Do you know what's going on in Jena?

Question

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

http://www.colorofchange.org/jena/?id=1828-241343

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

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

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

http://www.colorofchange.org/jena/?id=1828-241343

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

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

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

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

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

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

http://www.colorofchange.org/jena/?id=1828-241343

Thanks.

Answer 1

I am from Louisiana and have heard of this story. Jena is a small town and the high school has about 500 students. This is seen as a racial occurance, but how does this differ from what gangs are doing to one another? The Jena six as they are called reacted on something that was not apprpriate and they took it into their own hands. By doing so, YES, they should be held responsible for beating the "whites" up. The boys who hung the nooses in the tree should have been handeled by authorites. Now that the Jena 6 have taken the law into their own hands, then now they must pay. No one should get off scott free. I think this needs to be treated the same way gang violence etc. is handled in schools in big cities. Since Jena is a small town, everybody knows everybody and are kin to everyone in town in some form or fashion. That is why this is BIG news. Gang fights happen all the time, but are kept hush hush. Nothing is Hush Hush in a small town! Black white, WHO CARES! It is an issue of differences and lack of respect that needs to be handled on all levels including the school, the police and the State Department of Education to deter this type of occurance. I am sure that this didn't happen out of the blue. There had to be signs of tension between the groups that was ignored by faculty at the school. This should have been nipped in the butt a long time before this occured. ALL parties are to be held responsible. Louisiana schools are pitiful in many areas. The Department of Education needs to take a stand and support their teachers and educate the students more on diversity and violence. The public schools here are going to sh*t! I can't wait till blank Blanco is out of office so that someone can come in and attempt to clean up the mess she has created in this state with the education system and poor management skills from Katrina.

Answer 2

So, you're sixteen years previous and have all this found out on the grounds which you're knowledgeable. i've got faith it is the comparable age as those boys. Are you announcing that they have been too ignorant to comprehend the version between genuine and incorrect by way of fact they weren't 18 years previous? How did you get so lots extra education on your sixteen years than all of those boys? Do you think on the grounds which you sense which you're extra mature and knowledgeable than the time-honored sixteen 3 hundred and sixty 5 days previous that in case you dedicated certainly one of those criminal offense which you're able to desire to be tried as an grownup? Did the racial element come into play whilst the nooses have been hung? i do no longer think of so. i think of it started out whilst between the black pupils asked if he could desire to take a seat down under the tree understanding that this spot grew to become into traditionally occupied by skill of white pupils. What grew to become into team meant to tell him? They instructed him that he could desire to take a seat down everywhere he thrilled. yet why did he desire to take a seat down THERE? i've got faith that his objective grew to become into racially inspired and had to stir racial tensions. I grew up 12 miles from Jena interior the small city of Olla. I lived in Jena for various years yet I now stay in North Carolina. I actual have worked for the penitentiary gadget in the two Louisiana and North Carolina. If an inmate assaults me, I actual have the suited to shelter myself yet merely till resistance stops. easily you do not have faith it incredibly is alright to knock somebody out and proceed beating them fantastically having 5 different accomplices helping you. those boys have discovered no longer something yet that in case you have darkish pores and skin you will get by skill of with committing crimes and in case you do no longer then you definately have been discriminated against. they could get out of their present predicament yet i will very almost assure you that those boys would be convicted of alternative crimes earlier they attain 25 or could have been killed interior the technique of committing yet another crime. i'm no longer advocating that what the white pupils did as genuine yet on the comparable time i can not see those boys getting off scott loose the two. All this protest did grew to become into to extra alienate those 2 races.

Answer 3

I just sign these too! Forward them to all your friends! This needs to be stopped now! We need to let racists know that this is unacceptable!
http://civilliberty.about.com/od/raceequalopportunity/p/jena_six.htm

Answer 4

What about the situation where there are organizations that only give scholarships to black students? What about the situation where colleges are claiming to be black only?

Racial discrimination occurs both ways. End it totally or not at all.