Injustice in Jena:

[keita]

I wonder if that means we can cancel the buses and the t-shirt orders?

[MsKayLander]

keita said:

I wonder if that means we can cancel the buses and the t-shirt orders?

See, you ain't right!!!!!

[keita]

LOL! C'mon now, you know Negroes love a good "Get on the Bus" march and rally to Anywhere, U.S.A. with Rev.'s Jessie and Al. It's like we don't know anything else to do... even after all this time.

Has anybody heard Barack on any of this?

[MsKayLander]

No, haven't heard....

[Jasmine]

Obama Demands Fairness in Jena 6 Case

Senator Barack Obama made the following statement today in response to the Jena 6 case.

"When nooses are being hung in high schools in the 21st century, it’s a tragedy. It shows that we still have a lot of work to do as a nation to heal our racial tensions. This isn’t just Jena’s problem; it’s America’s problem."

"There are a number of signs that the system is not working in this case. It’s a problem when criminal charges are brought against some students for fighting, but not others. It’s a problem when a public defender doesn’t call any witnesses. And it’s a problem when a prosecutor decides to try teenagers as adults for a school fight, a charge that could leave them in jail for the majority of their lives. That is why I join my colleagues in the Congressional Black Caucus in calling on the judge to consider all the relevant factors and calling on the District Attorney to drop the excessive charges brought in this case. And I, along with other members of the CBC, will continue to monitor this case closely."

"Going forward, we have to fix our criminal justice system. Whether it’s Jena 6 or Genarlow Wilson, it’s long past time for us to admit that we have more work to do to ensure that our criminal justice system is fair. We must ensure that both victims and defendants can receive equal justice under the law, regardless of race, wealth, or other circumstances."

[krazeeboi]

jasmine said:

I am saddened by the fact that in this small community there are at least 32 churches, and NONE , I do repeat NONE, are getting together to discuss the events that have taken place. Why is it that Jessie Jackson, Al Sharpton and others have to come down to your city, when you would expect that white and black CHRISTIANS would speak up on this issue.

That exact same thought crossed my mind as well. The churches down there appear to be just as divided as the town. It's a shame, because we're supposed to adhere to a higher standard.

[krazeeboi]

I'm glad Barack spoke up about this, and even made mention of Genarlow Wilson (another extreme miscarriage of justice in Georgia).

Hillary, your turn. Oh HIIIILLLAARRYYY.....

[Nikkol]

Louisiana Appeals Court Throws Out Conviction in Racially Charged 'Jena 6' Case

By Darryl Fears
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, September 15, 2007; Page A06

A Louisiana appeals court yesterday overturned the aggravated-battery conviction of a black high school student who was found guilty of attacking a white classmate after a racial incident that raised tensions in their small town.

The state's 3rd Circuit Court of Appeal ruled that Mychal Bell, 17, should not have been tried as an adult by LaSalle Parish District Attorney J. Reed Walters, and that the trial judge erred in allowing Bell to be tried as an adult on charges of aggravated second-degree battery. Under Louisiana law, teenagers can be tried as adults for certain violent crimes but not battery, the court said.


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Bell, who was 16 at the time of the incident, awaited sentencing on Sept. 20 in a case that drew nationwide attention because of the severity of the charges that had been filed against him and five other youths involved in a schoolyard fight. He faced 15 years in jail.

Thousands of protesters planned to board about 100 buses and converge in Bell's home town of Jena to protest the case.

Organizers of the protest, including the Rev. Al Sharpton and radio personality Michael Baisden, hailed the court's ruling but said the protest would continue because five other black youngsters who, with Bell, make up the "Jena 6" face charges similar to Bell's.

The youngsters were accused of kicking and punching a fellow student at Jena High School. The victim, Justin Barker, was knocked out and received a black eye but suffered no permanent injuries.

Walters first charged the attackers with attempted second-degree murder. He reduced the charges against five of the defendants as the case drew national attention.

Racial tension rose in Jena after white students hung three nooses in a tree at the school. Black parents wanted the students expelled, but the superintendent of schools opted to suspend them for three days.

In subsequent weeks, an arsonist torched a wing of the school, and racial fighting roiled the town. Only the black high school students were arrested and charged in the fights. Walters vowed to try them as adults.

Prosecutors now have the option of trying Bell for attempted murder as an adult or aggravated battery as a juvenile.

Bell has been jailed since his arrest in December. An attorney for Bell who appeared on Baisden's afternoon radio show along with Sharpton said that they will seek to free him and fight any attempts to retry him in juvenile court.

"This is a child. He's been locked up in a prison for a year, and a court's saying that he never should have been tried as an adult," Sharpton said. "He should be compensated for that."



Sinde Note: They are still asking for everyone to wear black on Thursday, September 20 in support

[MsKayLander]

I think the reason why you don't hear about the churches is because this area is still under the "slave" mentality. I have seen a few Pastors from the area speak on the injustice, but they have been retaliated against. This is a town of about 500 blacks.....

[kitty]

Somebody asked why Black and White Christians didn't come together...

Because many white christians are still very racist... Just check out the case on another popular Christian web site called crosswalk... In the current events section..

Some of the comments made will blow your mind...

Starting with the idea that the kids should have stayed their place and not desired to sit under the tree... Thus they were asking for trouble...

Kitty

[kitty]

I wonder if they are going to still have the march

[krazeeboi]

Oh yes Lord. They are expecting over 50K people to show up in Jena (a town of less than 10% that amount) on Thursday.

