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Do Something

dayday 9,611 Posts
edited July 2007 in Strut Central
Dear friend,I just learned about a case of segregation-era oppression happeningtoday in Jena, Louisiana. I signed onto ColorOfChange.org's campaignfor justice in Jena, and wanted to invite you to do the same.http://www.colorofchange.org/jena/?id=2699-190696Last fall in Jena, the day after two Black high school students satbeneath the "white tree" on their campus, nooses were hung from thetree. When the superintendent dismissed the nooses as a "prank," moreBlack students sat under the tree in protest. The District Attorneythen came to the school accompanied by the town's police and demandedthat the students end their protest, telling them, "I can be your bestfriend or your worst enemy... I can take away your lives with a strokeof my pen."A series of white-on-black incidents of violence followed, and the DAdid nothing. But when a white student was beaten up in a schoolyardfight, the DA responded by charging six black students with attemptedmurder 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 youngmen are fighting back, but the story has gotten minimal press.Together, we can make sure their story is told and that the Governorof Louisiana intervenes and provides justice for the Jena 6. It startsnow. Please join me:http://www.colorofchange.org/jena/?id=2699-190696The noose-hanging incident and the DA's visit to the school set thestage for everything that followed. Racial tension escalated over thenext couple of months, and on November 30, the main academic building ofJena High School was burned down in an unsolved fire. Later the sameweekend, a black student was beaten up by white students at a party.The next day, black students at a convenience store were threatened by ayoung white man with a shotgun. They wrestled the gun from him and ranaway. While no charges were filed against the white man, the studentswere later arrested for the theft of the gun.That Monday at school, a white student, who had been a vocal supporterof the students who hung the nooses, taunted the black student who wasbeaten up at the off-campus party and allegedly called several blackstudents "nigger." After lunch, he was knocked down, punched andkicked by black students. He was taken to the hospital, but wasreleased 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 (1Cool, Bryant Purvis (17), Mychal Bell (16) and anunidentified minor, were expelled from school, arrested and chargedwith second-degree attempted murder. The first trial ended lastmonth, and Mychal Bell, who has been in prison since December, wasconvicted of aggravated battery and conspiracy to commit aggravatedbattery (both felonies) by an all-white jury in a trial where hispublic defender called no witnesses. During his trial, Mychal'sparents were ordered not to speak to the media and the courtprohibited protests from taking place near the courtroom or where thejudge could see them.Mychal is scheduled to be sentenced on July 31st, and could go to jailfor 22 years. Theo Shaw's trial is next. He will finally make bailthis week.The Jena Six are lucky to have parents and loved ones who are fightingtooth and nail to free them. They have been threatened but they arestanding 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 canmake a difference.Join me in demanding that Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco getinvolved to make sure that justice is served for Mychal Bell, and thatDA Reed Walters drop the charges against the 5 boys who have not yetgone to trial.http://www.colorofchange.org/jena/?id=2699-190696Thanks.
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