A guest post from C. Victor Lander, Presiding Judge of City of Dallas Municipal Court:
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View From The Bench – Injustice Anywhere is a Threat to Justice Everywhere
By C. Victor Lander
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When I first started writing about the situation in Jena, Louisiana,
I made it clear that I was not going to let you forget about it. It is
truly amazing how quick we are to say, “That’s terrible”, and then go about
our business, oblivious to the ramifications of the lack of justice
somewhere as close to us as the state next door (remember that we took in
30,000 Louisianans after Katrina, so it’s not so far away). Well, when I
said I’m not going to let you forget, I meant it, and so I report again for
you on the Jena 6.
You remember the Jena 6, the 6 black high school students from Jena,
Louisiana who were arrested, expelled from school, and charged with
attempted second degree murder for getting into a fight with a white student
who had taunted them because they protested the hanging of three nooses on
the “white tree” at Jena High School. The charges were reduced to second
degree aggravated battery and conspiracy, and one student, Mychal Bell, who
was a 16 year old sophomore at the time but still tried as an adult, was
convicted by an all white jury (the required deadly weapon being young Mr.
Bell’s tennis shoes) and now awaits sentencing. On the day of Mr. Bell’s
jury trial, 50 potential jurors appeared for jury service, every last one of
them white. The all white jury selected deliberated less than 3 hours
before finding Mr. Bell guilty of aggravated second degree battery and
conspiracy. The sentencing of Mr. Bell has been postponed from its previous
setting of July 31, 2007 to September 20, 2007, and Mr. Bell now sits as an
inmate in the LaSalle Correctional Center (he can be reached by writing
Mychal Bell, Inmate, A-Dorm, LaSalle Correctional Center, 15976 Highway 165,
Olla, LA 71465-4801). Bail for the others students has been set at from
$70,000.00 to $138,000.00, clearly excessive and designed to keep them
incarcerated for as long as possible. Remember the names of these young men
– Robert Bailey, Jr., 17; Theo Shaw, 17; Carwin Jones, 18; Bryant Purvis,
17; Mychal Bell, 16; and a still unidentified minor. You will see and hear
these names again.
If Mr. Bell gets the maximum sentence on September 20, he will be forced to
serve 22 years in prison for standing up and opposing the white power
structure of clearly racist Jena, Louisiana. The hanging of these nooses
was not a youthful prank, as stated publicly by LaSalle Parish District
Attorney Reed Walters. This action by the white students of Jena High
School was a hate crime, pure and simple, and the perpetrators of this hate
crime have gotten away completely free (they got 3 days in-school
suspension) while the protesters of this hate crime face decades in prison.
Something is seriously wrong in Jena, Louisiana – and by extension, anywhere
we allow injustice to continue.
The Southern Poverty Law Center and the National Office of the NAACP
will be participating in a mass demonstration and protest in Jena planned
for September 20, 2007, and I encourage everyone who can do so to find their
way to Jena to show your support (go to http://www.naacp.org
<http://www.naacp.org/> or to http://www.colorofchange.org
<http://www.colorofchange.org/> for more information). Thanks to the Rev.
Alan Bean of the Friends of Justice (https://friendsofjustice.wordpress.com
<https://friendsofjustice.wordpress.com/> ) (who was introduced to me by my
pastor, the Rev. Dr. Frederick Douglas Haynes, III), I can continue to give
you information about the Jena 6 and keep this issue in the front, rather
than in the back, of your mind.
As long as I have breath, I will continue to bring this and other similar
situations to the attention of the public, until “justice rolls down like
water”. In the words of Dr. King, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to
justice everywhere.” Don’t you ever forget that today it’s Jena, but
tomorrow it could easily be Dallas, or Arlington, or your home city – and
your son or brother could easily be next. The best way for evil to triumph
is for good men to do nothing.
C. Victor Lander serves as Presiding Judge of City of Dallas Municipal Court
Number 7, and has served in that position full time for over 10 years.
Judge Lander can be reached at victor.lander@sbcglobal.net.
Friends of Justice 
If hanging three nooses from a tree is a hate crime, and it very well may be, then five black youths assaulting a white youth is most likely a hate crime, regardless of whether or not they were taunted. Come on! If taunting were justification then if Emmett Till whistled at a white woman as was suggested, then his murder might be justified, right. Your argument should at least be logical.
Rick, no one is suggesting that the assault at Jena High School was justified. People are outraged by this story because the official response to the boys who hung the nooses was outrageously mild while the official response to the boys involved in the fight was outrageously severe. Both the boys who hung the nooses and the boys involved in the school fight were victims of the policy of de facto racial segregation that has traditionally prevailed at Jena High School. Had the noose incident been handled in a professional and ethical fashion none of the other tragic events would have been even conceivable.
Justice needs to be prevailed at Jena High School and in the town of Jena, Louisiana. I truly believe the Lord will step in on time. My prayers goes out to the 6 youths and their families. Racism still exist Jena is proof.
What a mighty God we serve. Weaping may endure for a night but joy come in the morning. We fall down, but we get up. NO weapon formed against these young black men shall prosper. God is in control and these men shall be set free, because who the Lord set free is free indeed.
Justice should be served and I hate to see racism come up but this is just another way to keep the black man down. Teenagers fight all the time and gang up on others because of something they don’t like. To sentence some kids up to 20 years is drastic. This is definitely a racist town. I lived not too far from this town and I suggest all the blacks need to leave and find another home because this is not the place to be. A tennis shoe is not a deadly weapon. Fighting is just a way to release anger and I must admit that it was handled in the wrong way. If the blacks would have went to the principal nothing would have been accomplished about the nooses. These whites know what’s going and they know they can get away with anything. They run that town and it’s sad. All white jury…I don’t think so…I knew that was going to happen. I will continue to pray and I can’t wait for September 20th because there is going to be madness in Jena…maybe a riot. I hope not but this has got to stop.
Where was the voice of reason in this whole situation? It’s a sad day in 2007 when a district attorney, a judge, and a 12-member jury could all sit there and nobody, not one of them, say “hold on, wait a minute” something ain’t right here!!! Did none of these people realize that they were about to ruin the life of a child? Don’t these people have children themselves? How do these people sleep?
People are afraid of what they can’t control. For years they have been trying to control the mind of the Black man. Little do they know God made the mind to change. When we start talking to the Lord first about our situation he will direct us as to what to do, when to do it, and how to do it. They nailed Christ to the cross, and they burn a cross to humiliate Blacks. How can this country stand so strong helping to set people free in other countries and still allow this kind of terrorism to go on here. Lets call on God to turn this around for all of us.
http://www.minglecity.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=140
This a link to Micheal Baisdon web site were you can find information on the live broadcast he will be doing from La on Sept 20. There is a massive protest planned and many celebrities as well as people from all over the US will be coming by the bus loads. you can link up with buses coming from you area. Lets show the world that black people can unite and that we will not stand for unequal treatment
I pray that this situation for these young black men, take a turn in their favor. I asked that every one pray for justice of these young men, because prayer changes things. These young men are our brothers, Lets come together and unite as one community for justice. JUST LIKE THE MILLION MAN MARCH. Let’s come into JENA like the NATIONAL GUARD. Let’s make our presence known, BUT LET’S DO IT RESPECTFULLY.
You support six thugs because of the color of their skin…..nothing more. Whine, whine, whine.
C.Victor=whiner and racist
In time your ‘honor’ you and all the racists will die off. Then Dr.King’s dream will be fulfilled.