It is not all about making money. Do duty to all the things that our people faught to get for us. To all the African-American Attoneys stand up for these children. They have a future and if you all do not help it will go to waste. Please that is all I'm asking for!!! Everybody lets put a fight for these kids freedom, put up one for your freedom and put of one for all of our freedom. I believe in the prosecution and doing your time if you are guilty. But none of the kids should have been prosecuted nor should they be serving any time.
A white tree and a black man. Isn't that ironic? We must have white trees in every state because what these 6 Young Black Men are going through is happening every where, in every neighborhood. I am a mother of two young black men and I am scare for them everyday because what those babies are going could happen to my sons just because of the color of their skins; that is a shame. It seems like all young black men have a target on them because that is all I read about or watch on the news that a parent has lost their son from gun fire or being Black in the wrong neighborhood. Those 6 young men is in my prayers.
P.S. Bush don't give a flying fig about those young men because he is just like the people that convicted them
P.S. Bush don't give a flying fig about those young men because he is just like the people that convicted them
In reading this article I wondering, what else has this tree witnessed,hangings.lynchings and just simply hate. To the African American community this tree is surley not a symbol of life. I am not shocked about this incident at all , these kinds of occurences happen all over this country some on a much grander scale (just no media involved). I moved to GA about ten years ago, I was asked by dozens of people if it was a culture shock and I answered ,YES! We may not want to discuss this but what aids in making up the southern culture is hate. There is no southern hospitality it's called "Southern Hypocracy". No everyone or everything does not participate in hate knowingly or unknowingly. I guess the safest thing for African American males is : Rapping,Football (sports) or dancing.OOHPS ! Guess not look at Mr .Vick. Brothers please get your books
White folks had us in chains, said we was dumb cause we couldn't speak they language, use us as slaves, consider us beneath them, beat us if we didn't do nothing right, and chop are feet off if we ran. Some people thought these days was over. But little did they know the RACISM in the United States never end. You see it everyday in the news a white cop beaten a YOUNG BLACK MEN up wrether it is in New York, Indiana, or Louisiana. It seems like the generation of BLACK MEN that are being eliminated are getting YOUNGER and YOUNGER. Look at the incident that happen in Indianapolis the weekend of Black Expo. YOUNG BLACK MEN beat up by white cop. Even having a video showing that his action (the cops) was clearly not justifiable. Clearly to some, the kkk have trade their white hooded sheets in for uniforms and suits. This is also a federal issue when the noose was hung from the WHITE TREE. What the HELL is the WHITE TREE. TO MY BLACK PEOPLE IF THEY GET AWAY WITH PUTTING THE JENA 6 THEY WILL NEVER STOP. What the are doing is clealy evil and they really need to fine JESUS and don't be turning the other cheek HIT BACK MAKE A STAND. FED UP BULLSHIT
The eyes of the world are on RACIST JENA and the gross injustice being carried out against 6 innocent black boys, I have lived and worked in Racist Louisiana and have seen first hand the extent to which racism permeates white peoples consciousness and how black people time and time again bear the brunt of this. Hurricane Katrina certainly alerted the world to this.
I believe that this gross injustice is simple a direct result of the fact that the white racist scum in Jena is no longer able to parade their racist filth openly in the form of KKK and are forever finding new ways of destroying the lives of innocent black people.
These 6 boys are INNOCENT and were simply responding to racial taunting. The white racist was seen all smiles on the evening of the incident suggesting that there had been NO serious threat to his life and what astounds me is that he was not in any way punished by the school or the law for his racist behaviour but elevated to the status of a hero in backward Jena.
Common sense, sadly always lacking in racists would have told them that had they dealt with the original horrendous incident of the hanging of nooses appropriately, by expelling the racists who had carried out this inhumane act and then embarked on a programme of educating staff and students on the horrors of this type of racist behaviour the present day situation would not have arisen. No they chose to put it down to a youthful prank. Given what the hanging of these nooses symbolises prank or joke does not spring to my mind but gross inhuman justice does.
I am sicken and very angry by the events that have taken place in Jena but not surprised. However it really is about time America and the world woke up and said enough is enough, the white racist slavery mentally needs to be excised once and for all and justice needs to be done. If the people in Jena have any decency and are the christian they claim to be they will ensure that justice is carried out.
I believe that this gross injustice is simple a direct result of the fact that the white racist scum in Jena is no longer able to parade their racist filth openly in the form of KKK and are forever finding new ways of destroying the lives of innocent black people.
