Sunday, July 15, 2007

Free the "Jena 6": White Supremacy in Jena, Louisiana

"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."

This tragic case speaks for itself:

"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."

And it gets worse... Check out the full story at Truth Out:
"Injustice in Jena as Nooses Hang From the 'White Tree'"

Here is the Chicago Tribune story referenced in the previous story:
Racial Demons Rear Heads

Here are two reports on the case by Democracy Now!
Democracy Now!, pt. 1
Democracy Now!, pt. 2

Here is an article on the case from Counterpunch:
Counterpunch article

Here is a website dedicated to supporting the "Jena 6":
Friends of Justice

To sign an online petition to support the "Jena 6" go here:
Online Petition

2 comments:

  1. You may have seen it, but if not, I thought you'd be interested in this collection of comments from local viewers in Alexandria, LA.

    I know I've been wondering what the local reactions were, because it's hard to tell through the media lens.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks, Joe. Interesting cross-section of views from the local scene.

    ReplyDelete