Posted by Alan Bean
From Sherrel Wheeler Stewart of Black America Web comes this carefully researched account of Al Sharpton and Martin Luther King III’s recent visit to Antioch Baptist Church in Jena, Louisiana.  If you click on the link below, you can hear Rev. Al discussing Jena and other issues of moment with radio personality Tom Joyner. 

Civil Rights Leaders like Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson are frequently downed as opportunistic self-promoters.  One television station in Alexandria (about forty-five minutes southwest of Jena) received a flood of calls asking (a) why the station was publicizing the activities of men like Sharpton, and (b) why they were giving so much attention to the Jena 6?  The station told its critics that they just report the news; it’s up to the viewer to decide what’s what.

Yet, as a blogger recently noted, Sharpton and Jackson don’t chase the cameras so much as the cameras chase Shapton and Jackson.  From the standpoint of the Jena 6 and their supporters, that’s a good thing.  The news media only covers “happening” stories: that is, stories where something is shaking.  Since there is currently little action at the LaSalle Parish courthouse, we should be glad that Brother Al and Martin Luther King III have deigned to visit this isolated central Louisiana community.

If you listen to Sharpton’s comments on the Tom Joyner show you will realize that the New York preacher is a bit fuzzy on the facts.  That’s not surprising.  Activists like Sharpton live inside a whirling vortex of information and activity.  Everytime they turn around, some staffer is whispering about the latest piece of breaking news.  Leave it to others to get the details straight; Sharpton helps the cause by showing up.

In the story below, I am quoted as saying that Jena’s black community was divided on the Jena 6 issue prior to Sharpton’s arrival.  Let me clarify.  I have yet to speak to a black person in Jena who isn’t outraged by the events of the past year.  But outrage doesn’t always translate into involvement.  Many black residents have a “Let’s not upset the white folks” take on this issue.  In fact, a week after the Jena 6 were arrested, five hundred Jena residents, black and white, held a racial unity rally at the football field.  They joined hands and sang “There’s a Sweet, Sweet Spirit in this Place”. 

But the price of unity was steep–no one, black or white, was allowed to reference the plight of the Jena 6, the “noose incident” or any other real-world event.  As a result, the six young men accused of attempted murder were left to twist in the wind.  When Friends of Justice got involved and the LaSalle Parish branch of the NAACP was organized, only Rev. Brian Moran of Antioch Baptist Church allowed us to meet at his church.  The doors of the five other Baptist churches in the community were locked shut.  Folks were happy to see champions of the Jena 6 when we visited on Sunday mornings–they just weren’t prepared to overtly sanction our struggle.  That would mean getting the white folks upset, and, Lord knows, we don’t want that.

Unfortunately, you can’t confront injustice in little towns like Tulia, Texas or Jena Louisiana without upsetting a lot of white folks.  I am not an agitator.  I take no delight in creating social turmoil.  When the media talks about little southern communities as if they are uniquely racist, I am just as offended as the mayor and the president of the Chamber of Commerce (this isn’t about one isolated community; this is about America). 

Nonetheless, if justice is to roll down like the waters, the feelings of white folks cannot be protected.  Jena’s brand of racism may not be unique; but it is deadly.  The fact that the yankees and Golden State folks sponsor the same two-tier system of justice currently on display in Jena does not justify what happened in September and December of 2006, nor does it justify what happened to Mychal Bell in June of 2007. 

If white folks must be upset I can’t think of a better man to do the honors than the Rev. Sharpton.  Go get ’em, Al!

Alan Bean
Friends of Justice
https://friendsofjustice.wordpress.com
(817) 457-0025

http://www.blackamericaweb.com/site.aspx/bawnews/jenasix815
Sharpton, King III, Other Ministers and Attorneys Offer Encouragement, Services to Jena Six
Date: Wednesday, August 15, 2007
By: Sherrel Wheeler Stewart, BlackAmericaWeb.com
The Rev. Al Sharpton and Martin Luther King III walked into a jury room Tuesday afternoon at a Jena, La., courthouse, and the face of the teenager seated at the table “just lit up,” said Marcus Jones, the father of that teen, Mychal Bell.

Bell is the first of the Jena Six to be convicted for a Dec. 4, 2006 fight, in which black students were accused of beating a white student following weeks of racially charged incidents in the small Louisiana town.

Problems were touched off after nooses were hung in a tree after black students sat in an area that was a traditional gathering place for white students, around the start of the school year.

The white students who hung the nooses were suspended for three days. The black students who retaliated were expelled and charged with felonies.

“Sharpton told my son, ‘I told you I’d be back,’” Jones told BlackAmericaWeb.com. “Martin Luther King III told him he would stay involved in the situation until he is freed.”

Jesse Jackson is scheduled to visit Jena on Sept. 4, according to published reports.
Bell is scheduled for sentencing on Sept. 20. He has been in jail at the LaSalle Parish Correctional Facility since his June conviction on charges of aggravated second degree battery and conspiracy. A bond hearing is set for Aug. 24, and Jones is hoping Mychal can be freed on bond after an Aug. 24 bond hearing.

“He’s has a $90,000 bond. That means we have to come up with about $12,000 to get him out,” Jones said. “But Mychal is encouraged.”

About four other ministers, as well as representatives from the Nation of Islam, visited Mychal on Tuesday.
“They all formed a circle,” said Jones. “They prayed. Before it was over, he cried. I couldn’t help but cry some tears too.”

Bell is a gifted athlete, family and friends say. This time last year, he was getting ready for another good year running the football for the Jena High School football team. In his 11th grade year, college scouts were looking at him as a prospect because he was both a good student and a strong athlete.

School starts in Jena on Friday, and unless things change dramatically, Mychal will not be in school. “When he goes back to school, we’ll have to put him in a private school,” Jones said.

Sharpton made his first visit to Jena last weekend and vowed to return. Alan Bean of Friends of Justice said his involvement has galvanized the community.

“Before the Rev. Sharpton began coming, it seemed like the black community was divided about this issue,” Bean told BlackAmericaWeb. com. “Now, all of the ministers are together.”

Tuesday night, there were more than 200 people packed into the Antioch Baptist Church, Jones said.
In addition to the energy in the religious community, change is also happening in the legal representation for the Jena Six.

Bell had a court-appointed attorney when he was first tried. Since then, family and supporters have pulled together funds to pay for a team of private lawyers to lead his defense. Attorney Lewis Scott, who leads Bell’s defense team, has told BlackAmericaWeb.com he hopes to get the verdict tossed out or be granted a new trial.

Also, the nationally recognized Southern Poverty Law Center, based in Montgomery, Alabama, has stepped in to provide support for the defense of Robert Bailey, Bean said.

“What this means is that we have one of the best criminal lawyers in the state on this case,” he said.
Bell is the only one of the six to already face trial. The others — Robert Bailey Jr., Bryant Purvis, Carwin Jones, Theodore Shaw and another student who has not been identified because he is a juvenile — still await trial.

Parents of Justin Barker, the student who was beaten, have said in broadcast interviews that they consider the beating attempted murder.

During Bell’s trial, District Attorney J. Reed Walters argued that the shoes used to kick Barker after he was knocked unconscious constituted weapons. He also said that because Bell took part in an attack with others, that was a conspiracy.

The national attention and visits from people like Sharpton and King have helped boost the interest in the case.
“To think that people who really don’t know us are coming to this country town to help,” said Jones. “That’s something. That’s what we needed.”