These 6 boys are INNOCENT and were simply responding to racial taunting. The white racist was seen all smiles on the evening of the incident suggesting that there had been NO serious threat to his life and what astounds me is that he was not in any way punished by the school or the law for his racist behaviour but elevated to the status of a hero in backward Jena.
Common sense, sadly always lacking in racists would have told them that had they dealt with the original horrendous incident of the hanging of nooses appropriately, by expelling the racists who had carried out this inhumane act and then embarked on a programme of educating staff and students on the horrors of this type of racist behaviour the present day situation would not have arisen. No they chose to put it down to a youthful prank. Given what the hanging of these nooses symbolises prank or joke does not spring to my mind but gross inhuman justice does.
I am sicken and very angry by the events that have taken place in Jena but not surprised. However it really is about time America and the world woke up and said enough is enough, the white racist slavery mentally needs to be excised once and for all and justice needs to be done. If the people in Jena have any decency and are the christian they claim to be they will ensure that justice is carried out.
When will this unwarranted blantant hatred for blacks stop? When will
Whites stop torturing us? We have been puting up with this for far
too many years. Leave our children alone. Punish them when they really
deserve it. Treat us with the respect we deserve.
Whites stop torturing us? We have been puting up with this for far
too many years. Leave our children alone. Punish them when they really
deserve it. Treat us with the respect we deserve.
I am outright appalled at this!!! Jena, Louisiana...STOP IT!!! Yall just need to stop it right now. Before I continue, let me just address the bullshit comment made by the author who called theirself "Question" Well "Question" this statement is for you!!! It is my opinion that your comments were ABSURD, and an absolute waste of space on this comment page! How dare you justify what has been justified for decades: RACISM!!! This is a new day and age asshole! It sickens my stomach and my entire interior to see and hear the things that undercover KKK members like yourself say and do to protect the ignorance of white people. YOU read the damn article in its entirety, I'm sure. If you saw nothing wrong with anything that you read other than the bogus foolishness that you pointed out then you really should keep your ignorant mouth closed because when you speak the only thing that anybody of intelligence is going to hear from you is BULLSHIT!!!
You clearly read that the white boy was NOT AT ALL severely injured. He was treated and released and joined in the evening's festivities the same day! But see if it were MY son or brother or cousin that had been called names, and mocked and degraded and picked on, the white boy would still be in the hospital till this day! WE ARE FED UP!!! YOU AND YOUR KLAN MEMBERS HAVE BEEN TREATING BLACK MEN, WOMEN AND CHILDREN LIKE DOGS FOR TOO LONG!!! WE ARE NOT DOGS! WE ARE NOT GOING TO CONTINUE TO LET YOU TREAT US LIKE DOGS. PUTTING NOOSES AROUND A TREE IS NOT FUNNY IN THE LEAST LITTLE BIT. OUR ANCESTORS AND FOREFATHERS WENT THROUGH TOO MUCH OF THAT SHIT AND THEY DID IT SO THAT OUR GENERATION WOULD NOT HAVE TO. YOU NEVER HAD TO EXPERIENCE IT SO YOU DON'T KNOW THE PAIN AND THE HURT IT HAS CAUSED ALL AFRICAN AMERICANS TODAY.
I thank God that the black heroes and role models for the black community like Steven Harvey, Michael Baisden, Donnie Simpson, and the others who are heading to Jena to support the Jena 6! I wish that I could be a part of it, but my thoughts, and my heart, and prayers and my support will be there on that day. I will continue to pray that justice is served that day in September when Mychal Bell is sentenced. I love you Mychal, Robert, Theo, Carwin, Bryant, and the unidentified male involved in the Jena situation.
You clearly read that the white boy was NOT AT ALL severely injured. He was treated and released and joined in the evening's festivities the same day! But see if it were MY son or brother or cousin that had been called names, and mocked and degraded and picked on, the white boy would still be in the hospital till this day! WE ARE FED UP!!! YOU AND YOUR KLAN MEMBERS HAVE BEEN TREATING BLACK MEN, WOMEN AND CHILDREN LIKE DOGS FOR TOO LONG!!! WE ARE NOT DOGS! WE ARE NOT GOING TO CONTINUE TO LET YOU TREAT US LIKE DOGS. PUTTING NOOSES AROUND A TREE IS NOT FUNNY IN THE LEAST LITTLE BIT. OUR ANCESTORS AND FOREFATHERS WENT THROUGH TOO MUCH OF THAT SHIT AND THEY DID IT SO THAT OUR GENERATION WOULD NOT HAVE TO. YOU NEVER HAD TO EXPERIENCE IT SO YOU DON'T KNOW THE PAIN AND THE HURT IT HAS CAUSED ALL AFRICAN AMERICANS TODAY.
