Race Hate In Louisiana Or Just A Kid's Prank? - The Jena 6

[james1967]

Hello & thank you for reading my post. Please click on OR copy & paste each of the following link(s) in your address bar:


BBC - Search results for race hate in louisiana

BBC NEWS | Programmes | This World | Race hate in Louisiana

BBC NEWS | Programmes | This World | Read your comments

BBC NEWS | Programmes | This World | 'Stealth racism' stalks deep South

The INDsider: "Jena Six" trial postponed


Please copy & paste each one in the order they are placed. They are many other link(s) to this story but I think that the above link(s) will clearly state my point. I being a black Louisianian will only say this much:

A PRANK IS A PRANK & SHOULD BE TREATED AS A PRANK. . .

WHAT HAS TAKEN PLACE HERE--WELL--DOES NOT QUALIFY AS A KID PLAYING A PRANK ON ANOTHER! ! ! Better yet:

DID ANYONE PLAY A PRANK ON EMMITT TILLL BACK IN 1955?

DID ANYONE PLAY A PRANK ON JAMES BYRD BACK IN 1998?

Okay--ANY QUESTIONS????????????????????????????????????????? ??

AND I HAVEN'T EVEN MENTIONED THE "COURT SITUATION" . . . . . . . .

Please give me your opinion. I would like to hear what my sistas & brothas throughout my state & abroad have to say in regards to this situation.

As for updates--I am on top of this & will keep you updated per request as situations develop.

Sincerely,

James Thomas, Sr.

[james1967]

WELCOME TO MY STATE OF LOUISIANA . . . BY WAY OF A TOWN CALLED JENA! ! !

The Jena Six

Mychal Bell - the first student tried and convicted for beating (shoving) Justin Barker

Theodore Shaw - student who cannot meet the $90,000 bond, therefore, he has been in jail since 12/4/06

Carwin Jones - student athlete who received college scholarships, withdrawn since his arrest.

Robert Bailey, Jr - the student who was beaten by whites at the Fair Barn

Bryant Purvis - student who was allegedly involved in the beating (shoving) of Justin Barker

Jesse Rae Beard - the sixth “Jena 6″ student being dealt with in this very sad ordeal!

Other students

Justin Barker - the “white” student who was beaten (shoved) on December 4, 2006. Descriptions of his injuries in news accounts are varied, but it is indisputable that he only spent two and a half hours in the ER, was not admitted to the hospital, and attended a school event later that evening.

Kenneth Purvis - the student who originally asked permission for the black students to sit under the tree. He may be related to Bryant Purvis, one of the Jena 6, a completely unrelated person or may be Bryant Purvis with the name misreported.

The Lawyers

Reed Walters - the District Attorney in LaSalle Parish, Louisiana. Warned black students that “I can make your lives disappear with a stroke of my pen” if they continued to sat under the “white only” tree.

Blaine Williams - Bell’s attorney, a public defender who inexplicably called no defense witnesses at all.

Officials/Jena Residents

Glen Joiner - Jena High School Principal who recommended that the noose-hanging students be expelled. Superintendent Roy Breithaupt - Overruled Joiner and suspended the three noose-hangers, saying “Adolescents play pranks. I don’t think it was a threat against anybody.”

Murphy McMillian - Jena mayor, says that “Race is not a major local issue. It’s not a factor in the local people’s lives.”

Eddie Thompson - a white pastor who admits that racism is rampant in Jena, and who has worked alongside other pastors in Jena to resolve the racial problems.

Emma Humphries - emergency room supervisor at LaSalle General Hospital at the time of the attack. It is rumored that she said Barker sustained a number of cuts and bruises, including a serious abrasion of the eye. She noted that he also had a swollen eye.

Persons of Interest

Unidentified - the white people who beat Robert Bailey, Jr at the Fair Barn. Bailey says there were six or seven of them. One received a charge of simple battery; the rest were not charged at all.

Unidentified - 21 year old “white” Jena High School graduate who either was part of the group who beat Robert Bailey, Jr at the Fair Barn the night before, or at least was present, threatened black students with a pump-action shotgun at a Jena convenience store. He was not charged, but the students who disarmed him were charged with aggravated battery, theft and face many years in prison if convicted.

I WOULD LIKE TO SAY THAT I, JAMES THOMAS, SR., A RESIDENT OF LOUISIANA, IS VERY MUCH AN ANGRY BLACK MAN!!!

