By Nolan Strong
A number of rappers and activists will support Mos Def's call for a National Student Walk-Out tomorrow (Oct 1) in support of the Jena 6.
In addition to Mos Def, rappers Common, Talib Kweli, Immortal Technique, M1, Rep. Cynthia McKinney, Idris Elba, Pharoahe Monch, the Malcolm X Grassroots, the National Hip Hop Political Convention, The Hip Hop Association and student leaders from over 100 campuses will support the Jena 6 by walking out of class at 12:00 noon (Central time).
The rappers and activists are asking students to peacefully walk out of class and rally either on campus or at other designated areas, in protest of the case.
"This is the time for Black people to support the Jena 6, and call attention to the unequal treatment the criminal Justice system is dishing out not only in Jena Louisiana but across this nation," Mos Def said. "We all live in Jena. "
A list of demands created by the organizations will be read at each of the organized rallies around the country.
The group is calling for all charges against the Jena 6 to be dropped, to prevent Judge Mauffray from presiding over Bell's juvenile court hearings, that the Jena School District superintendent be removed from office and more.
The "Jena 6" are six black students who were charged with assaulting a white teenager at Jena High School in Jena, Louisiana after a series of racially motivated incidents.
The students were initially charged with attempted murder and conspiracy to commit attempted murder in connection with the December 4 beating of a white student.
The incident was the culmination of months of racial tension following a black Jena High School student’s request to the principal sit under an oak tree that was a frequent hang out for white students.
A day after the request, sat under the tree, three nooses were found hanging from the branches. Although the school’s principal recommended that those responsible for the nooses be expelled, the three white students were suspended for three days for the action, which was labeled as a "prank."
Soon after, Justin Barker, a white student, was jumped by a group of students who knocked him unconscious while stomping and kicking him.
Criminal charges were later directed towards the Jena 6, although the parents of the Jena 6 said they heard Barker was hurling racial epithets earlier.
On Thursday (September 27), Mychal Bell, the last of the "Jena 6" behind bars, was released from custody after a juvenile his bail was reduced to $45,000.
Over 15,000 demonstrators protested how the case was handled, claiming the black teens were being treated more harshly than the three white students who hung the nooses.
National Walk Outs: Mos Def
Who are the Jena Six?
Who are the Jena Six?
The Jena Six are a group of black students who are being charged with attempted murder for beating up a white student who was taunting them with racial slurs, and continued to support other white students who hung three nooses from the high schools "white tree" which sits in the front yard.
The Michael Baisden Show: Live from Jena, LA September 20th The Baddest Man on radio is putting action behind his words. On September 20th Michael Baisden along with comedian George Wilborn, national celebrities, and thousands of loyal listeners will March on the Jena Courthou
se to demand justice for Mychal Bell, one of the black teenagers awaiting sentencing in the Jena 6 Case. Mychal Bell could receive up to 22 years in prison for what amounted to nothing more then a fist fight between black and white high school students.Michael will need all the support he can get to show the prosecutors, the Judge, and the entire nation that we will not stand by while they steal the lives of our children. Time for talk is over, it's time to act.Details about Michael's visit to Jena on September 20, 2007:5:00am Buses meet in Alexandria, LA at Parish of Rapides Coliseum to caravan to Jena 7:30am Meet in Jena, LA at LaSalle Parish Courthouse8:00am Rally & March for Peace and Justice9:00am Sentencing for student Mychal Bell*Wear Black on Sept. 20th to signify unity against UN-EQUAL JUSTICE in Americafor more information go t0: http://www.minglecity.com/forum/showthread.php?t=617
Free Jena Six
Saturday, October 6, 2007
Jena mayor calls song inflammatory
Jena mayor calls song inflammatory 10/06/2007 6:19 AM, APA video in which rapper-actor Mos Def asked students around the country to walk out Oct. 1 to support the "Jena Six" escaped comment by this town's mayor. But when John Mellencamp sang, "Jena, take your nooses down," he took issue.
"The town of Jena has for months been mischaracterized in the media and portrayed as the epicenter of hatred, racism and a place where justice is denied," Jena Mayor Murphy R. McMillin wrote in a statement on town letterhead faxed on Friday to The Associated Press.
He said he had previously stayed quiet, hoping that the town's courtesy to people who have visited over the past year would speak for itself. "However, the Mellencamp video is so inflammatory, so defamatory, that a line has been crossed and enough is enough."
Mellencamp could not comment immediately because he was on a plane from California to Indiana and had not heard about McMillin's comments, publicist Bob Merlis said late Friday.
A brief note from Mellencamp posted Thursday on his Web site says he is telling a story, not reporting. "The song is not written as an indictment of the people of Jena but, rather, as a condemnation of racism," it says.
Nooses hung briefly from a big oak tree outside Jena High School a year ago, after a black freshman asked whether black students could sit under it. A white student was beaten unconscious three months later, in December.
Six black students, four of them 17 years old and legally adults, were arrested. Five were initially charged with attempted murder, although that charge has been reduced to aggravated second-degree battery as four of the older youths have been arraigned. The only youth tried so far was convicted, but that conviction was overturned on appeal and the case was sent to juvenile court.
Mellencamp's song opens, "An all-white jury hides the executioner's face; See how we are, me and you?" As he sings, images of Jena, the high school and the tree are followed by video from the 1960s, including civil rights marchers, police beatings, and President John F. Kennedy and the Rev. Martin Luther King speaking. Still images include one of a protest sign reading, "God demands segregation," a stylized drawing of people in Ku Klux Klan robes and an older image of a black man in shackles, begging.
