[MCP] [Norton AntiSpam] We Will Not Be Silent About the Jena Six

Fri Sep 21 17:07:24 EDT 2007

The thing that struck me most about Gallagher's piece was that he seemed (mildly) outraged that there could be such a thing as a "white tree" in 2007.  I'm not at all surprised that he didn't know such a thing could be, but rather I wonder, now that he sees the problem of the "white tree," would he be able to see the "white tree" in, say, home loans, car loans, job interviews....or the justice system?  And is there some way to capitalize on this (mild) outrage he is expressing that can help him see those other white trees.  

LaVeta Franze <lavetafranze at yahoo.com> wrote: Written, along with signing the petition...

  I for one am taking off my rose colored glasses. I pray others of my own ethnicity will follow suit. It is never wrong to stand up for and DO what is right. We all have to live with ourselves, or conciseness, and our own sense of morality. If we continue to turn a blind eye to the disease that is racism, where will this in turn lead our great country and it’s people? I thought our inalienable rights were for “we the people”, not just for we the “white” people. I am completely embarrassed of and for some of the members of my own race, who are in positions of power to inspire positive change, and DO NOT do so!
  This reeks of racism. I pray all those who are able, WILL DO WHAT IS RIGHT in the eyes of justice and all those who still believe in her. 
  LaVeta
  (A "white woman" in society)

  I for one can hardly digest the stupidity of ANY racial injustice.
  Sometimes, it's almost too much to bear.

LaShawn Williams <Lashawn.Williams at slcc.edu> wrote:
    .hmmessage P {   PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; MARGIN: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px  }  BODY.hmmessage {   FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma  }        So, how are you defining "great" Steve?  

  I still think in all of the "straight forward"-ness of his article, there are pieces laced with his own racial bias against blacks, beyond his outright dislike for Al Sharpton. 

  How come the white students who did the prank are just "white teenagers" ("where white teenagers gathered under the shade of the central Louisiana sun.") and then merely "culprits" when they're caught... yet the black students are "punks" when they beat up the white boy in an "act of cowardice" and it's necessary to add that "this wasn't the first crime they were said to commit"??? "And they likely are nothing close to being angelic members of the church choir. It’s been pointed out with some enthusiasm that some other acts of criminality have preceded this incident."

  Sure, not everyone is perfect, but even the subtleties Gallagher uses in his article against the black teens is a far cry, in my opinion, for making this a "great"  article... i think there's more of a bad taste in anyone's mouth against blacks after reading it, than for the whites who contributed to the tension and idiocy.
  LaShawn
  --=--
  "True reconciliation does not consist of merely forgetting the past." 
-Nelson Mandela

---------------------------------
  From: mcp-bounces at edchange.org [mailto:mcp-bounces at edchange.org] On Behalf Of Steve Moynihan
Sent: Friday, September 21, 2007 4:06 AM
To: Multicultural Pavilion's discussion group on equity, social  justice,and multicultural education.
Subject: Re: [MCP] [Norton AntiSpam] We Will Not Be Silent About the Jena Six

  Great article about Jena.
  http://www.townhall.com/columnists/MikeGallagher/2007/09/20/jena_2007
    ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: John Lindsay 
  To: awp_project at yahoogroups.com ; Anne Achico ; sarn ; SpeakingOutAgainstRacism at yahoogroups.com ; mcp at edchange.org ; aapa ; ROVRC at yahoogroups.com 
  Sent: Saturday, September 15, 2007 12:50 AM
  Subject: [Norton AntiSpam] [MCP] We Will Not Be Silent About the Jena Six

When Blacks and/or other People of Color are the perpetrators of crime, every talk radio show, newspaper, magazine, or network television newscast covers the story.

But when we're the victims of institutional discrimination, no  broadcaster or publisher wants to cover it.  

  John L. 

"True reconciliation does not consist of merely forgetting  the past" 
                                                                            -Nelson Mandela

The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of convenience and comfort, but where he stands in moments of challenge and controversy. Martin Luther King,  Jr.