WHERE IS THE JUSTICE? AT 40 YEARS OLD, THERE WAS A TIME THAT I WAS ASHAMED OF BEING A LOUISIANIAN. . . NOT ANY MORE!!! I AM ASHAMED OF A TOWN IN MY HOME STATE NAMED JENA.

JENA, LOUISIANA IS ONE OF THE MOST RACIST TOWNS IN THE ENTIRE WORLD DUE TO THE FACT THAT THE "WHITE LOCALS" DO NOT HIDE THEIR RACIST ACTIONS, VIEWS & ATTITUDES TOWARD BLACK PEOPLE, PRIMARILY BLACK MEN!

I RECENTLY VISITED JENA AND MUST SAY THAT THOUGH IT SEEMS TO BE A VERY CALM, QUIET & CRIME-FREE TOWN, IT IS ALSO A TOWN WHO BELEIVES IN WHITE FOLK DOMINATING EVERYTHING & BLACK FOLK REMAINING IN THEIR PLACE. IN 2007, THAT IS VERY SAD & I AM ASKING FOR YOUR ADVICE ON SUCH A SITUATION.

please note: JENA, LOUISIANA POPULATION--3,250 (2,900 WHITE/350 BLACK)

UPDATE

JUST THIS WEEK, BLACK STUDENT MYCHAL BELL WAS CHARGED WITH & FOUND GUILTY BY A SIX PERSON "ALL WHITE" JURY OF AGGRAVATED BATTERY & CONSPIRACY TO COMMIT AGGRAVATED BATTERY & IS FACING UP TO 30 YEARS IN PRISON ONCE SENTENCED ON JULY 31, 2007!!!!!!
THE OTHER 5 JENA SIX BLACK STUDENT(S) ARE EACH FACING ATTEMPTED 2ND DEGREE MURDER CHARGES, CARRYING SENTENCES UP TO 100 YEARS IN PRISON EACH!!!!!!!!!!!!
I AM JUST ONE BLACK MAN HERE IN LOUISIANA. . . THOUGH THEY ARE A FEW OTHERS, THEY ARE COMPLETELY OUTNUMBERED BY THE "WHITES" OF JENA LOUISIANA!!! HELP SAVE "OUR" JENA BLACK BOYS WHO ARE ABOUT TO LOSE THEIR LIVES TO THE JUSTICE SYSTEM OF RACIAL INEQUALITY HERE IN LOUISIANA. I AM PLEADING FOR ANY & I DO MEAN "ANY" ADVICE, SUGGESTIONS, ETC.

JAMES THOMAS, SR.

[afrocentric]

You best believe this....i won't be moving there!

[darkwing69]

you have got to be kidding. I am from up north D. C. and i have never seen no trash like this for years even when i was coming up as a kid. first of all a whites only tree, no one has went to court just over the fact that there is a whites only tree. you got one of to choices move from that place or move from that place

[Istlota]

Originally Posted by darkwing69

you have got to be kidding. I am from up north D. C. and i have never seen no trash like this for years even when i was coming up as a kid. first of all a whites only tree, no one has went to court just over the fact that there is a whites only tree. you got one of to choices move from that place or move from that place

Where can we move to escape the tyranny of the Destroyers?

Consider what happened in the next state over. It will break your heart. Yesterday, Sunday, an 18 year old mexican-american boy committed suicide, jumped off a Cruise ship bound to Cozumel. Why?

Teen who survived pipe attack dies after leap from ship | Chron.com - Houston Chronicle

ABC News: Teen Accused of Brutal Houston Attack Says Drugs Made Him Do It

Well, he was still traumatized from what happened last year, in Spring Texas (a town I used to live in years ago). A couple of white beasts decided this kid had tried to kiss a white girl at a party. So, they beat him unconscious, the "virtuous" young white girl he was accused of trying to kiss sodomized the kid with a pole, they burned his inert body with cigarettes, poured bleach over him, and did all this while chanting "White Power".

Wake up, Children of Zion.

[emotionaldreams]

*confused* um, what year are we in? 1958?...smh


Date: 2007-07-18 12:46:05
Injustice in Jena as Nooses Hang From the "White Tree"
By Bill Quigley
t r u t h o u t | Report
Tuesday 03 July 2007
All white jury sitting before white judge agrees with white prosecutor and all white witnesses and convicts black youth in racially charged high school criminal case.