"I do not want to diminish the impression that the hanging of the nooses has had on good people," McMillin wrote. "I do recognized that what happened is insulting and hurtful."
But, he said, "To put the incident in Jena in the same league as those who were murdered in the 1960s cheapens their sacrifice and insults their memory."
At McMillin's request, the Jena Town Council voted unanimously on Tuesday to create an interracial committee to study racial relations and suggest solutions to any problems.
John Mellencamp "Jena (take your nooses down)"
"The town of Jena has for months been mischaracterized in the media and portrayed as the epicenter of hatred, racism and a place where justice is denied," Jena Mayor Murphy R. McMillin wrote in a statement on town letterhead faxed on Friday to The Associated Press.
He said he had previously stayed quiet, hoping that the town's courtesy to people who have visited over the past year would speak for itself. "However, the Mellencamp video is so inflammatory, so defamatory, that a line has been crossed and enough is enough."
Mellencamp could not comment immediately because he was on a plane from California to Indiana and had not heard about McMillin's comments, publicist Bob Merlis said late Friday.
A brief note from Mellencamp posted Thursday on his Web site says he is telling a story, not reporting. "The song is not written as an indictment of the people of Jena but, rather, as a condemnation of racism," it says.
Nooses hung briefly from a big oak tree outside Jena High School a year ago, after a black freshman asked whether black students could sit under it. A white student was beaten unconscious three months later, in December.
Six black students, four of them 17 years old and legally adults, were arrested. Five were initially charged with attempted murder, although that charge has been reduced to aggravated second-degree battery as four of the older youths have been arraigned. The only youth tried so far was convicted, but that conviction was overturned on appeal and the case was sent to juvenile court.
Mellencamp's song opens, "An all-white jury hides the executioner's face; See how we are, me and you?" As he sings, images of Jena, the high school and the tree are followed by video from the 1960s, including civil rights marchers, police beatings, and President John F. Kennedy and the Rev. Martin Luther King speaking. Still images include one of a protest sign reading, "God demands segregation," a stylized drawing of people in Ku Klux Klan robes and an older image of a black man in shackles, begging.
"I do not want to diminish the impression that the hanging of the nooses has had on good people," McMillin wrote. "I do recognized that what happened is insulting and hurtful."
But, he said, "To put the incident in Jena in the same league as those who were murdered in the 1960s cheapens their sacrifice and insults their memory."
At McMillin's request, the Jena Town Council voted unanimously on Tuesday to create an interracial committee to study racial relations and suggest solutions to any problems.
John Mellencamp "Jena (take your nooses down)"
Thursday, September 27, 2007
Black Panthers say they will patrol Jena
The New Black Panther Party for Self Defense has announced plans to patrol the streets of Jena in order to protect the "Jena Six" and their families.
But local law enforcement officials said they have not seen any party members on patrol.
In an announcement on its Web site, the party claims that Jena police and the LaSalle Parish Sheriff's Office "announced that they would not provide protection for the families of the Jena Six under threat." LaSalle Parish Sheriff Carl Smith said Wednesday that is not true. He said his office has additional officers on duty and is receiving assistance from federal officers and the Louisiana State Police. U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., on Wednesday also sent a letter to the acting attorney general seeking information on the Justice Department's efforts relating to events in Jena. In the letter addressed to Peter D. Keisler, acting attorney general, Leahy sought information on the role of the department's long-established Community Relations Service. The Community Relations Service was created in the Civil Rights Act of 1964 with the important mission of helping to prevent civil disorder and racial tensions. It is the Federal Government's traditional "peacemaker" in community conflicts arising from racial tensions. The U.S. Justice Department and the FBI are aware of the threat allegations and are investigating, said Brian Roehrkasse, a justice department spokesman. Leahy's letter was dated Wednesday. Also on Wednesday, LaSalle Parish School Superintendent Roy Breithaupt held a press conference to clarify information circulating about the Jena Six case. In August 2006, when nooses were hung from a tree at Jena High School, Breithaupt said then-Principal Scott Windham called for an expulsion committee to investigate. The investigation showed the three students involved had no history of behavior problems, had never "demonstrated an inclination toward violence or to do physical harm to anyone," no physical injury resulted and no violent act was intended when the nooses were hung, Breithaupt said in a press release. "In deciding the consequences for the student's behavior the committee determined that expulsion was not appropriate," he said in the release. The boys involved were sent to alternative school for nine days, served a two-week in-school suspension, had Saturday detentions, had to attend Discipline Court, referred to Families in Need of Services and had an evaluation before returning to school as part of the district's Crises Management Policy Procedures. In the December 2006 fight, involving Justin Barker and the Jena Six, Breithaupt said it was not a "school-yard fight." "It was a premeditated ambush and attack by six students against one," he said in a press release. "The victim attacked was beaten and kicked into a state of bloody unconsciousness." An expulsion committee investigated the attack and expulsion was recommended. Four students appealed the decision. The expulsions were upheld by the LaSalle Parish School Board after a hearing. Breithaupt said the expelled students were told they could continue their education in an alternative setting. "I continue to firmly stand behind the actions of the LaSalle Parish School system in regard to these incidents," Breithaupt said. The investigation into threats made against all parties in the Jena Six case remains under investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, state and local officials. Tina Jones, mother of Jena Six member Bryant Purvis, said Wednesday that she had received several threatening telephone calls since her information was posted on the Internet. The personal information of the Jena Six families was placed on a white supremacist Web site. "One called the house and said he was KKK and said he was on the way to Jena to come for my son," she said. Jones said other Jena Six family members had also received threatening calls and letters, which had been given to the FBI. A meeting between Jena Six family members and about seven representatives from the New Black Panther Party took place Sunday in Jena to discuss protection, Jones said. Exactly how the New Black Panthers would provide protection wasn't discussed, she said. "They just said they would assist with protecting the families," she said. Catrina Wallace, local NAACP member and relative of one of the Jena Six, said she arranged Sunday's meeting. In a press release posted on the party's site, Malik Shabazz, leader of the New Black Panther Party, said members would begin this week to patrol the streets of Jena to protect not only the Jena Six families but all black residents "against open and imminent threats from Ku Klux Klan and other White supremacists advocating violence." The party is forming a committee called The Security and Protection Committee of the Jena Six that would involve organizations and volunteers from across the nation. Among the organizations noted to be a part of the committee were the Millions More Movement and the Black Muslims in addition to the New Black Panther Party. "The coalition will coordinate and lead an all volunteer effort that will man shifts and provide personal security for the Jena Six families as well as local residents under the threat of Klan intimidation in the wake of the successful Sept. 20 mass demonstration in Jena and around the U.S.," the release states. The release says security will be provided for the upcoming months. "This threat is real," the release states. "The Sept. 20 demonstration, which we aided in organizing, has created a resentment and backlash in certain quarters of Jena's white community. In the spirit of the Deacons of Defense, we intend to exercise our full range of legal rights of defense and protection to ensure that this very real threat of violence is neutralized."
