The white tree

Long before the jena six this white tree sparked racial tension. Bell’s immediate family all attended this school and felt the same type of segregation. I think they should have been cut that tree down just to give the school a new fell about it and not the same ol’ southern racism demeanor. I also fell that a higher power in the board of education in Louisiana should be held kind of responsible to just because a blind man can see that, that tree would bring unwanted trouble one day and it did. The trouble started under "the white tree" in front of Jena High School. The "white tree" is where the white students, 80% of the student body, would always sit during school breaks.

Marcus Jones Father of Bell

MARCUS JONES: Thank you.
AMY GOODMAN: Tell us your reaction to the conviction of your son and the time he faces in jail.
MARCUS JONES: I was furious and real mad about the conviction, ‘cause I know that it was wrong. I know my son is innocent of the charges that the DA put on him, and it’s just wrong. You know, this is just a 2007 modern-day court lynching here.
AMY GOODMAN: In your own words, tell us what you understand took place.
MARCUS JONES: Well, what I understand that took place is wrongdoing. The judge let the DA just really just choose an all-white jury. There was an all-white jury. Relatives of some of the jurors was some of the witnesses, too. One of the boys that testified for Barker was one of the boys that hung up the nooses at the high school.
AMY GOODMAN: Was that brought out in the trial?
MARCUS JONES: No, no, that wasn’t brought out in the trial. See, we had a complication with my son’s court-appointed lawyer, and come to find out that he was working with the DA for to get my son convicted.
AMY GOODMAN: Explain the lead-up to the fight and then how you understand the fight taking place, Marcus Jones.
MARCUS JONES: Well, my understanding of how the fight took place is Barker was telling some of the boys earlier that morning, calling them ------ and telling them about the fight that happened the previous weekend now. So the majority of the creation of the fight was due to Justin Barker’s racial remarks. But, see, we’ve got to go back now to understand, see, the DA created this whole racial atmosphere, where he didn’t do nothing to the boys that hung up the nooses, so that gave the message to all the black kids, well, the white kids will do what they want to do and get away with it. And that ain’t right. I don’t care what town or city you live in, that is not right.
AMY GOODMAN: The court-appointed lawyer, when the jury pool was all white, did he challenge it at all?
MARCUS JONES: No. He did not challenge it. Now, see, remember, before the jury was even selected, the judge had called all the witnesses up front. So he put me and my son’s mother on the witness list, not informing us that he was going to do that. Now, what made him do that? I don’t know. But right then and there, we smelled a rat. So the judge had put a gag order on all the witnesses, where they couldn’t be present in the courtroom, couldn’t talk to the press, couldn’t talk to nobody outside court room about the case. So right then and there, we—I mean, you know, we smelled a rat then.
AMY GOODMAN: And were you called up to testify?
MARCUS JONES: No, no, no, no.
AMY GOODMAN: So you couldn’t speak about the case, and you were kept out of the trial?
MARCUS JONES: Yes, the whole while. We was allowed—only time we was allowed back in the courtroom, when the verdict came back.
AMY GOODMAN: Did your son’s court-appointed attorney call up any witnesses?
MARCUS JONES: No. He did not put up no kind of defense at all. He did not call one witness. There was a coach that had wrote a statement out saying that he didn’t—that Mychal wasn’t the one was involved in the fight, that didn’t hit Barker—
AMY GOODMAN: Justin Barker.
MARCUS JONES:—so he didn’t even subpoena him. Now, remember, in the school system, a teacher or a coach, any administration word or statement is more credible than any student. So he didn’t, I mean, didn’t even call, I mean, had the coach subpoenaed for to come testify for Mychal. And he was Mychal’s key witness.
AMY GOODMAN: What are your plans now? Are you keeping this attorney? This attorney wanted Mychal to plea bargain?
MARCUS JONES: Yes.
AMY GOODMAN: Why did Mychal choose not to plea bargain?
MARCUS JONES: ‘Cause he wanted Mychal to take a plea. Well, see, you’ve got to remember, any time a plea bargain be thrown on the table for any man here in LaSalle Parish, that person is innocent. Here in LaSalle Parish, whenever a black man is offered a plea bargain, he is innocent. That’s a dead giveaway here in the South. So he was putting pressure on Mychal, threatening him, you know, about the time he gonna get and, oh, he ain’t going to be able to play no football no more, and his life is over with, you know, just that old Jim Crow intimidation method that he was using for to try to get my son to take a plea bargain. So he lowered the charges down on my son from a lesser charge, but it was still—all of it was still felonies. But he wanted Mychal to give away information for the plea bargain, give away information about who all else was involved in there. Well, why you gonna try to trick him and lie to him for to do something that he’s innocent of? If you have all this hardcore information about who was involved in it, you shouldn’t even be trying to manipulate no young man’s mind like that. And, I mean, the court-appointed lawyer, I mean, he was just playing right along, right along with the DA.
AMY GOODMAN: Are you able to get another lawyer?
MARCUS JONES: No, not at this moment.
AMY GOODMAN: Well, I want to thank you, Marcus Jones, father of Mychal Bell, the first of the Jena 6 to be convicted. His son on July 31st faces up to twenty-two years at his sentencing.