In a small, still mostly segregated, section of rural Louisiana, an all white jury heard a series of white witnesses called by a white prosecutor testify in a courtroom overseen by a white judge in a trial of a fight at the local high school where a white student who had been making racial taunts was hit by black students. The fight was the culmination of a series of racial incidents starting when whites responded to black students sitting under the "white tree" at their school by hanging three nooses from the tree. The white jury and white prosecutor and all white supporters of the white victim were all on one side of the courtroom. The black defendant, 17-year-old Mychal Bell, and his supporters were on the other. The jury quickly convicted Mychal Bell of two felonies - aggravated battery and conspiracy to commit aggravated battery. Bell, who was a 16-year-old sophomore football star at the time he was arrested, faces up to 22 years in prison. Five other black youths await similar trials on second-degree attempted murder and conspiracy charges.

Yes, you read that correctly. The rest of the story, which is being reported across the world in papers in China, France and England, is just as chilling.

The trouble started under "the white tree" in front of Jena High School. The "white tree" is where the white students, 80 percent of the student body, would always sit during school breaks.

In September 2006, a black student at Jena high school asked permission from school administrators to sit under the "white tree." School officials advised them to sit wherever they wanted. They did. The next day, three nooses, in the school colors, were hanging from the "white tree." The message was clear. "Those nooses meant the KKK, they meant 'N, we're going to kill you, we're going to hang you till you die,'" Casteptla Bailey, a mother of one of the students, told the London Observer.

The Jena high school principal found that three white students were responsible and recommended expulsion. The white superintendent of schools over-ruled the principal and gave the students a three-day suspension saying the nooses were just a youthful stunt. "Adolescents play pranks," the superintendent told the Chicago Tribune, "I don't think it was a threat against anybody."

The African-American community was hurt and upset. "Hanging those nooses was a hate crime, plain and simple," according to Tracy Bowens, a mother of students at Jena High.

But blacks in this area of Louisiana have little political power. The ten-person, all-male government of the parish has one African-American member. The nine-member, all-male school board has one African-American member. (A person called the local school board trying to find out the racial makeup of the school board, and was told there was one "colored" member of the board). There is one black police officer in Jena and two black public school teachers.

Jena, with a population of less than 3000, is the largest town in and parish (county) seat of LaSalle Parish, Louisiana. There are about 350 African-Americans in the town. LaSalle has a population of just over 14,000 people - 12 percent African-American.

This is solid Bush and David Duke Country - GWB won LaSalle Parish 4 to 1 in the last two elections; Duke carried a majority of the white vote when he ran for Governor of Louisiana. Families earn about 60 percent of the national average. The Census Bureau reports that less than 10 percent of the businesses in LaSalle Parish are black owned.

Jena is the site of the infamous Juvenile Correctional Center for Youth that was forced to close its doors in 2000, only two years after opening, due to widespread brutality and racism including the choking of juveniles by guards after a youth met with a lawyer. The US Department of Justice sued the private prison amid complaints that guards paid inmates to fight each other and laughed when teens tried to commit suicide.

Black students decided to resist and organized a sit-in under the "white tree" at the school to protest the light suspensions given to the noose-hanging white students.

The white district attorney then came to Jena High with law-enforcement officers to address a school assembly. According to testimony in a later motion in court, the DA reportedly threatened the black protesting students saying that if they didn't stop making a fuss about this "innocent prank", "I can be your best friend or your worst enemy. I can take away your lives with a stroke of my pen." The school was put on lockdown for the rest of the week.

Racial tensions remained high throughout the fall.

On the night of Thursday November 30, 2006, a still-unsolved fire burned down the main academic building of Jena High School.

On Friday night, December 1, a black student who showed up at a white party was beaten by whites. On Saturday, December 2, a young white man pulled out a shotgun in a confrontation with young black men at the Gotta Go convenience store outside Jena before the men wrestled it away from him. The black men who took the shotgun away were later arrested; no charges were filed against the white man.

On Monday, December 4, at Jena High, a white student - who allegedly had been making racial taunts, including calling African-American students "n" while supporting the students who hung the nooses and who beat up the black student at the off-campus party - was knocked down, punched and kicked by black students. The white victim was taken to the hospital treated and released. He attended a social function that evening.

Six black Jena students were arrested and charged with second-degree attempted murder. All six were expelled from school.

The six charged were: 17-year-old Robert Bailey Junior whose bail was set at $138,000; 17-year-old Theo Shaw - bail $130,000; 18-year-old Carwin Jones - bail $100,000; 17-year-old Bryant Purvis - bail $70,000; 16-year-old Mychal Bell, a sophomore in high school who was charged as an adult and for whom bail was set at $90,000; and a still unidentified minor.