But local law enforcement officials said they have not seen any party members on patrol.
In an announcement on its Web site, the party claims that Jena police and the LaSalle Parish Sheriff's Office "announced that they would not provide protection for the families of the Jena Six under threat." LaSalle Parish Sheriff Carl Smith said Wednesday that is not true. He said his office has additional officers on duty and is receiving assistance from federal officers and the Louisiana State Police. U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., on Wednesday also sent a letter to the acting attorney general seeking information on the Justice Department's efforts relating to events in Jena. In the letter addressed to Peter D. Keisler, acting attorney general, Leahy sought information on the role of the department's long-established Community Relations Service. The Community Relations Service was created in the Civil Rights Act of 1964 with the important mission of helping to prevent civil disorder and racial tensions. It is the Federal Government's traditional "peacemaker" in community conflicts arising from racial tensions. The U.S. Justice Department and the FBI are aware of the threat allegations and are investigating, said Brian Roehrkasse, a justice department spokesman. Leahy's letter was dated Wednesday. Also on Wednesday, LaSalle Parish School Superintendent Roy Breithaupt held a press conference to clarify information circulating about the Jena Six case. In August 2006, when nooses were hung from a tree at Jena High School, Breithaupt said then-Principal Scott Windham called for an expulsion committee to investigate. The investigation showed the three students involved had no history of behavior problems, had never "demonstrated an inclination toward violence or to do physical harm to anyone," no physical injury resulted and no violent act was intended when the nooses were hung, Breithaupt said in a press release. "In deciding the consequences for the student's behavior the committee determined that expulsion was not appropriate," he said in the release. The boys involved were sent to alternative school for nine days, served a two-week in-school suspension, had Saturday detentions, had to attend Discipline Court, referred to Families in Need of Services and had an evaluation before returning to school as part of the district's Crises Management Policy Procedures. In the December 2006 fight, involving Justin Barker and the Jena Six, Breithaupt said it was not a "school-yard fight." "It was a premeditated ambush and attack by six students against one," he said in a press release. "The victim attacked was beaten and kicked into a state of bloody unconsciousness." An expulsion committee investigated the attack and expulsion was recommended. Four students appealed the decision. The expulsions were upheld by the LaSalle Parish School Board after a hearing. Breithaupt said the expelled students were told they could continue their education in an alternative setting. "I continue to firmly stand behind the actions of the LaSalle Parish School system in regard to these incidents," Breithaupt said. The investigation into threats made against all parties in the Jena Six case remains under investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, state and local officials. Tina Jones, mother of Jena Six member Bryant Purvis, said Wednesday that she had received several threatening telephone calls since her information was posted on the Internet. The personal information of the Jena Six families was placed on a white supremacist Web site. "One called the house and said he was KKK and said he was on the way to Jena to come for my son," she said. Jones said other Jena Six family members had also received threatening calls and letters, which had been given to the FBI. A meeting between Jena Six family members and about seven representatives from the New Black Panther Party took place Sunday in Jena to discuss protection, Jones said. Exactly how the New Black Panthers would provide protection wasn't discussed, she said. "They just said they would assist with protecting the families," she said. Catrina Wallace, local NAACP member and relative of one of the Jena Six, said she arranged Sunday's meeting. In a press release posted on the party's site, Malik Shabazz, leader of the New Black Panther Party, said members would begin this week to patrol the streets of Jena to protect not only the Jena Six families but all black residents "against open and imminent threats from Ku Klux Klan and other White supremacists advocating violence." The party is forming a committee called The Security and Protection Committee of the Jena Six that would involve organizations and volunteers from across the nation. Among the organizations noted to be a part of the committee were the Millions More Movement and the Black Muslims in addition to the New Black Panther Party. "The coalition will coordinate and lead an all volunteer effort that will man shifts and provide personal security for the Jena Six families as well as local residents under the threat of Klan intimidation in the wake of the successful Sept. 20 mass demonstration in Jena and around the U.S.," the release states. The release says security will be provided for the upcoming months. "This threat is real," the release states. "The Sept. 20 demonstration, which we aided in organizing, has created a resentment and backlash in certain quarters of Jena's white community. In the spirit of the Deacons of Defense, we intend to exercise our full range of legal rights of defense and protection to ensure that this very real threat of violence is neutralized."
