Updated Below:
I am helping spread the word in the blogosphere about the Jena Six. I’ve just read a post by Shanikka that turned my blood cold.
The beginning:
On August 31, 2006, a black student at Jena High School asked school administrators whether he could sit under the “white tree,” a shade tree on school grounds that had historically been used only by white students in the largely-segregated town of Jena, Louisiana. After hearing that he could sit wherever they wanted, he did.
The next morning, he and the other Black students of Jena High School were greeted with three nooses hanging from the “white tree.” — in the school colors, I guess to make them more noticeable.
The culprits were identified and received a full three day suspension for their acts, which many Black southerners rightfully see as a terrorist threat. How many nooses were hung from trees to intimidate Black families? How many Black men swung from nooses to teach those uppity coloreds a lesson? There was no mistaking the intention of the nooses hanging in that tree. This was no “prank” by a couple of kids.
What happened next:
Naturally, the Black community got a bit upset. Parents started trying to identify who to complain to. The Black students of Jena High went a different route. They (apparently spontaneously) reached into the wellspring of political action that has served justice well for millenia:
They decided to collectively protest by ALL sitting under the white tree at the same time.
Civil disobedience in an effort to make a point. It’s every American’s right and they did nothing wrong. At least most people with any kind of sensitivity would see nothing wrong. Unfortunately this was a small Southern town- which hasn’t quite made it into the 21st century. They were chastised and actually warned to stop making the nooses “a big deal”.
Jena High’s administration called a mandatory student assembly. LaSalle Parish’s DA, Reed Walters, accompanied by 10 fine representatives of LaSalle Parish law enforcement, came to address the students. Students contend that the DA threatened the protesting Black students with retribution if they didn’t stop making a fuss about the noose incident. He reportedly also said to these young men and women the words that were portends of the nightmare that the Jena Six now face:
I can be your best friend or your worst enemy.
I can take away your lives with a stroke of my pen.
After this assembly, and the DA’s “laying down the law” students were reportedly put on lock down for the rest of the school week.
They didn’t want anyone to get wind of what was happening in their town. They didn’t want those damned Negroes to get too confident and maybe bring some cameras around. Remember, this was 2006.
Following this there were some incidents, fights, white kids tormenting black kids, and finally the black kids having enough.
On December 4, 2006 – Monday — back at school at Jena High, a white student named Justin Barker, allegedly began taunting Black students, including Robert Bailey, Jr.. He called them niggers repeatedly and expressing support for the white students who hung the nooses and beat up Bailey.[...]
[...]This was the proverbial camel-breaking straw, I guess, for the young Black male students of Jena High School who witnessed it. Justin Barker was apparently knocked out cold with a single punch, and while he was down, allegedly kicked by several black students. He was up and about by the time the police and ambulance arrived. After being scanned, treatened and released at the hospital, he attended his school’s ring party that same evening. He reportedly had to spend the next week on Tylenol.
Justin Barker got his ass kicked. Some would even say he deserved it. Obviously the school wasn’t going to do anything about these little bullies. Their parents weren’t taking them to task. These kids were reverting to behavior seen in 1950′s South. Despicable. Too bad they were in the South though.
I would also like to note that Justin Barker brought a gun to school during the trial of one of these young men and received no more than a slap on the wrist. Another white youth got into an argument with some black youths and pulled a shotgun on them (at a convenience store). The black kids took the gun from the white boy and ran with it. The black kids were charged with theft (after calling police to report what had happened) and the white boy got nothing.
After the fight, the boys who laid the beat down got their own beat down:
For their headache, six black Jena students — Robert Bailey Jr. (17), Mychal Bell (16 – charged as an adult), Carwin Jones (18), Theo Shaw (17), Bryant Purvis (17), and an unidentified 15-year old were each arrested and charged with second-degree attempted murder because of their alleged involvement in the beat-down of Justin Barker. Their bail amounts ranged from a low of $70,000 to a high of $138,000 (for Robert Bailey, Jr.) Most remained in jail for months until their poverty-stricken families could post bond. Mychal Bell and Carwin Shaw have never left jail – neither of their families could afford to bail them out.
The Jena Six were all expelled from Jena High School, their academic careers now officially over.
Mychal Bell was the first to go to trial. What happened at that trial will make your stomach turn.
Mychal Bell’s fate was swift, and once again, predictable — since his public defender put on no witnesses on his behalf, whereas the DA put on 17 witnesses — all white, including young master Barker. Trial was held before a white judge, and an all-white jury selected from an all-white venire, on which sat two friends of the DA, a white witness’ relative, and several friends of witnesses for the prosecution. Mychal Bell’s parents could not attend the trial to support their son, excluded by the rule that normally excludes trial witnesses to avoid tainting their testimony — yet Justin Barker was permitted to attend, despite his also being a witness governed by that rule. A gag order was even placed on Bell’s parents, preventing them from letting the world know that their son was on trial for an aggravated felony only for racial reasons. At trial, 11 white students, 3 white teachers and 2 white school nurses gave varying testimony about whether Mychal Bell did, or did not, do anything to Justin Barker. Justin Barker admitted he did not know whether Mychal Bell even touched him.