I thank God that the black heroes and role models for the black community like Steven Harvey, Michael Baisden, Donnie Simpson, and the others who are heading to Jena to support the Jena 6! I wish that I could be a part of it, but my thoughts, and my heart, and prayers and my support will be there on that day. I will continue to pray that justice is served that day in September when Mychal Bell is sentenced. I love you Mychal, Robert, Theo, Carwin, Bryant, and the unidentified male involved in the Jena situation.
White tree, The tree looks green to me, why would anyone let someone name a tree "White Tree" no less on school grounds anyway. Cut the tree down and if you want to be with you own race then do so, stop dating outside your race, marrying outside your race and having babies outside your race. When will this ever end? God created us as human being, Black, White, Indian, Hispanic, Asian, African, Russian, so forth. Slavery will never end as long as the uneducated still exist. Pick up a book and read for Gods sake and stop the hate. These kids are learning from their uneducated parents, teach them value and respect instead of hate. You may need their help one day as you get older.
I had been hearing about this "white tree" incident and decided to google it. When i read this article my mouth just dropped. It's ridiculous that in the year 2007 "WE" African Americans are still dealing with this BS. This story clearly shows its not about what happened to the "black" or "white" kids its about racism. I agree with a few other posts the white kids should have been charged with a hate crime. I understand they did not physically hurt anyone but hanging nooses from a tree was making a threat. In my opinion it was NOT FUNNY nor should it have been considered a joke. What i think the JOKE is, is the time that they are trying to give this young man Mykel Bell and the ridiculous bonds they havd set for these children, that's a joke. It's sad to see that obviously there was no supoprt in the courtroom for these kids their own parents couldn't be there becase they were considered witnesses. Huh, how shady is that? I think we all need to find for these young black kids. Anything the system can do to hold "US" down they will because we allow it. We need to get together, make a stand and put a stop to this madness. Jena 6 you have my support.
I am so ashamed of people who claim to be Americans and yet act like animals to other people. They should be the ones on trial and get some of their own prejudiced medicine. How sad God must be when faced with unjustice that was showed to these young men. To treat one set of people one way and another set of people another way for the same type of action is a crime.
What can we do? The first time I visited the south in the 80's it was evident to me they were still fighting the Civil War. In Texas they still had segreted towns and neighborhoods. I was told not to talk to any black people one day when we went into a grocery store, by my husband who was raised in Texas. I looked at him as if he had slapped my face. while looking for some okra, I turned around and asked a woman if she knew where it was. She was so astonished she said she didn't speak the language. I felt badly I put her in that position. That was 1980 this is 2007, or is it the dark ages still. Ignorance, of how to treat others, is rampant especially in the south. Ive heard people say, "they are alright, if they know their place". We may not see justice carried out for crimes committed in our day, but please believe they will face our Lord at Judgement day. their suffering will be eternal.
What can we do? The first time I visited the south in the 80's it was evident to me they were still fighting the Civil War. In Texas they still had segreted towns and neighborhoods. I was told not to talk to any black people one day when we went into a grocery store, by my husband who was raised in Texas. I looked at him as if he had slapped my face. while looking for some okra, I turned around and asked a woman if she knew where it was. She was so astonished she said she didn't speak the language. I felt badly I put her in that position. That was 1980 this is 2007, or is it the dark ages still. Ignorance, of how to treat others, is rampant especially in the south. Ive heard people say, "they are alright, if they know their place". We may not see justice carried out for crimes committed in our day, but please believe they will face our Lord at Judgement day. their suffering will be eternal.
"I was told not to talk to any black people one day when we went into a grocery store, by my husband who was raised in Texas."
I don't think Bill Quigley has ever had a husband (though I could be wrong), so I don't think that he wrote that statement.
I don't think Bill Quigley has ever had a husband (though I could be wrong), so I don't think that he wrote that statement.