Jena 6 teen (Mychal Bell) released on $45,000 bail
By DOUG SIMPSON, Associated Press Writer
JENA, La. - A black teenager whose prosecution in the beating of a white classmate prompted a massive civil rights protest here walked out of a courthouse Thursday after a judge ordered him freed.
Mychal Bell's release on $45,000 bail came hours after a prosecutor confirmed he would no longer seek an adult trial for the 17-year-old. Bell, one of the teenagers known as the Jena Six, still faces trial as a juvenile in the December beating in this small central Louisiana town.
"We still have mountains to climb, but at least this is closer to an even playing field," said the Rev. Al Sharpton, who helped organize last week's protest.
"He goes home because a lot of people left their home and stood up for him," Sharpton said as Bell stood smiling next to him.
"There's only one person who could have brought me through this and that's the good Lord," Bell told reporters later in front of his father's house.
District Attorney Reed Walters' decision to abandon adult charges means that Bell, who had faced a maximum of 15 years in prison on his aggravated second-degree battery conviction last month, instead could be held only until he turns 21 if he is found guilty in juvenile court.
The conviction in adult court was thrown out this month by the state 3rd Circuit Court of Appeal, which said Bell should not have been tried as an adult on that particular charge.
Walters had said he would appeal that decision. On Thursday, he said he still believes there was legal merit to trying Bell as an adult but decided it was in the best interest of the victim, Justin Barker, and his family to let the juvenile court handle the case.
"They are on board with what I decided," Walters said at a news conference.
Bell faces juvenile court charges of aggravated second-degree battery and conspiracy to commit that crime. He is among six black Jena High School students arrested in December after a beating that left Barker unconscious and bloody, though the victim was able to attend a school function later that day. Four of the defendants were 17 at the time, which made them adults under Louisiana law.
Those four and Bell, who was 16, all were initially charged with attempted murder. Walters has said he sought to have Bell tried as an adult because he already had a criminal record, and because he believed Bell instigated the attack.
The charges have been dropped to aggravated second-degree battery in four of the cases. One defendant has yet to be arraigned. The sixth defendant's case is sealed in juvenile court.
Bell's lawyer, Carol Powell Lexing, said his next hearing is set for Tuesday.
Critics accuse Walters, who is white, of prosecuting blacks more harshly than whites. They note that he filed no charges against three white teens suspended from the high school over allegations they hung nooses in a tree on campus not long before fights between blacks and whites, including the attack on Barker.
An estimated 20,000 to 25,000 protesters marched in Jena last week in a scene that evoked the early years of the civil rights movement.
Walters said the demonstration had no influence on his decision not to press the adult charges, and ended his news conference by saying that only God kept the protest peaceful.
"The only way — let me stress that — the only way that I believe that me or this community has been able to endure the trauma that has been thrust upon us is through the prayers of the Christian people who have sent them up in this community," Walters said.
"I firmly believe and am confident of the fact that had it not been for the direct intervention of the Lord Jesus Christ last Thursday, a disaster would have happened. You can quote me on that."
The Rev. Donald Sibley, a black Jena pastor, called it a "shame" that Walters credited divine intervention for the protesters acting responsibly.
"What I'm saying is, the Lord Jesus Christ put his influence on those people, and they responded accordingly," Walters responded.
After the news conference, Sibley told CNN that Walters had insulted the protesters by making a false separation between "his Christ and our Christ."
"For him to use it in the sense that because his Christ, his Jesus, because he prayed, because of his police, that everything was peaceful and was decent and in order — that's not the truth," Sibley said.
Walters has said repeatedly that Barker's suffering has been lost in the furor over the case, and that what happened to the teen was much more severe than a schoolyard fight.
Walters also has defended his decision not to seek charges in the hanging of the nooses, which he said was "abhorrent and stupid" but not a crime.
JENA, La. - A black teenager whose prosecution in the beating of a white classmate prompted a massive civil rights protest here walked out of a courthouse Thursday after a judge ordered him freed.
Mychal Bell's release on $45,000 bail came hours after a prosecutor confirmed he would no longer seek an adult trial for the 17-year-old. Bell, one of the teenagers known as the Jena Six, still faces trial as a juvenile in the December beating in this small central Louisiana town.
"We still have mountains to climb, but at least this is closer to an even playing field," said the Rev. Al Sharpton, who helped organize last week's protest.
"He goes home because a lot of people left their home and stood up for him," Sharpton said as Bell stood smiling next to him.
"There's only one person who could have brought me through this and that's the good Lord," Bell told reporters later in front of his father's house.
District Attorney Reed Walters' decision to abandon adult charges means that Bell, who had faced a maximum of 15 years in prison on his aggravated second-degree battery conviction last month, instead could be held only until he turns 21 if he is found guilty in juvenile court.
The conviction in adult court was thrown out this month by the state 3rd Circuit Court of Appeal, which said Bell should not have been tried as an adult on that particular charge.
Walters had said he would appeal that decision. On Thursday, he said he still believes there was legal merit to trying Bell as an adult but decided it was in the best interest of the victim, Justin Barker, and his family to let the juvenile court handle the case.
