The Jena 6

Jordan Flaherty wrote:

More About The Jena Six: In Jena, Louisiana, six Black youths who stood up to racism are facing a lifetime in prison. The six high school students were charged with attempted murder for a schoolyard fight. The fight was initiated by white students, who hung three nooses in a tree at the high school courtyard, to warn black students not to sit there. After this hate crime was dismissed as a harmless prank by the school administration, black students protested under the tree. The local District Attorney was called in to warn the black students that he could take their life away with the stroke of a pen. The nooses led to a series of fights between white and black students. After these fights, only the black students were charged-with attempted murder. The prosecutor has refused to back down in prosecuting these young men, or to admit that hanging nooses is a hate crime.

Please see http://www.freethejena6.org/ for more information, or email [email protected]. Phone: (504) 655-0390.

Sponsored by: Advocates for Environmental Human Rights, Families and Friends of Louisiana's Incarcerated Children, Left Turn, Louisiana Justice Institute, Craige Cultural Center, Interfaith Worker Justice, Restaurant Opportunities Center, Nation of Islam, Millions More Movement, INCITE Women of Color Against Violence, ColorOfChange.org , Safe Streets Strong Communities, Mennonite Central Committee, European Dissent, People's Institute for Survival and Beyond, Common Ground Health Clinic, Lower 9thCenter for Arts & Culture, Critical Resistance, New Orleans International Human Rights Film Festival, Anti-Racist Working Group, The Homecoming Center, Common Ground Relief, Peoples Hurricane Relief Fund, Malcolm X Grassroots Movement, ACLU Foundation of Louisiana, and more (list in formation).

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Resources:

Donate to support the legal defense fund:
Jena 6 Defense Committee
PO BOX 2798
Jena, LA 71342

Donate online at: https://secure.colorofchange.org/jena_fund/
Sign the petition at: http://www.colorofchange.org/jena/

For more information or to offer concrete support, email:
jena6defense(at)gmail.com

Media coverage:
The Final Call:
http://www.finalcall.com/artman/publish/article_3753.shtml
NPR (News and Notes):
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=11756302
Democracy Now:
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=07/07/10/1413220

Mychal Bell, who has been behind bars since December of 2006, has asked to receive letters from supporters. Please write to:

Mychal Bell
Inmate, A-Dorm
LaSalle Correctional Center
15976 Highway 165
Olla, LA 71465-4801

Congressional Black Caucus resolution:
http://www.congressionalblackcaucus.net/

Cambridge, MA, city council resolution:
http://www.cambridgema.gov/cityClerk/PolicyOrder.cfm?action="search&item_id=18831";

New York Collective of Radical Educators (NYCoRE - http://www.nycore.org ) is teaming up with other teacher activist groups across the country to develop a curriculum guide for teachers to address what's happening in Jena. Contact [email protected] or [email protected].

If you are in nyc and want to get involved Jena Six Support, email: [email protected].

Support Organizations:
http://friendsofjustice.wordpress.com/
http://www.colorofchange.org
http://www.millionsmoremovement.com
http://www.laaclu.org/

YouTube videos in support of the Jena Six:




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armchair_warrior wrote: as i said in another post they are no rosa parks. they did commit a crime.

armchair_warrior wrote: it doesn't justified them beating the crap out of the kid. The law wasn't evenly applied but the kid still is a criminal. no saint, those white kids should be charge with something.

lilbangladesh wrote: Actually, before the protests, it was fairly easy to get an entire sequence of events, but I'll repeat them for those that have been living under a rock:

There is a tree (or was, has since been cut down) in front of this high school where traditionally only white students sat under. A black student asked the assistant principal if he could sit under the tree. The principal replied that anyone could sit under the tree. So he did. The next day, three nooses appeared in the tree.

After parents complained, the students responsible were suspended for a few days, but the administration dismissed the whole thing as a "prank" (which giving the history of lynchings in the area, was a slap in the face to black families).

In a separate incident, a white man threatened three black teenagers with a shotgun. The teens wrestled the gun away from the man and then ran away. The white man was never charged, but the black kids were charged with assault and possession of a weapon (!).

When black students protested this unfair treatment, the DA said, "I could end your lives with a stroke of my pen."

After a week or so of racial tension, a white student who went out of his way to racially taunt black students got jumped by six black students and beaten. The white student was treated and released, while the black students were arrested and charged with conspiracy to attempt murder and now face potential life sentences. One of them has already been found guilty by an all-white jury and faces a 22-year sentence.

The reason why people are protesting is because of the egregious unfairness of the criminal justice system in Jena. While those kids were wrong to jump the kid, they weren't trying to murder him and given the lack of damage done (the kid went to a party that night) should have been suspended from school for a week or two, not given life sentences. Not to mention those kids who got charged who were obviously defending themselves from a white man threatening them with a gun. And how come HE wasn't charged?

This is being done from memory so I may have gotten a detail or two wrong. I would advise you to watch the clip at the beginning of the thread.