Who cares if Bill Quigley wrote the comment about the grocery store or the person was hiding their identity. I believe it occured. I have gone to the south and asked to go roller skating since I wanted to have some fun with my friends. I was put in the car and driven for miles. I kept saying what's wrong with the new rink right down the street? I was told that black people could not go there. Well, we got to the rink and that place was really bad, so bad we were the only people there. I requested we leave but I tell ya, you wonder why you have problems when children are told they cannot frequent places they should have a right to go. You make excuses and justify unequal treatment of it's citizens and last but not least who is an African American? If we were born here we are Americans plain and simple. For example I am American Indian, white (Scottish by way of Ireland) Jamaican and Chinese but you expect me to check African American. America has their head in the sand. I wonder what those so called good ole boys thinking they are white would do if they checked and found out they were descendents of people who passed??? America needs to embrace all of it's citizens and work towards being the best we all can be can't you see the problems we have by not doing so???
"White folks had us in chains, said we was dumb cause we couldn't speak they language, use us as slaves, consider us beneath them, beat us if we didn't do nothing right, and chop are feet off if we ran."
This is a joke, right?
Anywho, I think the kids on both sides are idiots. Those 6 black kids beat up a kid because he was white... Racism is a two way street.
Stupid knows no skin color.
This is a joke, right?
Anywho, I think the kids on both sides are idiots. Those 6 black kids beat up a kid because he was white... Racism is a two way street.
Stupid knows no skin color.
It is unreal in this day and time that we still have to deal with such injustice in America, especially when our young men are being forced to fight a war in a foreign country for injustices similar to this.
How can people be so ignorant in handing out "quilty verdicts" due to the color of one's skin? But as I have always said, there is so much that hasn't change. We will have to continue to fight against these types of injustices!
The people involved in this injustice will be tried in a "higher" court and will eventually have to answer to a higher authority
How can people be so ignorant in handing out "quilty verdicts" due to the color of one's skin? But as I have always said, there is so much that hasn't change. We will have to continue to fight against these types of injustices!
The people involved in this injustice will be tried in a "higher" court and will eventually have to answer to a higher authority
I just want to say that what is going in Jena is very wrong. and i think that people should show their support whether it be bay jusst leaving a comment, donating money or going to their trail to show support. I will support these boy s in any way i can because this is and injustice and it is just plain out wrong and the people who are pursecuting these young men should be ashamed of them self becasue they are wrong those young men where just defending them selves from harm.
I had not heard of this situation until I arrived at work tonight and a young lady approached me and asked me was I going to wear all black in support of the "Jena 6" and I replied what is that? I told her I would research it once I got homel Throughout the evening I received all types of text messages from friends and family asking the same. Out of all issues in the news such as Britney Spears, Kanye West and other Bullshit, I couldn't believe that I read what I did about the situation. As a free-lance writer and great fan of words I have one question to the MEDIA, When are you going to start writing about situations that matter? I have been all over the the world on my own as well as the military and as a soldier, (OIF Operation Iraqi Freedom) Veteran, it pains me to know that in our Great USA there is so much racism that goes on everyday. So much that when you go out of the country people feel sorry for you that you are fighting for a lost cause, they ask questions like how can a black woman fight for a country that still enslaves her own people. THAT HURTS moreso because there is no explanation. We have to stop looking for leaders to lead our way out of this and start teaching our children that IT IS NOT RIGHT TO DISLIKE SOMEONE ELSE because they are different. I pray for all of the families in JENA, LA to include the so-called victims because they need it!!! Once again Media if you're going to write, write about RACISM, POVERTY, UNEMPLOYMENT, and How to make a better AMERICA or get the HELL OUT!!!
My prayers and hopes go out to the JENA 6, keep your heads high and don't stop here it only gets greater later... Remember the struggle and don't let your children forget. I remind mine everyday that someone got hosed down, spat upon and even died just so they could go to public school, have the right to vote and eat and drink and use all public facilites anywhere they go....
To the so-called victims of Jena, LA. I sure hope you begin to start teaching yours better morals or the wrath for you is sure to come and more than likely by the same children you feed RACISM AS WELL AS HATE!!! God Bless You!!!
My prayers and hopes go out to the JENA 6, keep your heads high and don't stop here it only gets greater later... Remember the struggle and don't let your children forget. I remind mine everyday that someone got hosed down, spat upon and even died just so they could go to public school, have the right to vote and eat and drink and use all public facilites anywhere they go....
To the so-called victims of Jena, LA. I sure hope you begin to start teaching yours better morals or the wrath for you is sure to come and more than likely by the same children you feed RACISM AS WELL AS HATE!!! God Bless You!!!
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