"They are on board with what I decided," Walters said at a news conference.
Bell faces juvenile court charges of aggravated second-degree battery and conspiracy to commit that crime. He is among six black Jena High School students arrested in December after a beating that left Barker unconscious and bloody, though the victim was able to attend a school function later that day. Four of the defendants were 17 at the time, which made them adults under Louisiana law.
Those four and Bell, who was 16, all were initially charged with attempted murder. Walters has said he sought to have Bell tried as an adult because he already had a criminal record, and because he believed Bell instigated the attack.
The charges have been dropped to aggravated second-degree battery in four of the cases. One defendant has yet to be arraigned. The sixth defendant's case is sealed in juvenile court.
Bell's lawyer, Carol Powell Lexing, said his next hearing is set for Tuesday.
Critics accuse Walters, who is white, of prosecuting blacks more harshly than whites. They note that he filed no charges against three white teens suspended from the high school over allegations they hung nooses in a tree on campus not long before fights between blacks and whites, including the attack on Barker.
An estimated 20,000 to 25,000 protesters marched in Jena last week in a scene that evoked the early years of the civil rights movement.
Walters said the demonstration had no influence on his decision not to press the adult charges, and ended his news conference by saying that only God kept the protest peaceful.
"The only way — let me stress that — the only way that I believe that me or this community has been able to endure the trauma that has been thrust upon us is through the prayers of the Christian people who have sent them up in this community," Walters said.
"I firmly believe and am confident of the fact that had it not been for the direct intervention of the Lord Jesus Christ last Thursday, a disaster would have happened. You can quote me on that."
The Rev. Donald Sibley, a black Jena pastor, called it a "shame" that Walters credited divine intervention for the protesters acting responsibly.
"What I'm saying is, the Lord Jesus Christ put his influence on those people, and they responded accordingly," Walters responded.
After the news conference, Sibley told CNN that Walters had insulted the protesters by making a false separation between "his Christ and our Christ."
"For him to use it in the sense that because his Christ, his Jesus, because he prayed, because of his police, that everything was peaceful and was decent and in order — that's not the truth," Sibley said.
Walters has said repeatedly that Barker's suffering has been lost in the furor over the case, and that what happened to the teen was much more severe than a schoolyard fight.
Walters also has defended his decision not to seek charges in the hanging of the nooses, which he said was "abhorrent and stupid" but not a crime.
Saturday, September 22, 2007
Two arrested in hangman's noose incident near Jena, Louisiana
ALEXANDRIA, Louisiana (CNN) -- A Louisiana city that hosted many of the "Jena 6" protesters Thursday became the site of a racially charged incident of its own.Authorities in Alexandria, less than 40 miles southwest of Jena, arrested two people who were driving a red pickup Thursday night with two nooses hanging off the back, repeatedly passing groups of demonstrators who were waiting for buses back to their home states.
The marchers had taken part in the huge protests in Jena that accused authorities there of injustice in the handling of racially charged cases -- including the hanging of nooses in a tree after a group of black students sat in an area where traditionally only white students sat.
The driver of the red truck, whom Alexandria police identified as Jeremiah Munsen, 18, was charged with contributing to the delinquency of a minor -- a reference to the 16-year-old passenger. Munsen also was charged with driving while intoxicated and inciting to riot, according to the police report.
As officials were questioning the driver, he said he had an unloaded rifle in the back of the truck, which police found. They also found a set of brass knuckles in a cup holder on the dashboard, the police report said. Watch cops respond to the dangling nooses »
The passenger told police he and his family are in the Ku Klux Klan and that he had KKK tattooed on his chest, the police report said. He also said that he tied the nooses and that the brass knuckles belonged to him, the report said.
The marchers had taken part in the huge protests in Jena that accused authorities there of injustice in the handling of racially charged cases -- including the hanging of nooses in a tree after a group of black students sat in an area where traditionally only white students sat.
The driver of the red truck, whom Alexandria police identified as Jeremiah Munsen, 18, was charged with contributing to the delinquency of a minor -- a reference to the 16-year-old passenger. Munsen also was charged with driving while intoxicated and inciting to riot, according to the police report.
As officials were questioning the driver, he said he had an unloaded rifle in the back of the truck, which police found. They also found a set of brass knuckles in a cup holder on the dashboard, the police report said. Watch cops respond to the dangling nooses »
The passenger told police he and his family are in the Ku Klux Klan and that he had KKK tattooed on his chest, the police report said. He also said that he tied the nooses and that the brass knuckles belonged to him, the report said.
The report, filed by Officer F.R. Drewett, said he and another officer were standing with protesters awaiting their bus back to Nashville, Tennessee, when one of the group told him about a truck driving with nooses hanging off the back.
The truck was circling around town, repeatedly driving past groups of demonstrators, the report said. The officers pulled the pickup over and arrested two after searching the vehicle.
At least one of the nooses was made out of an extension cord, according to the police report.
The driver and passenger are white, according to the police report.
An entry in the report lists "Bias Motive: Racial Anti-Black."
Alexandria Mayor Jacques Roy said those involved were "from around Jena" and not from the same parish as his city. See where the incident occurred »
Roy said he is looking into whether the incident was a hate crime.
A photograph of the truck was sent to CNN by I-Reporter Casanova Love, 26, who said he is in the U.S. military. He's visiting his family in Louisiana and said he witnessed the event.
After the arrests, Roy came out to address the crowd and apologized, saying he does not condone racism, Love said.