http://www.democracynow.org/2007/7/10/a_modern_day_lynching_parents_of

I can under stand the fathers anguish because any parent or child no matter the color would be upset if someone dear to them was about to be literally robbed of the rest there life by unfair justice system. I really do feel his hurt. Something needs to be done sbout this because this is truly unfair and I’m not even saying this because I’m African American but because im American and who knows that could me or my brother in that position.
http://www.democracynow.org/2007/7/10/a_modern_day_lynching_parents_of

Second update on the Jena Six

We don't know what approach the prosecution is going to take — whether they will re-charge him, where he would have to be subjected to bail all over again or not," Scott said.
Mychal bell was scheduled to be sentenced the day of the Louisiana rally thati wrote about in a previous blog
In other Jena 6 news, as reported earlier, prosecutors have reduced the attempted murder charge against another of the "Jena Six."
Robert Bailey Jr. pleaded not guilty on Monday to aggravated battery and conspiracy to commit aggravated battery. He was one of the Jena six who were tried as adults. That’s makes me want to study the law and other cases African Americans who were treated unjust.
Prosecutors also dropped the attempted murder account to battery last week in the cases of Carwin Jones and Theo Shaw. This to me is the biggest step in reversing the mistake that was made in the beginning. Can’t expect everything just to change over night even though it should but nobody wants to admit there mistakes especially when the nation is watching.
That leaves Bryant Purvis the only youth yet to be arraigned and still charged as an adult with attempted second-degree murder.
A conviction for attempted second-degree murder requires 10 to 50 years of hard labor without suspension, probation or parole. Aggravated battery can be punished with up to 15 years and a $10,000 fine.
http://www0.eurweb.com/story.cfm?id=36764

Rev. Al Sharpton letter to Gov. Kathleen Blanco

The National Action Network has documented what amounts to, in our opinion, several instances of prosecutorial abuse and misuse of prosecutorial powers. The claims are as follows:
District Attorney Reed Walters in the case of the State of Louisiana vs. Mychal Bell in Jena, Louisiana, failed to prosecute the individuals who assaulted Robert Bailey Jr. This failure to prosecute represents, in our estimation, a dereliction of duty.
It is also our opinion that the District Attorney failed in his duties to pursue justice by refusing to depose, investigate and interview credible and relevant witnesses, apparently due to the race of these witnesses.
District Attorney Walters is seeking to retry Mychal Bell for juvenile conspiracy after losing the battle to convict Mychal of adult conspiracy. This represents a violation of the spirit of "Double Jeopardy", if not a violation of the letter of the law.
We decry the failure of District Attorney Walters to prosecute individual(s) who possessed and used a firearm, specifically a shot gun, to threaten the life and well being of certain individual(s) being prosecuted in the Jena, Louisiana. However, the District Attorney did prosecute the African-Americans who exercised their right to self defense by removing the weapon from the possession of the armed male, with original possession.
The Prosecutor from the beginning of this case, has seemingly employed less than ethical and just legal tactics in over zealous attempts to have Mychal Bell unjustly convicted. We at the National Action Network are calling on you Governor Blanco and the Louisiana State Board of Ethics to safeguard Mychal Bell's Constitutional Rights and to act as the arbiter of Justice, as well as to investigate District Attorney Reed Walters’ prosecutorial activities as they relate to the State of Louisiana vs. Mychal Bell. We are ultimately seeking to prevent this prosecutor from further engaging in these questionable legal maneuvers and activities.
The need for us as a nation of justice people to descend upon Jena, Louisiana, on September 20th could not be more evident than now, in light of these egregious prosecutorial actions. We will be there to stand with Mychal and his family for his sake and the sake of all of our civil and constitutional rights.
The National Action Network has documented what amounts to, in our opinion, several instances of prosecutorial abuse and misuse of prosecutorial powers. The claims are as follows:
District Attorney Reed Walters in the case of the State of Louisiana vs. Mychal Bell in Jena, Louisiana, failed to prosecute the individuals who assaulted Robert Bailey Jr. This failure to prosecute represents, in our estimation, a dereliction of duty.
It is also our opinion that the District Attorney failed in his duties to pursue justice by refusing to depose, investigate and interview credible and relevant witnesses, apparently due to the race of these witnesses.
District Attorney Walters is seeking to retry Mychal Bell for juvenile conspiracy after losing the battle to convict Mychal of adult conspiracy. This represents a violation of the spirit of "Double Jeopardy", if not a violation of the letter of the law.
We decry the failure of District Attorney Walters to prosecute individual(s) who possessed and used a firearm, specifically a shot gun, to threaten the life and well being of certain individual(s) being prosecuted in the Jena, Louisiana. However, the District Attorney did prosecute the African-Americans who exercised their right to self defense by removing the weapon from the possession of the armed male, with original possession.
The Prosecutor from the beginning of this case, has seemingly employed less than ethical and just legal tactics in over zealous attempts to have Mychal Bell unjustly convicted. We at the National Action Network are calling on you Governor Blanco and the Louisiana State Board of Ethics to safeguard Mychal Bell's Constitutional Rights and to act as the arbiter of Justice, as well as to investigate District Attorney Reed Walters’ prosecutorial activities as they relate to the State of Louisiana vs. Mychal Bell. We are ultimately seeking to prevent this prosecutor from further engaging in these questionable legal maneuvers and activities.
The need for us as a nation of justice people to descend upon Jena, Louisiana, on September 20th could not be more evident than now, in light of these egregious prosecutorial actions. We will be there to stand with Mychal and his family for his sake and the sake of all of our civil and constitutional rights.
http://www0.eurweb.com/story.cfm?id=36764

