Here’s another new story on Jena that quotes Alan Bean, Executive Director of Friends of Justice. We can see that the media is starting to grab hold of our “new Jim Crow” analysis. Finally, the mainstream media is starting to connect the dots, after receiving this clear message from Friends of Justice and other civil rights groups: the criminal justice system has become twisted to deal with the problems of poverty and racism in America.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20793079/site/newsweek/page/0/
The ‘Jena Six’
Things are looking up for six black teens charged with trying to kill a white classmate last year after a Louisiana court vacated the conviction of one of the men. But national civil-rights advocates say something remains very amiss in the small town.
WEB EXCLUSIVE
By Gretel C. Kovach
Newsweek
Updated: 2 hours, 29 minutes ago
Sept. 15, 2007 – Civil rights protestors are still planning to converge on tiny Jena, La., next week—even though the “Jena Six” claimed a major victory Friday. It’s been nine months since six high school students were arrested and accused of trying to beat a white classmate to death. Even longer since nooses were found hanging from a schoolyard oak tree favored by whites the morning after black students dared to venture under its boughs.
Mychal Bell, the 17-year-old former Jena High School football star convicted on a felony assault charge in the case, has been incarcerated since the December fight. But on Friday, a state appeals court vacated Bell’s conviction. He was 16 years old at the time of the fight and should not have been tried as an adult, the court ruled. The attempted murder charges were also reduced recently for the other Jena Six teens facing adult punishment. Local black residents and many outside observers said the murder charges were overly harsh. The only weapons involved were the students’ tennis shoes, and while the white victim was treated for injuries at a hospital, he went home the same day.
The ongoing controversy has thrown Jena, population about 3,000, into an uncomfortable spotlight that isn’t likely to dim with the latest court decision. Civil rights activists, bloggers and black radio hosts helped spread the word about the case, demanding an end to what they see as unequal justice. On Saturday, some of the Jena Six and their relatives and lawyers joined the Rev. Jesse Jackson in Chicago at his Rainbow PUSH Coalition headquarters. “We will not rest” until all charges are dropped against the Jena Six, Jackson said. Meanwhile, the American Civil Liberties Union is reviewing data from the La Salle Parish district attorney’s office for evidence of racial disparities or violation of civil rights. The district attorney has declined to comment on the case, citing a gag order.
Jackson and other activists say what’s happened in Jena is indicative of the “new Jim Crow” racism that inflicts many parts of the country. There is a “misuse of the criminal justice system as a kind of poverty control,” says Alan Bean, an activist with the civil rights group Friends of Justice. “We have basically criminalized poor people. … I think Jena is a particularly egregious example of business as usual in the American criminal justice system.”
According to a review of the latest data from the Bureau of Justice Statistics released by The Sentencing Project, a non-profit criminal justice center, African Americans are incarcerated at nearly six times the rate of whites, and Hispanics nearly double the rate. Louisiana has a higher rate of black incarceration than the national average or that of nearby states such as Alabama, Mississippi and Georgia. But it has a lower rate than Texas, Florida and others. Marc Mauer, executive director of The Sentencing Project, blamed the growing disparities on racial bias and a failure of social and economic interventions to address crime effectively.
While national activists continue to push for change, Bell may finally be able to go home after a new bail hearing on Monday. Bean doubts that any of the other Jena Six cases will ever go to trial, though the La Salle Parish district attorney, Reed Walters, has vowed to appeal Bell’s case to the Louisiana Supreme Court. “We’re not necessarily out of the woods yet, even as far as Mychal’s case is considered,” Bean said. “But vacating a conviction is a very, very positive step.”
Bell’s father, Marcus Jones, said his son never tried to kill anyone and that the charges against him were ludicrous. More than anything, Jones wants Mychal to realize his dream of playing college football with one of the top schools that had been recruiting him. On the field, “he’s like poetry in motion,” Jones recalled last month in Jena, describing the last time he saw him play at Jena High. “I want his credibility back, his eligibility, like this never happened. That’s the way it should be.”
On the other side of the Jena color divide, the town’s white leaders feel equally misrepresented. Billy Fowler, a white school board member, says most people in his hometown agree that the Jena Six were dealt with too harshly. But he bristles at the charges of racism. “They want to see our town as being the most racist town in the world. That’s what’s being painted of Jena. Obviously this is the Deep South. If we went back in time 50 years, maybe what they’re saying would have been true. But today we have come a 1,000 miles from that.” If the Jena Six supporters ultimately prevail, the town could go a lot further still.