Love added, "If the police had not stepped in, I fear what might have happened."
Love explained why he sent the photo to CNN: "People need to see this. It's 2007, and we still have fools acting like it's 1960."
Roy said the matter is "not indicative" of Alexandria and that local authorities will look into it "completely, thoroughly and transparently."
Some protesters saw another truck with a noose hanging off it, but authorities did not find the vehicle, according to the police report.
The truck was circling around town, repeatedly driving past groups of demonstrators, the report said. The officers pulled the pickup over and arrested two after searching the vehicle.
At least one of the nooses was made out of an extension cord, according to the police report.
The driver and passenger are white, according to the police report.
An entry in the report lists "Bias Motive: Racial Anti-Black."
Alexandria Mayor Jacques Roy said those involved were "from around Jena" and not from the same parish as his city. See where the incident occurred »
Roy said he is looking into whether the incident was a hate crime.
A photograph of the truck was sent to CNN by I-Reporter Casanova Love, 26, who said he is in the U.S. military. He's visiting his family in Louisiana and said he witnessed the event.
After the arrests, Roy came out to address the crowd and apologized, saying he does not condone racism, Love said.
Love added, "If the police had not stepped in, I fear what might have happened."
Love explained why he sent the photo to CNN: "People need to see this. It's 2007, and we still have fools acting like it's 1960."
Roy said the matter is "not indicative" of Alexandria and that local authorities will look into it "completely, thoroughly and transparently."
Some protesters saw another truck with a noose hanging off it, but authorities did not find the vehicle, according to the police report.
Friday, September 21, 2007
Ready for change'
Locals part of crowd of 60,000 in protest march
JENA - The "Jena Six" became the Jena 60,000 Thursday.
They came from as near as Alexandria, Lafayette, Baton Rouge, Slidell, New Orleans and as far away as Detroit; Anchorage, Alaska; Los Angeles; the Cayman Islands.
The streets of the small town spilled over with cries of "No Justice! No Peace!" and "Free the Jena Six!" Young and old walked together.
Together, they chanted. Together, they held hands and prayed. Together, they lifted up six black teenagers who they feel represent a painful lesson that in some parts of the country equality still has to be fought for.
"We're trying to get justice for other countries. We say this, but in America, when it comes down to justice, there's just one justice for one race," said Palmer Johnson of Lafayette.
The prosecution of six Jena High School students after a fight that sent one white student to the emergency room is what brought them here. The students initially were charged with attempted second-degree murder as adults, not juveniles. The conviction of one of the students, Mychal Bell, was overturned. The judge who reviewed the case said the case should have been tried in juvenile court.
The handling of the incident by school officials, board members and the district attorney's office set in motion the event that the Rev. Al Sharpton on Thursday called the modern civil rights movement in America.
"We've gone from plantations to penitentiaries," Sharpton told an early morning crowd gathered in front of the courthouse. Sharpton brought the parents of Mychal Bell onto the stage. Their son still sits in a jail cell. Bell's mother, Melissa Bell, wiped tears from he
r eyes as she stood in front of the crowd that began growing as more buses made their way to Jena. The crowd showed their support of her with their applause and cheers. She smiled and wiped away more tears from her cheeks.
Their son is an example of how the criminal justice system "targets our young black men," Sharpton said.
"We cannot sit by silent. That's why we came and why we'll keep coming. ... We come to Jena to face James Crow Jr., Esquire," Sharpton said.
Police estimated that at least 60,000 people attended the rally. While there were murmurs about whether the crowds could be contained or if the rally would turn violent, the rally remained what it was intended - one of peace.
Sharpton, the leader of the National Action Network, told the crowd that Bell had two things he wanted tell those who came out to support him and his friends: Thank you and to not evoke "any kind of violence."
After the rally at the courthouse, the crowd split around the courthouse on parallel streets to march to Jena High School. The pilgrimage came in droves to the campus to walk the grounds and to see the site where a tree once stood. The tree held nooses in August of last year. The tree no longer stands. A huddle formed around the pile of dirt that's in its place now.
Two young women faintly sang the refrain, "We shall overcome. We shall overcome. We shall overcome, someday..."
"I hope that this is really the last stand that we'll have to take," said Desireé Paillet, a UL student. "I hope my kids don't have to face this."
Paillet looked back at the crowds walking down the slanting road that leads to the school. A nonstop sea of bodies marched. Walking through that crowd was one of the most powerful things she's experienced in her life, the young woman said.
Although all were from different places and different backgrounds Thursday, there were no differences. Everyone was the same, said Jariski White, president of UL's chapter of the National Association of Black Journalists.
"They all look alike. They look like family," White said.
The chanting didn't wane as the crowds moved onto the campus. "No Justice! No Peace!" As Donelle Coleman Jr. made the walk, those words punctuated the tragedy that the six teens face, he said.
"Dude is 16 years old, and his life is just starting and they're taking it away from him like that?" asked Coleman. Although a native of Detroit, the 23-year-old now lives in Opelousas.
In the crowd Dana, Mouton of Broussard called with crowd, "No Justice! No Peace!"
A helicopter passed overhead. A photographer pointed his lens down at the crowd. They responded with shouts and fists in the air.
A few short miles away from the school, more rallies were held at the Ward 10 Recreation Park.
The Rev. Jesse Jackson, New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin, radio personality Michael Baisden and Martin Luther King III were only a few of the leaders who rallied the crowds.
"March until something happens," Jackson said. "Embrace until something happens ... and next year, vote with the hope that something will happen."
