Rallies Planned for Louisiana Jena Six Case
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Posted By: Carolyn Willis on September 17, 2007 During the few weeks, the mainstream media has finally picked up on the "Jena Six" story. On August 30, Jason Whitlock, a nationally-known sports writer and columnist for the Kansas City Star newspaper wrote a column for Fox Sports called "The Road to Jena is Long and Misleading." He maintains that what we have been fed from "the mainstream media" is all one-sided, in favor of the six black boys who beat up the one white boy. I'm posting the link to his article here so you can read his take on the issues. It's always good to read another view, even though I don't personally agree with him. On September 3, CNN ran a short segment on the situation, called "Back in Court for the Jena Six." On September 4, 2007, CNN ran a full story on the Jena Six, called Residents: Nooses Spark School Violence, Divide Town." I was so happy that national attention was finally being focused on this situation by the mainstream media. I first heard about this incident in mid July, after reading a story by Bill Quigley on commondreams.org entitled: Injustice in Jena: The 'White Tree', A White Judge, White Jury, and White Prosecutor Calling White Witnesses Leads To Conviction of Black Youth. I searched the major Internet search engines, and found ONE article in the Chicago Tribune, published back in May 2007, entitled: Racial Demons Rear Heads, by Howard Witt, a Senior Correspondent with the paper. I wondered why nothing had been written about it from May to July, until Bill Quigley's column. I started contacting every media outlet I could find, talk show hosts on TV and radio, national personalities, and Rev. Al Sharpton. I felt this was a story that could not just be pushed aside, these kids deserved a fair trial. The truth deserved to come out, whatever that may be...but someone needed to FIND that truth. I searched CNN, nothing was found on the Jena Six. I searched Fox News, nothing. Nothing on any of the major television networks' websites. I continued to post on any blog I could find that wrote about the Jena Six, and continued to write blogs on MySpace. www.myspace.com/montanagal1 On August 5, Rev. Al Sharpton visited Jena, Louisiana and spoke about the situation. Residents were divided on whether or not Sharpton helped or hurt the Jena Six. Many were upset that Sharpton had come to Jena and "stirred things up." I remember posting on the Alexandria Town Talk forums a reply to someone who said "Sharpton carries a large spoon" (to stir things up)...my reply was, "Sharpton can carry a large airplane for all I care, as long as he gets national attention focused on this situation." Sharpton promised to return again, and skeptics said "he won't be back, he only came to get donations." I replied to that on a forum saying, "If he only wanted donations don't you think he'd go to a town a lot bigger than Jena, Louisiana?" I received no response, because my comment was true. I had so people write me after having read my comments on various blogs, as well as the Alexandria Town Talk newspaper forums, asking to be kept up to date on the Jena Six situation, or asking how they could make a difference, that it inspired me to start my own website. www.AmericaIsWatching.org was started on August 17, 2007 and provides the story, updates and articles about the story, and contact information for readers who want to write, email, call, or send donations to a defense fund, but don't know where to start. And then in mid August, one of my readers sent me a message saying, "Newsweek picked up on the Jena Six, read their current issue." I RAN to the bookstore and bought several copies of the August 22-27 issue of Newsweek. There on page 36, was a three page spread on the Jena Six entitled, "Turmoil: A Town Divided." I was excited that FINALLY the situation in Jena merited national attention! On August 17, NBC Nightly News ran a segment in their news called "Louisana School Struggles With Racial Tension." It snowballed from there, with CNN running stories on it, syndicated radio shows picking up on it, and the word was out! On September 4, 2007, the judge in Jena threw out one of Mychal Bell's convictions, "conspiracy," and reduced charges for two of the other boys. That's what we wanted! FAIRNESS! On September 9, 2007 - charges were reduced for Robert Bailey Jr. And on September 14, the Louisiana 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals vacated the remaining felony conviction of Mychal Bell, saying his case never should have been tried in adult court. It now goes back to juvenile court for trial. However, as of September 17, 2007, Mychal still remains behind bars, and has been in jail since LAST DECEMBER while all this has been going on. The other five are out on bond. Rallies are planned on September 20, 2007 around the country, the date Mychal Bell was to have been sentenced as an adult. The national media will be covering it. That is the history of my involvement with the Jena Six issue, and how my website www.americaiswatching.org came into being. I have posted several additional stories on the website which also deserve national attention - and deserve involvement from those of us in America who care about injustice. I am currently reading a book called "Diagnosing the Destruction of Young Men." It's well worth the read if you are interested in why so many young people, mainly males, end up in trouble. ~ www.americaiswatching.org - calling attention to injustices in America and providing contact information so YOU can make a difference! ~ Here are weblinks to the above news articles: http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/0... http://msn.foxsports.com/other/story/71705... http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/law/09/04/bell.... http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationw... http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20218937/site/... http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseacti... http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/09/14/jena.six/... http://www.thetowntalk.com/apps/pbcs.dll/a... http://www.thetowntalk.com/apps/pbcs.dll/a... www.americaiswatching.org If you enjoyed this article, Join HBCU CONNECT today for similar content and opportunities via email! |
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