Southern Racism

Too often those of us born in the South fall back upon racism issues. Southerners have somehow perversely prided themselves on black and white complexity like its still 1955. I n this day and age they still view mixed marriage and children as an issue. They seem to be stuck in the mind state of Jim Crow and so are the laws because of the people that enforce them. To anyone not from the South, however, it hasn’t seemed complicated at all. For outsiders, it appears that Southern whites have systematically held blacks down by giving them a mind state since the beginning slavery that they cant amount to anything. Thurgood Marshall famously termed “separate but unequal” - this inequity has persisted in how the South treats her white and black citizens….
There’s a sort of famous saying concerning race relations in the North vs. race relations in the South that seems apropos to what I’m going to explore here, so let me share it:


http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://scholarsandrogues.files.wordpress.com/2007/06/scottsboroboys.jpg&imgrefurl=http://scholarsandrogues.wordpress.com/2007/06/28/the-jena-6-and-the-old-south-or-plus-ca-changeyou-know-the-rest/&h=293&w=336&sz=113&hl=en&start=1&sig2=ibhSLjDnDhctXHh8JW4qBg&um=1&tbnid=m7_9yTYuhJfVzM:&tbnh=104&tbnw=119&eid=UEthR4WHCZTigQLQxNnqCg&prev=/images%3Fq%3Djena%2B6%26svnum%3D10%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN

The 2 1/2 mile protest in Jena, Louisiana

The Jena Six has a tremendous effect on everyone from young black youth to mature white adults. Everyone is showing genuine love and support to these young black boys. Not by saying fighting is o.k. and there shouldn’t be any punishment, but taking 20 to 25 years of their lives away by placing them in prison is not necessary. The punishment should definitely fit the crime and anything other than that will not be tolerated.
There is actually a show on VH1 called the salt n peppa show about the famous female rap duo. They went to march in the 2 ½ mile protest in Jena, Louisiana. The felt that is was their job to attend as an African American parent to show support to those families of the Jena six. It was so empowering and great to see black people are still able to come to gather for a common cause like racism in this day in age still. It was like deja vu all over again, it was like the civil rights movement of the 21st century. There were about 50,000 people that attended from all states, and the did it without violence. The parents of these young men are prepared to stay and fight the cause for however long it takes.

Is this the Civil Rights Movement of the 21st Century

Thousands of people filled the streets of this little Louisiana town Thursday in support of six black teenagers. “The crowd broke into chants of "Free the Jena Six" as the Rev. Al Sharpton arrived at the local courthouse with family members of the jailed teens. ”Sharpton told the Associated Press “that he and Reps. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Texas, and William Jefferson, D-La., will press the House Judiciary Committee next week to summon the district attorney to explain his actions before Congress.”
Sharpton also plans a November march in Washington. "What we need is federal intervention to protect people from Southern injustice," Sharpton told the AP. "Our fathers in the 1960's had to penetrate the Kennedy and Johnson administrations, we have to do the same thing."
“President Bush, when asked about the Jena case during a news conference, said he understood the emotions and the FBI was monitoring the situation.”"The events in Louisiana have saddened me," the president said. "All of us in America want there to be, you know, fairness when it comes to justice."
The Rev. Jesse Jackson spoke to one crowd. Dennis Courtland Hayes, interim president and CEO of the NAACP, was also there. "People are saying, 'That's enough, and we're not taking it any more,'" Hayes said. Martin Luther King III, son of the slain civil rights leader, described the scene as reminiscent of earlier civil rights struggles. He said punishment of some sort may be in order for the six defendants, but "the justice system isn't applied the same to all crimes and all people."
The district attorney that threaten the boys the first round around said that race had nothing to to with the charges brought against them.Walters said he didn't charge the white students accused of hanging the nooses because he could find no Louisiana law under which they could be charged. In the beating case, he said, four of the defendants were of adult age under Louisiana law and the only juvenile charged as an adult, Mychal Bell, had a prior criminal record. "It is not and never has been about race," Walters said. "It is about finding justice for an innocent victim and holding people accountable for their actions."
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070920/UPDATE/709200454