The heat didn't wilt the crowd's enthusiasm. The American Red Cross encouraged marchers to stay hydrated and offered water bottles at stations set up along the route to the school and the recreation park.
Some found shade under store awnings or trees.
While the teens' behavior shouldn't go unpunished, the punishment should have fit the crime, said Mercurlus Ellis of Lafayette.
"I wouldn't want to live in any other country, but we need to practice what we preach," Ellis said.
Anoth
er group making its way back to the courthouse began the chant to lead them there: "What do we want?" a man shouted. "Justice!" the group called back. "When do we want it?" he asked. "Now!"
Seven-year-old Selina Rollins of Slidell walked ahead of the man with the megaphone. She hoisted an American flag above her head. Her mother, Letitia, caressed the young girl's shoulder with one hand as they walked with the crowd. A few feet away, her 18-year-old daughter, Bianca, carried another American flag.
"I hope they take away the learning experience that it's not about color, it's about rights," the mother said. "It's about equal rights."
She touched her daughter's shoulder.
"If I can teach her that at this age, then I'll have it made."
Students in Karen Sellers' class at Acadiana High School know why she wasn't in school Thursday.
The teacher told her students she'd be in Jena.
"It warms me to be here and hold hands with strangers," Sellers said. "You could feel the positive energy and the anger. Everybody's ready for change."
They came from as near as Alexandria, Lafayette, Baton Rouge, Slidell, New Orleans and as far away as Detroit; Anchorage, Alaska; Los Angeles; the Cayman Islands.
The streets of the small town spilled over with cries of "No Justice! No Peace!" and "Free the Jena Six!" Young and old walked together.
Together, they chanted. Together, they held hands and prayed. Together, they lifted up six black teenagers who they feel represent a painful lesson that in some parts of the country equality still has to be fought for.
"We're trying to get justice for other countries. We say this, but in America, when it comes down to justice, there's just one justice for one race," said Palmer Johnson of Lafayette.
The prosecution of six Jena High School students after a fight that sent one white student to the emergency room is what brought them here. The students initially were charged with attempted second-degree murder as adults, not juveniles. The conviction of one of the students, Mychal Bell, was overturned. The judge who reviewed the case said the case should have been tried in juvenile court.
The handling of the incident by school officials, board members and the district attorney's office set in motion the event that the Rev. Al Sharpton on Thursday called the modern civil rights movement in America.
"We've gone from plantations to penitentiaries," Sharpton told an early morning crowd gathered in front of the courthouse. Sharpton brought the parents of Mychal Bell onto the stage. Their son still sits in a jail cell. Bell's mother, Melissa Bell, wiped tears from he
r eyes as she stood in front of the crowd that began growing as more buses made their way to Jena. The crowd showed their support of her with their applause and cheers. She smiled and wiped away more tears from her cheeks.Their son is an example of how the criminal justice system "targets our young black men," Sharpton said.
"We cannot sit by silent. That's why we came and why we'll keep coming. ... We come to Jena to face James Crow Jr., Esquire," Sharpton said.
Police estimated that at least 60,000 people attended the rally. While there were murmurs about whether the crowds could be contained or if the rally would turn violent, the rally remained what it was intended - one of peace.
Sharpton, the leader of the National Action Network, told the crowd that Bell had two things he wanted tell those who came out to support him and his friends: Thank you and to not evoke "any kind of violence."
After the rally at the courthouse, the crowd split around the courthouse on parallel streets to march to Jena High School. The pilgrimage came in droves to the campus to walk the grounds and to see the site where a tree once stood. The tree held nooses in August of last year. The tree no longer stands. A huddle formed around the pile of dirt that's in its place now.
Two young women faintly sang the refrain, "We shall overcome. We shall overcome. We shall overcome, someday..."
"I hope that this is really the last stand that we'll have to take," said Desireé Paillet, a UL student. "I hope my kids don't have to face this."
Paillet looked back at the crowds walking down the slanting road that leads to the school. A nonstop sea of bodies marched. Walking through that crowd was one of the most powerful things she's experienced in her life, the young woman said.
Although all were from different places and different backgrounds Thursday, there were no differences. Everyone was the same, said Jariski White, president of UL's chapter of the National Association of Black Journalists.
"They all look alike. They look like family," White said.
The chanting didn't wane as the crowds moved onto the campus. "No Justice! No Peace!" As Donelle Coleman Jr. made the walk, those words punctuated the tragedy that the six teens face, he said.
"Dude is 16 years old, and his life is just starting and they're taking it away from him like that?" asked Coleman. Although a native of Detroit, the 23-year-old now lives in Opelousas.
In the crowd Dana, Mouton of Broussard called with crowd, "No Justice! No Peace!"
A helicopter passed overhead. A photographer pointed his lens down at the crowd. They responded with shouts and fists in the air.
A few short miles away from the school, more rallies were held at the Ward 10 Recreation Park.
The Rev. Jesse Jackson, New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin, radio personality Michael Baisden and Martin Luther King III were only a few of the leaders who rallied the crowds.
"March until something happens," Jackson said. "Embrace until something happens ... and next year, vote with the hope that something will happen."
The heat didn't wilt the crowd's enthusiasm. The American Red Cross encouraged marchers to stay hydrated and offered water bottles at stations set up along the route to the school and the recreation park.
Some found shade under store awnings or trees.
While the teens' behavior shouldn't go unpunished, the punishment should have fit the crime, said Mercurlus Ellis of Lafayette.
