The Jena Six
dontloseyourheat
Posts: 483
Has anyone heard of this?
Apparently people in the South still believe that it is 1930 and blatant racism is acceptable.
In Jena, Louisiana there is a large tree in front of the town high school. Apparently the white students used to congregate under the tree during breaks. One day a black student decided to sit down under this tree. The next day three nooses were hung from the tree. The superintendent wrote it off as a prank and suspended the responsible students for three days. The blacks were upset by this and racial tension began to increase. A few months pass and several scuffles take place. One night a group of black students get into a fight with a white student, causing the white student to be hospitalized and released later that day. Following the fight, the black students were arrested and charged with attempted murder and face 20-100 yrs in jail.
This is obviously just a summary so go to jenasix.org to get the full story.
The fact that this story is receiving very little national coverage is despicable.
Read more at the Jena 6 wikipedia page
Apparently people in the South still believe that it is 1930 and blatant racism is acceptable.
In Jena, Louisiana there is a large tree in front of the town high school. Apparently the white students used to congregate under the tree during breaks. One day a black student decided to sit down under this tree. The next day three nooses were hung from the tree. The superintendent wrote it off as a prank and suspended the responsible students for three days. The blacks were upset by this and racial tension began to increase. A few months pass and several scuffles take place. One night a group of black students get into a fight with a white student, causing the white student to be hospitalized and released later that day. Following the fight, the black students were arrested and charged with attempted murder and face 20-100 yrs in jail.
This is obviously just a summary so go to jenasix.org to get the full story.
The fact that this story is receiving very little national coverage is despicable.
Read more at the Jena 6 wikipedia page
"Don't lose your inner heat...ever" - EV 5/13/06
Post edited by Unknown User on
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Comments
Religious lunatics I tell ya man...f-ing insane...
and reveling in it's loyalty. It's made by forming coalitions
over specific principles, goals, and policies.
http://i36.tinypic.com/66j31x.jpg
(\__/)
( o.O)
(")_(")
Attempted murder is ridiculous(sp).
In September 2006, a group of African American high school students in Jena, Louisiana, asked the school for permission to sit beneath a "whites only" shade tree. There was an unwritten rule that blacks couldn't sit beneath the tree. The school said they didn't care where students sat. The next day, students arrived at school to see three nooses (in school colors) hanging from the tree.
The boys who hung the nooses were suspended from school for a few days. The school administration chalked it up as a harmless prank, but Jena's black population didn't take it so lightly. Fights and unrest started breaking out at school. The District Attorney, Reed Walters, was called in to directly address black students at the school and told them all he could "end their life with a stroke of the pen."
Black students were assaulted at white parties. A white man drew a loaded rifle on three black teens at a local convenience store. (They wrestled it from him and ran away.) Someone tried to burn down the school, and on December 4th, a fight broke out that led to six black students being charged with attempted murder. To his word, the D.A. pushed for maximum charges, which carry sentences of eighty years. Four of the six are being tried as adults (ages 17 & 18) and two are juveniles.
Yesterday, I was in Jena for the first day of the trial for Mychal Bell, one of the Jena Six. The D.A., perhaps in response to public pressure, tried to get Bell to cop a plea. Bell refused, and today, jury selection began. After today, we'll know whether or not the case will be tried in front of an all-white jury. Jena's 85-percent white, and it remains to be seen whether or not the six can get a fair trial.
Both off-the-record and on, Jena residents told me racism is alive and well in Louisiana, and this is a case where it rose above the levee, so to speak.
In the next few days, I'll be posting a few photos from Jena that are related to the case, as well as linking to a multimedia piece I'm working on. CNN began reporting on the story today, following the lead of the BBC, who crafted an excellent hour-long documentary that can be found on P2P networks.
Update: Mychal Bell, the first of the Jena Six to face trial, was found guilty of aggravated second-degree battery and conspiracy to commit the same on June 28th. A comprehensive look at the case, the trial and the verdict was published on July 2nd at friendsofjustice.
