Jena Six Petition

[sabell]

If you haven't heard about this already...please take the time to become familiar with it, and sign.

 

 (Below is quoted)

"Dear friend,

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.

http://www.colorofchange.org/jena/?id=1815-463142

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:

http://www.colorofchange.org/jena/?id=1815-463142

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 "nigger." 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
in June, 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.

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 and that DA Reed Walters drop the charges
against all six young men.

http://www.colorofchange.org/jena/?id=1815-463142

Thanks." Related articles... http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070924/ap_on_re_us/a_place_called_jena_1;_ylt=AiD13GpIDnxIwkgj.DP5hzpH2ocA http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/09/21/car.nooses/index.htmlThe last story just shows the ignorance that is still going on here in the US (and around the world for that matter)I would be ASHAMED to hear if one of my family members were acting in the manner that the second link suggested. Please sign the petition.  

[DevineMommie]

Sep. 24, 2007 at 10:02 PM Wow! I hadn't heard this story!

[AndreaWright]

Sep. 28, 2007 at 11:31 PM Thank you for adding this link.  I think it is a story that needs to be told.  Hopefully more peole will learn about it and speak out against it!