(continue below)......

[emotionaldreams]

....(continued)


Many of the young men, who came to be known as the Jena Six, stayed in jail for months. Few families could afford bond or private attorneys.

Mychal Bell remained in jail from December 2006 until his trial because his family was unable to post the $90,000 bond. Theo Shaw has also remained in jail. Several of the other defendants remained in jail for months until their families could raise sufficient money to put up bonds.

The Chicago Tribune wrote a powerful story headlined "Racial Demons Rear Heads." The London Observer wrote: "Jena is gaining national notoriety as an example of the new 'stealth' racism, showing how lightly sleep the demons of racial prejudice in America's Deep South, even in the year that a black man, Barak Obama, is a serious candidate for the White House." The British Broadcasting Company aired a TV special report titled "Race Hate in Louisiana 2007."

The Jena Six and their families were put under substantial pressure to plead guilty. Mychal Bell was reported to have been leaning towards pleading guilty right up until his trial when he decided he would not plead guilty to a felony.

When it finally came, the trial of Mychal Bell was swift. Bell was represented by an appointed public defender.

On the morning of the trial, the DA reduced the charges from second-degree attempted murder to second-degree aggravated battery and conspiracy. Aggravated battery in Louisiana law demands the attack be with a dangerous weapon. The dangerous weapon? The prosecutor was allowed to argue to the jury that the tennis shoes worn by Bell could be considered a dangerous weapon used by "the gang of black boys" who beat the white victim.

Most shocking of all, when the pool of potential jurors was summoned, fifty people appeared - every single one white.

The LaSalle Parish clerk defended the all white group to the Alexandria Louisiana Town Talk newspaper saying that the jury pool was selected by computer. "The venire [panel of prospective jurors] is color-blind. The idea is for the list to truly reflect the racial makeup of the community, but the system does not take race into factor." Officials said they had summoned 150 people, but these were the only people who showed up.

The all-white jury which was finally chosen included two people friendly with the district attorney, a relative of one of the witnesses and several others who were friends of prosecution witnesses.

Bell's parents, Melissa Bell and Marcus Jones, were not even allowed to attend the trial despite their objections, because they were listed as potential witnesses. The white victim, though a witness, was allowed to stay in the courtroom. The parents, who had been widely quoted in the media as critics of the process, were also told they could no longer speak to the media as long as the trial was in session. Marcus Jones had told the media, "It's all about those nooses" and declared the charges racially motivated.

Other supporters who planned a demonstration in support of Bell were ordered by the court not to do go near the courthouse or anywhere the judge would see them.

The prosecutor called 17 witnesses - 11 white students, three white teachers and two white nurses. Some said they saw Bell kick the victim, others said they did not see him do anything. The white victim testified that he did not know if Bell hit him or not.

The Chicago Tribune reported the public defender did not challenge the all-white jury pool, put on no evidence and called no witnesses. The public defender told the Alexandria Town Talk, after resting his case without calling any witnesses, he knew he would be second-guessed by many, but was confident that the jury would return a verdict of not guilty. "I don't believe race is an issue in this trial. I think I have a fair and impartial jury"

The jury deliberated for less than three hours and found Mychal Bell guilty on the maximum possible charges of second-degree aggravated battery and conspiracy. He faces up to a maximum of 22 years in prison.

The public defender told the press afterwards, "I feel I put on the best defense that I could." Responding to criticism of not putting on any witnesses, the attorney said "why open the door for further accusations? I did the best I could for my client, Mychal Bell."

At a rally in front of the courthouse the next day, Alan Bean, a Texas minister and leader of the Friends of Justice, said: "I have seen a lot of trials in my time. And I have never seen a more distressing miscarriage of justice than what happened in LaSalle Parish yesterday." Khadijah Rashad of Lafayette Louisiana described the trial as a "modern day lynching."

Tory Pegram with the Louisiana ACLU has been working with the parents for months. "People know if they don't demand equal treatment now, they will never get it. People's jobs and livelihoods have been threatened for attending Jena Six Defense meetings, but people are willing to risk that. One person told me: 'We have to convince more people to come rally with us ... What's the worst that could happen? They fire us from our jobs? We have the worst jobs in the town anyway. They burn a cross on our lawns or burn down my house? All of that has happened to us before. We have to keep speaking out to make sure it doesn't happen to us again, or our children will never be safe.'"

