The latest news is that charges against Mychal Bell have been dropped. Yet he is still in jail. Everyone is awaiting the D.A.'s decision to either appeal the overturned conviction, bring new charges against Mychal Bell as a juvenile, or drop the charges. He has vowed to appeal.Some Jena6 links:
Free the Jena 6
NPR
Democracy Now
Chicago Tribune
Color of Change
Please comment on your feelings about this case.
posted by Jan Yourist at 8:24 AM
38 Comments:
One of the things that we should do to help the Jena-6 victims or culprits, depending on your point of view, is to write a letter to the District Attorney of Jena, Reed Walters. We could ask him to drop charges on Mychael Bell and to fairly examine the case. Or we could start a fundraiser to raise bail for the other Jena-6 victims and send it to the parents of them.
The racism involved in the Jena-6 case is absolutely horrible. I can't believe anyone like Reed Walters would imprison people just for the color of their skin, especially now. Also, most whites in Jena are ignorant or refuse to believe the unfairness of Jena-6.
What kind of world is it where to serve justice one must involve people of different sides of the country?
Charlie J.
A few interesting links:
A petition | The Jena Web Site
Note: For a little fun, copy this into your address bar once you get to the Jena website:
javascript:document.body.contentEditable='true'; document.designMode='on'; void 0
You can now edit the webpage!
(Note: This is only for you. No one else can see your changes)
Email me your screenshots to:
ja [at] fatlotus [dot] com
Whew. Now that we have that out of the way:
What the heck were they thinking?!? Why could they act so stupid! Arg!!! The racism is so obvious, yet they seem oblivious to it!
Sorry. The above comment was me, Jeremy.
I think that we should send letters to the DA Reed Walters complaining about the unfairness of the trial, and also ask him why Mychael Bell is still in jail it the charges have been dropped on the adult level. I also think that we should send letters to Reed Walters superior complaining about he bad of a DA he has been and how racist he is.
I am also still amazed at how the white people in Jena think that the nooses were just pranks. I mean tepeeing someone house is a prank, but hanging nosses, real nooses in a tree. That is just way beond prank level that is just terrible
I think that the racism in Jena was awful. The way that the black people got absolutely no breaks was disturbing. What really upset me the most was how blacks would get harshley charged while, it seemed, whites were getting encouraged to continue this behavior. Also, some of the original punishment given out to some of teh black students were down right inacurate and harsh. Another unbeleivable thing was how the authorities of Jena also took part in discriminating against blacks and didn't do their job by giving out fair and equal punishments. Overall I was just appualed by the way Jena is run.
A way that we could help the less fortunate in Jena, is we could make the matter more well known, in other words, give it more publicity. We could also try to enlighten higher authorities, such as congress men and press in the norht. We could also try to contact the authorities of Jena adn tell them what we think. To help th epeople in need of financial(bail) assisstance, we could raise and donate money.
jessica h.
I think that the whole Jena 6 situation is very troubling. Not just because what is happening is obviously racist and awful, but also the white people in Jena seem so indifferent and ill-informed! It just seems so out of place when we look at our own portrayals of our country.
Also, I found a pretty good website by a photographer who had been in Jena to protest. There are some pretty cool pictures of everything from "Jim Crow RD" to the storefront of a place called "Dreams" with signs in the window that say "sale" and "going out of business." He says that he didn't encounter anyone who tried to stop him, but someone broke into his car just to take the tape of his interview with Carwin Jones.
Joyce H.
Wow, Joyce. What is the web address? I would love to see those pictures. Perhaps we could look at them tommorrow in class.
Ms. Yourist
BEATING UP A KID DOES NOT EQUAL LIFE IN PRISON! This is quite frankly ridiculous. I would agree with them doing community service, even long term suspension. And the kid the rifle thing is perhaps the most injust excuse for something resembling a law system i have ever been shamed to lay eyes upon!
Yeah, I forgot to put the website. It is www.whileseated.org and the pictures start at http://www.whileseated.org/photo/003244.shtml
This might have been what joyce was talking about maybe.
http://www.whileseated.org/photo/003244.shtml
I feel that this whole thing could've been avoided. I knew that there was stil racism in the world, but I never knew how severe it was. I just hope that the district of attourney realizes his wrong doings, But I wouldnt expect it.
I think that what happened in Jena was terrible. It is so awful that the black kids got such harsh and ridiculous punishments when the white students just had an in school suspention for 3 days! I mean what is that!!! What really upset me was when the librarian and principal acted like nothing was wrong and that the kids did absolutely nothing! That is so crazy to me. What kind of person is like that!?!? Another crazy thing was how the DA told them that he could end their lives with the stroke of a pen! Oh my goodness! How can he just threaten them and get away with that? Also how can the kids just hang nuces in the trees WITH THE SCHOOL COLORS ON THEM and the people just say it is a joke! Everything in Jena is just completely wrong and unfair! It is also wrong that the authorities don' care enough to stop all the things that are going on! All 6 of the kids should not be in jail and shouldn't have gone in the first place. They did nothing wrong! All the did was defend themselves!
