jena 6

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/?id=2258-172319 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 "n-word." 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. Please add your
>voice to the voices of these families in Jena, and help bring Mychal, Theo,
>Robert, Carwin, and Bryant home. By clicking below, you can 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/?id=2258-172319 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