Welcome, BoingBoing and Kottke readers. For more information about the Jena Six, please see this youtube video and the following links: @ 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 *
Six black students at Jena High School in Central Louisiana were arrested
last December after a school fight in which a white student was beaten and
suffered a concussion and multiple bruises. The six black students were
charged with attempted murder and conspiracy. They face up to 100 years in
prison without parole. The fight took place amid mounting racial tension
after a black student sat under a tree in the schoolyard where only white
students sat. The next day three nooses were hanging from the tree.
Listen/Watch/Read
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=07/07/10/1413220
* "A Modern-Day Lynching" - Parents of Jena Six Speak of Injustice, Racism
in Sons' Prosecution *
We speak with the parents of three of the 'Jena Six' - the black high school
students charged with attempted murder for a school fight in which a white
student was beaten up. We are joined by Caseptla Bailey, the mother of
Robert Bailey and Tina Jones, the mother of Bryant Purvis - both of their
sons are awaiting trial on charges of attempted second degree murder and
conspiracy. We also speak with Marcus Jones, his son, Mychal Bell, was the
first of the Jena Six to go on trial. He was convicted just over a week ago
of aggravated battery and conspiracy. He faces up to 22 years in prison when
he is sentenced on July 31st.
Listen/Watch/Read
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=07/07/10/1413228
Peace
*MUSIC IS the expression of EMOTION.....and that POLITICS IS merely the DECOY of PERCEPTION*
.....song_Music & Politics....Michael Franti
*The scientists of today think deeply instead of clearly. One must be sane to think clearly, but one can think deeply and be quite INSANE*....Nikola Tesla(a man who shaped our world of electricity with his futuristic inventions)
"In September of 2006, a black student asked 'permission' from the school administration, if he could sit under the tree".
Asked permission!? Really shows thw kind of racial climate that exists in some parts of the country.
It sounds like the principal of the school pushed for expulsion. Good for him/her. They should have been. (personally i would have also sought charges of "terroristic threats"). The principal, at least it sounds, tried to do the right thing. The superintendant, and the D.A, on the other hand, need to be arrested and brought up on charges of their own.
This was in 2006 HOW IS THIS STILL HAPPENING?
They need to lock up every one of the kids that hung the nooses and their parents, or just build a giant wall around that town and evacuate all the minorities, hopefully the rest will inbreed thier way to dust.
Wouldn't the state government of Louisiana realize how unbelievably wrong this all is?
got the state wrong sorry.
when it hits you, you feel to pain.
So brutalize me with music.”
~ Bob Marley
It provides the framework for a high and mighty attitude towards others.
and reveling in it's loyalty. It's made by forming coalitions
over specific principles, goals, and policies.
http://i36.tinypic.com/66j31x.jpg
(\__/)
( o.O)
(")_(")
I found this whole Jena interesting....since I went through 12 years of public education in the South....and never encountered anything even remotely similar to this.
The tree has since been cut down as if this will all go away. 22 years for a fist fight with a deadly weapon of a tennis shoe. Yeah convicted by an all white jury becomes so easy when the defendant is of the darker sort.
That's the America we live, fair isn't it???
Peace
*MUSIC IS the expression of EMOTION.....and that POLITICS IS merely the DECOY of PERCEPTION*
.....song_Music & Politics....Michael Franti
*The scientists of today think deeply instead of clearly. One must be sane to think clearly, but one can think deeply and be quite INSANE*....Nikola Tesla(a man who shaped our world of electricity with his futuristic inventions)
Sounds like a hate crime to me...and they usually punish those more severely
(and I'm totally against the concept of hate crimes for the record)
...are those who've helped us.
Right 'round the corner could be bigger than ourselves.
Exactly, I have never encountered ANYTHING remotely close to this.
That's why I am so amazed.