"I wouldn't want to live in any other country, but we need to practice what we preach," Ellis said.
Anoth
er group making its way back to the courthouse began the chant to lead them there: "What do we want?" a man shouted. "Justice!" the group called back. "When do we want it?" he asked. "Now!"Seven-year-old Selina Rollins of Slidell walked ahead of the man with the megaphone. She hoisted an American flag above her head. Her mother, Letitia, caressed the young girl's shoulder with one hand as they walked with the crowd. A few feet away, her 18-year-old daughter, Bianca, carried another American flag.
"I hope they take away the learning experience that it's not about color, it's about rights," the mother said. "It's about equal rights."
She touched her daughter's shoulder.
"If I can teach her that at this age, then I'll have it made."
Students in Karen Sellers' class at Acadiana High School know why she wasn't in school Thursday.
The teacher told her students she'd be in Jena.
"It warms me to be here and hold hands with strangers," Sellers said. "You could feel the positive energy and the anger. Everybody's ready for change."
Judge won't release Jena Six teen
By MARY FOSTER, Associated Press Writer
JENA, La. - A judge on Friday denied a request to release a teenager whose arrest in the beating of a white classmate sparked this week's civil rights protest in Louisiana.
Mychal Bell's request to be freed while an appeal is being reviewed was rejected at a juvenile court hearing, effectively denying him any chance at immediate bail, a person familiar with the case told The Associated Press. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because juvenile court proceedings are closed.
Earlier, Bell's mother emerged from the hearing in tears, refusing to comment.
Bell, 17, was convicted of aggravated second-degree battery, which could have led to 15 years in prison. But his conviction was thrown out by a state appeals court that said he could not be tried on the charge as an adult because he was 16 at the time of the beating.
"This is why we did not cancel the march," said the Rev. Al Sharpton, an organizer of Thursday's rally along with the Rev. Jesse Jackson and the NAACP. "When they overturned Mychal's conviction, everyone said we won."
Jackson said in an interview Friday that federal intervention is needed to protect Bell's rights. Sharpton said he has scheduled meetings in Washington with congressional leaders to discuss the Jena Six case.
At a separate closed hearing Friday, a judge refused a request from defense attorneys to remove Judge J.P. Mauffray Jr. from Bell's case, said John Jenkins, father of one of Bell's co-defendants.
Defense lawyers have complained that Mauffray set a high bail for Bell — $90,000 — prior to his conviction in the Barker beating. Mauffray had cited Bell's criminal record, which included juvenile arrests for battery and damage to property, in setting the bail.
On Thursday, the case drew thousands of protesters to this tiny central Louisiana town to rally against what they see as a double standard of justice for blacks and whites. The march was one of the biggest civil rights demonstrations in years.
The case dates to August 2006, when a black Jena High School student asked the principal whether blacks could sit under a shade tree that was a frequent gathering place for whites. He was told yes. But nooses appeared in the tree the next day.
Three white students were suspended but not criminally prosecuted. LaSalle Parish District Attorney Reed Walters has said he could find no state law covering the act.
The incident was followed by fights between blacks and whites that culminated in the attack on Justin Barker, who was knocked unconscious on school grounds. According to court testimony, his face was swollen and bloodied, but he was able to attend a school function that night.
Five of the teens were originally charged with attempted second-degree murder — charges that have since been reduced for four of them. The sixth was booked as a juvenile on sealed charges.
Mychal Bell's request to be freed while an appeal is being reviewed was rejected at a juvenile court hearing, effectively denying him any chance at immediate bail, a person familiar with the case told The Associated Press. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because juvenile court proceedings are closed.
Earlier, Bell's mother emerged from the hearing in tears, refusing to comment.
Bell, 17, was convicted of aggravated second-degree battery, which could have led to 15 years in prison. But his conviction was thrown out by a state appeals court that said he could not be tried on the charge as an adult because he was 16 at the time of the beating.
"This is why we did not cancel the march," said the Rev. Al Sharpton, an organizer of Thursday's rally along with the Rev. Jesse Jackson and the NAACP. "When they overturned Mychal's conviction, everyone said we won."
Jackson said in an interview Friday that federal intervention is needed to protect Bell's rights. Sharpton said he has scheduled meetings in Washington with congressional leaders to discuss the Jena Six case.
At a separate closed hearing Friday, a judge refused a request from defense attorneys to remove Judge J.P. Mauffray Jr. from Bell's case, said John Jenkins, father of one of Bell's co-defendants.
Defense lawyers have complained that Mauffray set a high bail for Bell — $90,000 — prior to his conviction in the Barker beating. Mauffray had cited Bell's criminal record, which included juvenile arrests for battery and damage to property, in setting the bail.
On Thursday, the case drew thousands of protesters to this tiny central Louisiana town to rally against what they see as a double standard of justice for blacks and whites. The march was one of the biggest civil rights demonstrations in years.
The case dates to August 2006, when a black Jena High School student asked the principal whether blacks could sit under a shade tree that was a frequent gathering place for whites. He was told yes. But nooses appeared in the tree the next day.
Three white students were suspended but not criminally prosecuted. LaSalle Parish District Attorney Reed Walters has said he could find no state law covering the act.
The incident was followed by fights between blacks and whites that culminated in the attack on Justin Barker, who was knocked unconscious on school grounds. According to court testimony, his face was swollen and bloodied, but he was able to attend a school function that night.
Five of the teens were originally charged with attempted second-degree murder — charges that have since been reduced for four of them. The sixth was booked as a juvenile on sealed charges.
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