Aasha H.
Periods 6-7
9/17/07
Well, I was looking on the web for more info on the jena six, and I found this website http://www.jenalouisiana.com/
background091307/20.html
that is trying to prove that jena is not a racist town. I think it actually just proves that the town really is racist. Here are some quotes from the site
If I were black, I would want my children to live in a community just like Jena where the color card is not usually played to take advantage of a system that keeps poor people poor.
What is wrong with black America
(over a you tube video of a African-American women speaking at a conference)
I wonder which group named the white tree?? I'm betting it wasn't the whites.How racist is that??
(there is a link from this quote to a blog on which people say incredibly racist things that i don't feel comfortable quoting, and basically insult the jena six.)
It's really shocking the racism that's out there
Josh
I can not put words to how racist Reed Walters is, and how naive biased the librarian is, but I will say this. Colin Cowherd is a sports radio talk show host on ESPN Radio, and he was talking about how southerners bring the Confederate Flag to a lot of the sporting events.
And he said this,"Just once I'd like to here the majority of white southern males side on any issue with somebody other than white southrn males."
He then said, "Anytime it's an issue with black against white, just once I'd love to hear southern white males come in and say, 'you know we're probably wrong on this one.'"
I could not agree more.
Unfortunately, some parts in the North are bad too. So it goes.
I think that we should write letters or email the DA, Reed Walters and tell him how we feel about the situation. I also think it is a good idea to have a fund raiser where we would raise money for the bail of the 6 victims.
I also can not believe that the white people think that the nooses and this whole situation is not a big deal. The 6 victims could be in jail for life just because they wanted to sit under a tree. So i think that this whole situation is just awful!!
Katherine G.
First off, I found a set on the internet that has a petition that anyone is able to sign. I thought that this might be a worthwhile expenditure of time if anyone is interested. The petition is addressed to Governor Blanco. The website is: http://www.colorofchange.org/jena/
I think that the single most important thing that can be done to
try to solve this problem is for people in a position of power to be notified and pressured to take action. There is really only so much that a random individual, such as one of us, can accomplish. Really, what needs to happen is for
congressmen, or any government official to try to force the governor of louisiana to help the six boys who are being prosecuted. Also, people in a position of power need to pressure the officials of this town and other such towns to inforce laws that protect the rights of african-americans and other minorities since it is now obvious that these rights are not being protected.
this is absolutely ourtrageous. no one should be treated like this becasue of race. its just wrong. The fact taht many of the white in Jena don't even care is also disgusting. here is vile racism happening under hteir noses, and what do they do?? they deny it. gross. Something, i don't know what, but something needs to change.
-Mara W.
One thing I have noticed is that we all are reacting mainly to the librarian. You do need to be careful with these things. I'm sure that the whole town is probably "unfriendly", to say the least, but you can not assume that the media is reporting all the facts. I'm sure there are caucasian people in Jena that agree that it is unreasonable, as well as national media that is distorting the story to the other side.
However, NPR is generally an unbiased source for this sort of stories. However, I was surprised that there wasn't any "african-american" radio/tv, such as the The Travis Smiley Show, which (for those who don't know) is centered around African Americans who have struggled successfully against racism.
My question for you is: How can we change these people? It seems like the busses of reporters and "volumes" of information on the topic, the D.A. and his friends (from a certain consonant-toting racist group, one might be tempted to state) has their head in the sand. For all the attention they are finally getting, they seem to be annoyingly difficult to crack.
If the media doesn't have enough power, who does?
Excellent question, Jeremy.
And I agree with you regarding others in the town. It is clear from some of the pictures that whites are involved in protesting the turn of events as well.
Ms. Yourist
Something that I was appalled by when watching the Jena 6 story was the ignorance of racism shown by the white community. Whether or not they are just choosing not to notice it, or that they can't recognize racism, I can't say. However, what I can say is that the actions of the District Attorney were disgusting. Coming in and threatening the students for a trivial thing like sitting where they want to at lunch AFTER ASKING FOR PERMISSION is horrible.
I was looking at the freejena6 website and i saw that they encouraged and even gave flight plans for coming to the Lousiana to support Mychael Bell in his case. I was inspired by this and glad that this kind of encouragment was being given to "face this injustice". I believe sending several well-thought letters and not just angry notes to the Governor could make a difference in showing him how people are reacting to this incident. Hopefully, he will act accordingly.