A bad attitude seems to be the general description of Black people who are not appropriately subservient.  --Noquisi DayStarr

SUBSCRIBE TO THE KEY NEWSJOURNAL 
www.keynewsjournal.com

---------------------------------
  Date: Fri, 14 Sep 2007 15:00:09 -0500
From: mwe at childrensdefense.org
To: jclind2 at msn.com
Subject: We Will Not Be Silent About the Jena Six

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      Child Watch® Column  By Marian Wright Edelman      WE WILL NOT BE SILENT ABOUT THE JENA SIX
I'm writing to urge all of my readers to take action and demand justice for the African American youths known as "the Jena Six." These young men, all teenagers, are in great peril of being condemned to long prison terms for allegedly participating in a school fight in the small rural town of Jena, Louisiana. Mychal Bell, 17, has already been convicted by an all-White jury of aggravated second-degree battery and may be sentenced to as much as 15 years and a $10,000 fine at a hearing scheduled for September  20th.

Outrage over this prosecutorial madness has spread. National organizations including the NAACP, the American Civil Liberties Union, the Anti-Defamation League, the Southern Poverty Law Center and the Congressional Black Caucus have organized opposition to the conviction of Bell and the arrests of the five other students. The Chicago-based Samuel DeWitt Proctor Conference has reached out to more than 1,000 faith leaders and organizations to join in a National Day of Prayer on September 17 and to hold candlelight vigils on September 19, the evening before the sentencing hearing. Thousands are expected to go to Jena on September 20th from across the nation to bear witness and demand justice.

Meanwhile, in Maryland, a troubling event on the University of Maryland’s College Park campus signals that a dangerous undertow from our nation's darker times is not limited to the Deep South. On September 7, a hangman's noose was found in a tree outside  the campus’s Nyumburu Cultural Center on September 7. Nyumburu means "freedom house" in Swahili. The Center is used by Black faculty and staff associations and houses the Black Explosion newspaper. Maryland police and the FBI are investigating this hate crime.

The calamity of injustice surrounding the case of the Jena Six also involves a hangman's noose. Last fall, Black students conducted a peaceful protest over an oak tree on the Jena High School campus that was by tradition a gathering place reserved for White students only. In reaction to the protest, three hangman's nooses were looped over one of the tree's branches. The three White students responsible were suspended from school for three days. When LaSalle Parish District Attorney J. Reed Walters stepped in, he directed his hostility toward the protesters, rather than those rekindling the legacy of White supremacy that the "White tree" represented. In a stunning display of bias, Walters  demanded that the Black students stop their protests or he would exercise the powers of his office and, in his words, "take away your lives with a stroke of a pen."

As Black-White relations in this town of 3,000 grew more strained, Robert Bailey, Jr., a Black student, was attacked and beaten as he attempted to enter a White house party. A beer bottle was broken over his head. His main attacker, Justin Sloan, a White man, was charged with simple battery and released on probation — far more lenient treatment than the Jena Six received.

On December 4, 2006, Justin Barker, a White student who was known to have taunted some of his African American classmates, was beaten by several Black students. After the incident, Barker went to the hospital, was released the same day and attended a ring ceremony that evening. Six Black teenagers were then arrested for the beating: Mychal Bell, Robert Bailey, Jr., Theodore Shaw, Carwin Jones, Bryant Purvis and Jesse  Beard. As if to affirm his disregard for justice, District Attorney Walters initially charged all but one of them with attempted murder as adults. Beard was charged in juvenile court. None of them had previously been in trouble with the law. The charges against Bailey, Jones and Shaw have since been reduced. 

I don't know where Mr. Walters received his legal education, but he must have missed the course on Constitutional Law where the doctrine of equal protection under the law is taught. His actions need to be investigated.

What's happening to the Jena Six is not unique. White sheriffs, police officials and prosecutors in small isolated towns, mostly in the South, believe they can mete out justice to Black people with the impunity of their forebears under America's pre-1960s system of racial apartheid. Away from the light of national scrutiny, they believe they can still trample on the civil rights of Black people at their whim.

But  this is a case where we can and must make our voices heard. Please call LaSalle Parish District Attorney J. Reed Walters today at (318) 992-8282 and demand justice for the Jena Six. And let's be prepared to stay on this case until all the Jena Six have been freed. 

---------------------------------
    Marian Wright Edelman is President of the Children's Defense Fund and its Action Council whose Leave No Child Behind® mission is to ensure every child a Healthy Start, a Head Start, a Fair Start, a Safe Start and a Moral Start in life and successful passage to adulthood with the help of caring families and communities.
  Children's Defense Fund
25 E St., NW
Washington, DC 20001
http://www.childrensdefense.org/
800-CDF-1200 
  Forward to a Friend | Subscribe | Unsubscribe | Child Watch® Column Archives

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