Tag Archives: Jena-Six

News and Politics

Update: The Jena Six Need Your Voice!

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UPDATE (7/28/09): Two years later, here is the results of the Jena Six trial. Mostly a victory.

I mentioned the Jena Six when they first appeared in the news and that post has had more hits this summer then any other. A lot of people are interested in what’s going on, and I felt the need to update you, by way mostly of quotes from other blogs and news outlets. First, if you know nothing about the Jena Six, this short news clip should catch you up.

Watch Part Two here.Here’s the most recent news, via While Seated:

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. Plus, Democracy Now did a full story.

Jack and Jill Politics also gave a comprehensive look at the situation, including interviews with the parents of the victim in the case.

There are a lot of ways to get involved. The Daily Kos has a list of representatives to call and the link below has multiple Actions for you to partake in.

Action Updates

Blog

Jena Six: Racism Still Exist In The South

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UPDATE (7/28/09): Two years later, here is the results of the Jena Six trial. Mostly a victory.

Updated:  New post on the Jena Six

We’ve talked about stories of racism and police abuse in the past, so this shouldn’t be a revelation for any of the regular readers around here. However, stories like this, when they are specific, need to be noted, brought up, spoken out against, and made aware to a larger community.

In Jena, Louisiana, a town of 3,000, 85% white, 12% black, the disgusting injustice of a still racially charged society is receiving some attention from the national and international community. Six black youth from Jena are facing attempted second-degree murder charges from a fight with a white student from their school who himself is being charged with possession of a firearm in a ‘firearm-free zone.’ In a city were racism clearly still exist, a school yard fight turned into murder charges seems like the troubling injustice many in this country have worked hard to overcome.

Megaphonic, who pointed out this story to me, writes:

someone is teaching these kids that this type of behaviour is acceptable. either directly or by their inaction, the adults in this community are giving them the go ahead to hang nooses in trees and beat the s*** out of kids because they are of a different race. the school board should have expelled the kids who hung the nooses… that’s a hate crime. federal offense. the principal was fully correct to call for their expulsion.

How does this continue to happen, and how can communities fight it? how can we, as nashvillians, keep this from happening? how can we as southerners (even nominal ones like me) fight the stereotypes that history has left us?

My suggestion was that churches need to be gathering together and discussing how to address the injustice of racism, and not pretend it disappeared along with MLK. My other thought, maybe a dumb one, was to start a facebook group. update: looks like someone already beat me to it, join this Facebook Group, Jena Six: The World is Now Watching. Any other ideas?

UPDATE: Just wanted to add some links from the blogosphere to help you stay on top of things that are happening with the Jena Six…