The issue in Jena, Louisiana is that the whole town is racist from the information I have seen/heard. It seems to me that the white people are ganging up on the black people, only so that they can get the six teenagers into prison for life. They seem to enjoy destroying their lives. This bothers me that not more people are taking action with fund raisers, letters or protests. I know that in Jena there have been quite a few protests, but I think that at Lab School we should try to do something more effective than just discussing it. What also disturbs me, is that when the white teenagers put the nooses (in the school colors) on "the tree" saying "you don't belong here", that they hardly got punished. The same thing happened when a white person at a gas station in Jena had possesion of an illegal gun, and didn't get charged for anything! Instead the black people got blamed, again. In conclusion, I know we should be doing more for the Jena 6.
Shannon V
I can't believe that in this day in age, and in this country, people are still making judgements on people by their race. Especially when the people doing that aren't even realizing that they are being unjust. Our country is portrayed as a fair place where everyone gets a fair trial. Mychal Bell got a defence attorney who hardly, if at all, protected him against the D.A.
I think that one way we could help the students of the Jena 6, is we could write letters to the D.A. and ask them to ensure a fair trial for them, and release Mychal Bell. I think that raising money for their bail is a good idea, but we should try writing letters first.
-Elizabeth M.
The whole situtation in Jena is apalling, especially in a place that advertises its freedom and equality like no other. Especially learning a lot this summer about the racism that happened 40-50 years ago or more, it actually hurts to see that this repulsive tradition continues to this day.
What struck me most in the short part of the news story that we watched today in class, was the interview of the white librarian. She continuously repeated how she didn't see how the nooses were serious and could strart such a flame with the students. But hearing her repeat it over and over, reminded me of somebody trying to convince themselves more. And it occured to me, that this librarian might even understand why the 6 boys beat up the white boy, but because her town's culture in the present and past presents such a racial approach to life, she and others who knew it was wrong, would not even dare to step up and do what's right, in fear of being put down in their community.
I think this is complete racism and it has showed me that even in modern day society, there is still racism in government and anyone who says there isn't is kidding themselves. I also think that their should be more spots available in goverment to different cultures.
While writing letters can potentially be effective, in all honesty I doubt that it would make a difference in anything. The District Attorney is doubtlessly already receiving ridiculous amounts of mail from students such as us; as such, our letters would most likely be simply sorted out by a secretary of his.
While I'm against writing letters, the movement to spam his inbox (was it his inbox? I'm not entirely sure) does peak my interest. A bold statement like *that* will affect a change, if anything - it doesn't matter if the receiver even reads the messages, as long as they get through. Admittedly, it would also be a lot of fun.
But yeah, the entire situation is completely out of hand. The librarian that was interviewed, for example? Hilarious. In a morbid sort of way.
-Gene
What happened in Jena is unbelievable. It seems outrageous to us that something like that might happen today. And yet, the press hasn't really caught up on it. Only a few sources have done stories on the Jena 6, and many people have not even heard of them. Doesn't this make you wonder how many other injustices are being doled out while nobody watches? I think something very important we should remember for the future from this sad story is that the country we live in is not as perfect as we would like to believe, and that trying to convince younger people or just people in general that it is perfect is the wrong thing to do. We should teach them of the injustices and encourage them to think of way to solve them.
I think the thing involving Jena is unfair and cruel to black people. I think we should write a letter to the Attorney and ask him to drop the unfair charges against the 6 victims
I feel that the racism in this particular instance was so obvious. It is really a shame that not on white person at that school was able to do anything in this situation. I have a hard time believing that anyone would want to put someone in jell because of the color of his or her skin. I am very surprised that this happened in the south out of all places. There are so many blacks in the south and lots more than whites. But even if the Jena-6 victims are released it does not mean that this won’t happen again. So we should do something about this now and not wait till the next time.
Kamilah R.
I also think that we should send our letters to the D.A. and to raise awareness about the Jena six
i cant believe how oblivios the people are i mean i cant beliave how the woman thought that the nooses were just a prank, they were definately a hate rasict thing some people can compleatly ignore how rasict there being, because even when the woman said that thing about stuff not being racist she was sort of bweing rasict
we should raise awareness and possibly send letters to people like the governor or the mayor of Jena
I honestly am surprised that this even didn't attract attention earlier. This incident is not only embarrassing for the state of Louisiana but for America. The worst part is is that the local Caucasian population acts stupid and pretends they don't see that the stunt pulled by the white kids was racist and a death threat.
to see my clip go to youtube, and type in search, "Colin Cowherd tells us about the South." The video is right there.
-Tommy
I did not think something like this would have happened recently, I wonder if the racism is so obvious to everyone, then why not do something about that? If the jury that tried Mychal Bell had at least a few black people in it, the consequenses probably wouldn't have been so harsh (in jail since December 2006 for sitting under a tree)
The above comment was from Danny I.
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I sent an email to the sheriff and D.a. I didn’t know that a town could still be this racist. I wasn’t sure what to do a t first and then I decided to send money to help but then I herd that the bail has bin dropped so there is no way t get him out of jail so I am not sure what to do.
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