[anointedteacher]

JENA, La. - Thousands of chanting demonstrators filled the streets of this little Louisiana town Thursday in support of six black teenagers initially charged with attempted murder in the beating of a white classmate.

The crowd broke into chants of "Free the Jena Six" as the Rev. Al Sharpton arrived at the local courthouse with family members of the jailed teens.

Sharpton told the Associated Press that he and Reps. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Texas, and William Jefferson, D-La., will press the House Judiciary Committee next week to summon the district attorney to explain his actions before Congress.

This could be the beginning of a 21st century's civil rights movement challenge disparities in the justice system, he said, and he said he planned a November march in Washington.

"What we need is federal intervention to protect people from Southern injustice," Sharpton told the AP. "Our fathers in the 1960's had to penetrate the Kennedy and Johnson administrations, we have to do the same thing."

The six black teens were charged a few months after three white teens were accused of hanging nooses in a tree on their high school grounds. The white teens were suspended from school but weren't prosecuted. Five of the black teens were initially charged with attempted murder. That charge was reduced to battery for all but one, who has yet to be arraigned; the sixth was charged as a juvenile.

The beating victim, Justin Barker, was knocked unconscious, his face badly swollen and bloodied, though he was able to attend a school function later that night.

President Bush, asked about the Jena case during a news conference, said he understood the emotions and the FBI was monitoring the situation.

"The events in Louisiana have saddened me," the president said. "All of us in America want there to be, you know, fairness when it comes to justice."

Thousands of demonstrators clad in black converged on the local courthouse and a nearby park Thursday morning to protest the disparity in the charged teenagers' treatment. Thousands more marched along city streets in what at times took on the atmosphere of a giant festival — with people setting up tables of food and some dancing to the beat of a drum.

The Rev. Jesse Jackson spoke to one crowd. Dennis Courtland Hayes, interim president and CEO of the NAACP, was also there.

"People are saying, `That's enough, and we're not taking it any more,'" Hayes said.

Martin Luther King III, son of the slain civil rights leader, described the scene as reminiscent of earlier civil rights struggles. He said punishment of some sort may be in order for the six defendants, but "the justice system isn't applied the same to all crimes and all people."

District Attorney Reed Walters stressed on Wednesday that race had nothing to do with the charges in Jena.

Walters said he didn't charge the white students accused of hanging the nooses because he could find no Louisiana law under which they could be charged. In the beating case, he said, four of the defendants were of adult age under Louisiana law and the only juvenile charged as an adult, Mychal Bell, had a prior criminal record.

"It is not and never has been about race," Walters said. "It is about finding justice for an innocent victim and holding people accountable for their actions."

Bell, 16 at the time of the December attack, is the only one of the "Jena Six" to be tried so far. He was convicted on an aggravated second-degree battery count that could have sent him to prison for 15 years, but the conviction was overturned last week when a state appeals court said he should not have been tried as an adult.

Thursday's rally, heavily promoted on black Web sites, blogs, radio and publications, had been planned to coincide with Bell's sentencing, but organizers decided to press ahead even after the conviction was thrown out. Bell remains jailed while prosecutors prepare an appeal. He has been unable to meet the $90,000 bond.

"We all have family members about the age of these guys. We said it could have been one of them. We wanted to try to do something," said Angela Merrick, 36, who drove with three friends from Atlanta to protest the treatment of the teens.

Sharpton admonished the demonstrators to remain peaceful, and there were no reports of trouble as of midmorning. White residents in the predominantly white town of 3,000 have largely been reluctant to comment, saying privately that the town was being unfairly portrayed.

"I believe in people standing up for what's right," said resident Ricky Coleman, 46, who is white. "What bothers me is this town being labeled racist. I'm not racist."

A group of about a dozen white residents and black demonstrators engaged in an animated but not angry exchange during the march. Whites asked blacks if they were aware of Bell's criminal record, blacks replied that Jena High School administrators mishandled the incidents.

Another white resident, Bill Williamson, 59, said he tried to convince visitors that the town was being treated unfairly and that Mychal Bell belonged in jail.

"I think we changed one man's mind," he said. "But most of these people don't want to hear."

The demonstrators included large numbers of civil rights movement veterans and college students from across the region who weren't alive in the 1960s.

Elizabeth Redding, 63, of Willinboro, N.J., said she marched at Selma when she was in her 20s.

"This is worse, because we didn't get the job done," she said as she walked up a hill leading to the park rally. "I never believed that this would be going on in 2007."

Sharpton said Bell, whom he spoke with Wednesday, was heartened by the show of support.

"He doesn't want anything done that would disparage his name — no violence, not even a negative word," Sharpton said.

[krazeeboi]

And the judge refused to let Mychal Bell go, although the charges were dropped and he hasn't been charged with anything new. When I tell you this whole this INFURIATES me.....

[krazeeboi]

Mychal Bell has been released on $45,000 bond. Praise God! The young man also acknowledges the Lord in all of this. Read the story here.

Now did yall read about what the stupid DA said? Here's an excerpt from the article:

"The only way - let me stress that - the only way that I believe that me or this community has been able to endure the trauma that has been thrust upon us is through the prayers of the Christian people who have sent them up in this community," Walters said.

"I firmly believe and am confident of the fact that had it not been for the direct intervention of the Lord Jesus Christ last Thursday, a disaster would have happened. You can quote me on that."

Say what?!?!?!?!