But this is Jena, Louisiana. So after only 3 hours of deliberation, Mychal Bell was convicted on July 28, 2007 of aggravated battery and conspiracy to commit it. He is scheduled to be sentenced on September 20, 2007. He faces a maximum sentence of 22 years in prison. [emphasis added]
To say this is a travesty of justice would be an understatement. This boy’s trial was a crime. The crime for which he was charged was criminal. Instead of hanging these boys from trees, the town of Jena, Louisiana is lynching them through the criminal justice system.
Shanikka is part of the AfroSpear, a collective of black bloggers. They are asking people to post this story on their blogs, contact the media, and whatever else it takes to get the nation’s eye on this circus in Jena. This is my effort to see real justice done and these boys receive punishment’s fitting their crime- as juvenile’s and with their lives still intact.
The noose’s hanging in that tree was an overt act of terrorism against the black students of Jena High School. That alone would constitute mitigating circumstances. Add to that the authorities lack of concern and compassion for the black citizens of Jena and Jena High School, the constant barrage of torment from some of the young (and no doubt old) white folks and you have a real problem brewing. Considering the length of time these boys sat in jail, though, and the mistreatment and blatant racism they’ve faced, I’d consider their time served.
Hat tip Shanikka. Please go to her site and read the linked post.
Update:
Counterpunch has an excellent article detailing some of the campus life at Jena High School.
Marcus Jones, Mychal Bell’s father, described the assembly to Revolution:
“Now remember, with everything that goes on at Jena High School, everybody’s separated. The only time when Black and white kids are together is in the classroom and when they playing sports together. During lunch time, Blacks sit on one side, whites sit on the other side of the cafeteria. During canteen time, Blacks sit on one side of the campus, whites sit on the other side of the campus.
“At any activity done in the auditorium-anything-Blacks sit on one side, whites on the other side, okay? The DA tells the principal to call the students in the auditorium. They get in there. The DA tells the Black students, he’s looking directly at the Black students-remember, whites on one side, Blacks on the other side-he’s looking directly at the Black students. He told them to keep their mouths shut about the boys hanging their nooses up. If he hears anything else about it, he can make their lives go away with the stroke of his pen.”
Not “forced” segregation per se, but definitely “understood”. Still. Yet some still say that race issues in America are unimportant now. Heh.
The Jena Six
Updated Below:
I am helping spread the word in the blogosphere about the Jena Six. I’ve just read a post by Shanikka that turned my blood cold.
The beginning:
The culprits were identified and received a full three day suspension for their acts, which many Black southerners rightfully see as a terrorist threat. How many nooses were hung from trees to intimidate Black families? How many Black men swung from nooses to teach those uppity coloreds a lesson? There was no mistaking the intention of the nooses hanging in that tree. This was no “prank” by a couple of kids.
What happened next:
Civil disobedience in an effort to make a point. It’s every American’s right and they did nothing wrong. At least most people with any kind of sensitivity would see nothing wrong. Unfortunately this was a small Southern town- which hasn’t quite made it into the 21st century. They were chastised and actually warned to stop making the nooses “a big deal”.
They didn’t want anyone to get wind of what was happening in their town. They didn’t want those damned Negroes to get too confident and maybe bring some cameras around. Remember, this was 2006.
Following this there were some incidents, fights, white kids tormenting black kids, and finally the black kids having enough.
Justin Barker got his ass kicked. Some would even say he deserved it. Obviously the school wasn’t going to do anything about these little bullies. Their parents weren’t taking them to task. These kids were reverting to behavior seen in 1950′s South. Despicable. Too bad they were in the South though.
I would also like to note that Justin Barker brought a gun to school during the trial of one of these young men and received no more than a slap on the wrist. Another white youth got into an argument with some black youths and pulled a shotgun on them (at a convenience store). The black kids took the gun from the white boy and ran with it. The black kids were charged with theft (after calling police to report what had happened) and the white boy got nothing.
After the fight, the boys who laid the beat down got their own beat down:
Mychal Bell was the first to go to trial. What happened at that trial will make your stomach turn.
To say this is a travesty of justice would be an understatement. This boy’s trial was a crime. The crime for which he was charged was criminal. Instead of hanging these boys from trees, the town of Jena, Louisiana is lynching them through the criminal justice system.
Shanikka is part of the AfroSpear, a collective of black bloggers. They are asking people to post this story on their blogs, contact the media, and whatever else it takes to get the nation’s eye on this circus in Jena. This is my effort to see real justice done and these boys receive punishment’s fitting their crime- as juvenile’s and with their lives still intact.
The noose’s hanging in that tree was an overt act of terrorism against the black students of Jena High School. That alone would constitute mitigating circumstances. Add to that the authorities lack of concern and compassion for the black citizens of Jena and Jena High School, the constant barrage of torment from some of the young (and no doubt old) white folks and you have a real problem brewing. Considering the length of time these boys sat in jail, though, and the mistreatment and blatant racism they’ve faced, I’d consider their time served.
Hat tip Shanikka. Please go to her site and read the linked post.
Update:
Counterpunch has an excellent article detailing some of the campus life at Jena High School.
Not “forced” segregation per se, but definitely “understood”. Still. Yet some still say that race issues in America are unimportant now. Heh.
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