I don't know if anyone has posted this yet.If so this can be merged with it, if someone has done this already please let me know. I learned about this in my study group on saturday. I found the story in a jet issue. Here is the story:
Blacks Cry For Justice in Louisiana Town Rocked By High School Racial Violence
In an altercation last December, six Black students at a predominantly White high school were arrested after one White student suffered a concussion and multiple bruises during a fight. The student was treated and released within hours and reportedly attended a school function later in the evening. Now, the six Black teenagers are facing as much as 80 years in prison for attempted second-degree murder. Find out why this small Louisiana town has become the center of attention for national leaders and what they are doing to defend these young men. (Page 5)
I read the entire article in jet. The story is in the AUG. 20, 2007 issue. There is reference to on the jet web also at
www.ebonyJET.com
The case of the Jena six- Racism in Louisiana - pt 6
this is also a link to a video about the case. also this is another link about support for the jena 6.
Last Tuesday, more than 300 people from across the country descended on the small town of Jena, Louisiana to protest the racially tinged prosecution of the "Jena Six" -- six black students who are facing attempted murder charges for their alleged roles in a schoolyard fight. The first has already been convicted and faces up to 22 years in prison.
The marchers rallied at the Jena courthouse and delivered more than 43,000 signatures collected by ColorOfChange.org demanding that District Attorney Reed Walters drop the charges against the six students.
The story of the Jena 6 reads like one from the Jim Crow era—where powerful whites use brazenly oppressive and discriminatory action to keep black people "in their place"—but it's happening today.
The DA and other officials in Jena thought that their actions would go unchallenged. Indeed, until last week the story has received only a trickle of mainstream press, and the most prominent stories have been marred by serious distortions or ommissions.
What town officials didn't count on was the surge of online activism and reports from online and alternative media outlets such as Left Turn, truthout, Democracy Now, and BlackAmericaWeb, and creative pieces like this pilot episode of Radar (an internet news broadcast from GNN.tv focused on underreported stories and uncovered angles) that have shined a light on the injustice taking place in Jena.
Ever since December, families of the Jena 6 have been fighting to overcome the Jim Crow "justice" being applied to their sons. With the help of folks like Alan Bean from Friends of Justice (Alan helped lay the groundwork that exposed the infamous Tulia drug sting), they have protested, organized, and asked for outside help to show the town's white power structure that they will not sit idly by as their loved ones are railroaded into a life behind bars.
What we saw on Tuesday is that their efforts are beginning to pay off. Mychal Bell, the first of the Jena 6 to be tried, was convicted of aggravated battery and conspiracy to commit aggravated battery. Bell was originally scheduled to be sentenced on July 31st, the day of the march, but the sentencing was postponed until September 20th. Local organizers are convinced that officials got nervous about holding the sentencing on a day when much so attention would be focused on Jena.
This small victory didn't come because the Governor or the Justice Department stepped in, and it wasn't because of a hard-hitting expose by a major news organization (all of which would be welcome developments). It was because a relatively small number of concerned citizens— informed by reports in alternative media and spurred to action by grassroots and online organizing—stood behind the Jena 6, their families, and dozens of other Jena residents who are courageously resisting injustice.
The delay in Mychal Bell's sentencing hearing is a sign that the authorities in Jena are feeling the pressure. But there's still much to be done. The outrage over Jena has yet to reach the decibel level necessary to see justice served.
The lives of six young black men are at stake and the DA has turned the police and courts into instruments of intimidation and oppression.
We can help turn things around by making it a political liability for the authorities of Jena to continue the racist status quo, and by forcing the Governor of Louisiana to intervene.
If you want to support the Jena 6, please sign theColorOfChange.org petition calling on the local DA to drop all charges and calling on Governor Kathleen Blanco to intervene.
You can also make a donation to support the legal defense of the Jena 6. The official Jena 6 website, which will be updated regularly with resources and information about the case, is at FreetheJena6.org.
the link:
AlterNet: Rights and Liberties: Battling Modern Day Jim Crow: the "Jena Six"
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