The sad thing was, there were black people in line going on the tour that had to see the sign before they paid.
"Some of my friends sit around every evening and they worry about the times ahead,
But everybody else is overwhelmed by indifference and the promise of an early bed..."-- Elvis Costello
Why would you argue with the owner about his sign, and then call him names at HIS business? If you didnt like it, you could have left.
Yep. i'm sure thats the intended implication for the word here with the noose. "Gonna go lynch me some cajuns". :rolleyes:
maybe it wasnt a noose, but rather a raccoon trap like in cartoons, where they step in it, and it wraps around their foot and brings them up the tree.
You're probably right :rolleyes:
I was in Daytona beach about 10 years ago. I thought I was going down for spring break, MTV, naked chicks, the whole deal. It was actually what is called "Black College Reunion" week. Its essentially when the "black" colleges break for spring and many head to Daytona Beach. It was an interresting experience to say the least to truely be the minority. That said, it was a great week and my white ass met a lot of cool people, of all colors and cultures.
Here is the point of my post...
I got there about 2 days before the "reunion" began. The suvenior shops were all closing down. I asked them why they close down during spring break, like what the fuck?, and they told me its "because all the niggers come down here for the week". I swear to god, they said it as if it was no big deal. I was totally taken back by it. This happened in TWO different shops. Even the waitresses were saying it, in the restaurants. Saying shit like, "you take the table full of niggers" under their breath, but not really under their breath. Never in my life had I seen anything like it. I was blown away. Needless to say, I have never been back. What is happening to these kids does not suprise me in the least. Its horribly sad. Fuck, I have had the shit beat out me, but never did I consider it attempted murder.
as long as we are fed hours upon hours of meaningless crap - we can shut our minds off to the issues that really matter ...
If you really think the majority of people who live in "The South" fit your stereotypes then you are completely misinformed. It really shows your ignorance. Clearly you can find places such as the town in the article that have never progressed and have a higher percentage idiots than others. There is no defense for these morons and I agree that I hope they weed themselves out of the gene pool. However, you can't take this town and these people and make them the poster children for The South. For what it's worth, some of the most vile and racist shit I have ever heard has been muttered by Northerners. People are the problem, not people from a certain longitude and latitude range. It is much easier to stereotype, though, isn't it.
it seems that lack of religion can do that too from the above comment. The wiki page mentions nothing of religion being the cause or associated with it.
this is a messed up situation on a lot of fronts.
The black students who beat the white kid to a pulp that landed him in the hospital should indeed be prosecuted for assault. The choice they made did cause physical harm to someone.
The later actions are not excused by the prior.
Try looking at this without the racial aspect. Take the color out of it and apply it to bullying in general.
A truly liberal person is conservative when necessary.
Pro-life by choice.
Yes this is true and i was a part of that racism in Boston in the 70's. I was to go to high school in South Boston due to busing that was implemented in the 70's. It brought out the worst of the "Southie" youths and really showed what was REALLY on their minds set with hatred to others.
We moved away to South Carolina, Goose Creek where as a youth I could here KKK rallies off in the woods. Several months before we arrived there a 21 year old black male and his white girlfriend were killed, beheaded and dumped in a tree stump. I gather it was to send a message that black and whites were not meant to mix.
My point here is that racist behavior is all over this country, in some places more blatant than others. I mean we have a President whose grandparent (Prescott Bush) helped, worked to launder money through his Union Bank. not much has changed in this country except more now have the guts to say racism is wrong.
Peace
*MUSIC IS the expression of EMOTION.....and that POLITICS IS merely the DECOY of PERCEPTION*
.....song_Music & Politics....Michael Franti
*The scientists of today think deeply instead of clearly. One must be sane to think clearly, but one can think deeply and be quite INSANE*....Nikola Tesla(a man who shaped our world of electricity with his futuristic inventions)
I figured "like a cartoon" would be the giveaway.