© 2007 Newsweek, Inc. |
Friends of Justice 
Nobody that I know of is trying to paint Jena as the most racist town in the world, even as Friends of Justice did not try to paint Tulia as the most racist town in the world. But throughout America, (not just in small southern towns, a New Jim Crow has raised its ugly head. The War on Poverty has been replaced with a war on the poor, and, unfortunately, this war on the poor is going to fall disproportionately on minorities.
A friend of justice from Tulia, Texas
Racism is racism, it does not matter where it occurs. If whites in the community are concerned and what to see change then they should come together with blacks to work and fix the problems.
Concerned Citizen for Justice.
So should we just give carte blanch to black kids to beat up white kids because at some point they were discriminated against? What would Sharpton, Jackson and the rest of the MLK impersonators have to say if 6 white kids beat the hell out of a black kid who called them crackers 6 months ago?
Would Dr. King be defending a group of kids who used violence to this extent? I think not.
Forget about race…six on one..and there should be no punishment? If it were you kid that got the shit kicked out of him by six others, maybe I’m wrong but I doubt you’d turn the other cheek. Sounds like these guys knew each other or at least one or two did as it appears they played football on the same team. This white guy must have been a huge threat to have six blacks jump him at once, but then I forgot my child hood were I thought I had a black friend until he gets around his black friends and then pretends he doesn’t know who you are…fight on!!!
As an educator, mother of 3 biracial children, my first question would be to Mr. Fowler are you trying to convince America or yourself? Is your guilt eating at you for not taking a stand for these boys? Furthermore how can you as an educator have allowed it to get this far. Sitting behind closed doors whispering to your friend that you think the punishment is to harsh is not being part of the solution. Stand up, be a man and fight for what is right. I’m sure your one of those people that say, “but I have black friends”. We all need to get it together; life is too precious. Racism is a disease and if you’re not part of the cure you’re part of the problem.
I feel that justice should be served. I just hope when they finish marching in Louisiana they go to Hamburg, Arkansas. It’s no secret that in the south such as ARKANSAS & LOUISIANA hate crimes exists, and the GOVERNMENT stands behind it especially in small country towns. Little Rock, AR also has a lot of hidden racism and that is the home of a former president. Everyone is missing the point! This all steamed from past hate crimes against blacks that were swept under the rug. All they want is fair JUSTICE for all since it is suppose to be blind. If African American people don’t began to stand together, and fight for what is right when it comes to fair treatment within the JUSTICE system around the US then the Caucasians will continue to secretly use to JUSTICE system to bring African American’s down. I totally believe “ALL” involved should have been punished based on the crime committed especially the ones that hung the noose, and pulled the shotgun more severely. So yes I AGREE WITH THE MARCH. “Double Standard” One set of laws were written for everyone to follow, but when it comes to race there are two sets ONE FOR BLACKS AND ONE FOR WHITE! AND THE PRISONS AND JAILS SHOWS IT!
This is war on RACE! Plain and simple. Jena may not be the most racist town in the world but it is RACIST! Stop calling this what it’s not and call it what it is! Oh you poor white-folk, being called bad names. You’re racists, every single one of you who claim that your town isn’t racist and especially the one who claims that Louisiana has come a 1,000 miles from where they were 50 years ago. CALL THIS WHAT IT IS! Stop trying to give it fancy names to make yourselves feel better. It’s racism at it’s purest and finest. Just because you’re not racist in public doesn’t mean you’re not racist. Someone can be closet homosexual, but that does not mean they’re not homosexual. It’s absurd. Stop being cowards, stop trying to be politically correct by giving it pretty little names. “Poverty” – yeah right! Take it back 50 years then… ask questions. Why are they considered “Poverty”? Why are they in “Poverty”? 50 years ago is why. 100 years ago is why. Over 300 years of oppression is WHY! It’s racism. R-A-C-I-S-M.
Written by a white woman who knows what’s starring her right in the face and will preach it to the world as a white woman!
Jesse Jackson is a fraud. He doesn’t represent black people. He is using black people to further his media exposure. He is the most racist of them all. Somebody should beat his ass and then claim he called them a name to justify it. Jesse get the hell out of the America, you fat and stupid racist. Jesse you are the reason people use the term “nigger” – so get smart and try to repair race relations rather then futher dividing them.
I may be coming to this story a bit late, but here goes.
stormtrooper said: “Forget about race…six on one..and there should be no punishment?”
What about the kids that attacked the black youth at the barn party? I mean, they hit him with a bottle and got a slap on the hand, but when it’s a white boy harmed there is attempted murder charges filed? And then there is that man who pulled the shotgun on those kids, and then they disarmed him. They are heroes for taking on a thug, but they get charged with stealing a gun.
I wish we could forget about race, stormtrooper, but we can’t. It’s clear that the black kids were charged more harshly for beating up the white kid than the white kids were for their attack on a black kid.