Whites in the community were adamant that there is no racism. "We don't have a problem," according to one. Other locals told the media, "We all get along," and "most blacks are happy with the way things are." One person even said, "We don't have many problems with our blacks."

Melvin Worthington, the lone African-American school board member in LaSalle Parish, said it all could have been avoided. "There's no doubt about it," he told the Chicago Tribune, "whites and blacks are treated differently here. The white kids should have gotten more punishment for hanging those nooses. If they had, all the stuff that followed could have been avoided."

Hebert McCoy, a relative of one of the youths who has been trying to raise money for bail and lawyers, challenged people everywhere at the end of the rally when he said: "You better get out of your houses. You better come out and defend your children - because they are incarcerating them by the thousands. Jena's not the beginning, but Jena has crossed the line. Justice is not right when you put on the wrong charges and then convict. I believe in justice. I believe in the point of law. I believe in accepting the punishment if I'm guilty. If I'm guilty, convict me and punishment, but if I'm innocent, no justice." The crowd joined with him and shouted, "No peace!"

What happened to the white guys? The white victim of the beating was later arrested for bringing a hunting rifle loaded with 13 bullets onto the high school campus and released on $5000 bond. The white man who beat up the black youth at the off-campus party was arrested and charged with simple battery. The white students who hung up the nooses in the "white tree" were never charged.
Since the arrests, a group of family members have been holding well-attended meetings, and have created a defense fund- The Jena Six Defense Committee. They have received support from the NAACP, the Louisiana ACLU and Friends of Justice. For more information: The Jena Six Defense Committee, PO Box 2798, Jena, LA 71342 jena6defense@gmail.com; Friends of Justice, 507 North Donley Avenue, Tulia, TX 79088 http://friendsofjustice.wordpress.com/; or the ACLU of Louisiana, PO Box 56157, New Orleans, LA 70156 American Civil Liberties Union of Louisiana or 417-350-0536.

What is next? The rest of the Jena Six await similar trials. Theodore Shaw is due to go on trial shortly. Mychal Bell is scheduled to be sentenced July 31. If he gets the maximum sentence he will not be out of prison until he is nearly 40. Meanwhile, the "white tree" outside Jena High sits quietly in the hot sun.

--------

Bill is a human-rights lawyer and law professor at Loyola University in New Orleans. You can reach him at Quigley@loyno.edu. Audrey Stewart contributed to this article.

[UglymanCometh]

2007... and this still goes on in America. Tsk tsk tsk.

[Yossie]

I have come to expect nothing more out of this country. This is a country which was founded on racism and racism shall always exsist in a place like this.


I always have my passport ready because there is no way I am gonna raise my kids(when I have some) in a place like this.

[SchoolofSoul]

I just signed my name to a couple letters, to Gov. Blanco of Louisiana and D.A. Walters, in opposition to this.

This was sent to me by ColorofChange.org -

Six young black men are headed for 20+ year prison sentences in a clear case of Jim Crow "justice." Their families are fighting but need our support. Will you stand with them?


Dear friends,

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.

ColorOfChange.org

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:

ColorOfChange.org

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.

ColorOfChange.org

Thanks.

References:

1. "Injustice in Jena as Nooses Hang From the ‘White Tree,'" truthout, July 3, 2007
Bill Quigley | Injustice in Jena as Nooses Hang From the "White Tree"

2. "Racial demons rear heads," Chicago Tribune, May 20, 2007
Chicago Tribune news | Registration

3. See reference #1.

4. See reference #1.

5. "'Jena Six' defendant convicted," Town Talk, June 29, 2007
The Town Talk - www.thetowntalk.com - Alexandria-Pineville, Louisiana

Other resources:

NPR: Searching for Justice in Jena 6 Case (streaming audio)
NPR : Searching for Justice in Jena 6 Case

Democracy Now! - The case of the Jena Six ...
Democracy Now! | The Case of the Jena Six: Black High School Students Charged with Attempted Murder for Schoolyard Fight After Nooses Are Hung from Tree

Too Sense: Free The Jena Six Now
Too Sense: Free The Jena Six Now

While Seated: Jena Six
While Seated: Jena Six

Nooses, attacks and jail for black students in Jena Louisiana
Daily Kos: State of the Nation

Justice In Jena, by Jordan Flaherty
ZNet | Race | Justice in Jena

The Perpetrator becomes the Prosecutor (and other related entries)
Friends of Justice

'Stealth racism' stalks deep South
BBC NEWS | Programmes | This World | 'Stealth racism' stalks deep South