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Loading ...221 views - 4 Comments - October 4th, 2007 by CB
Artist/Activist Mos Def, Idris Elba, Common, Erykah Badu, M1, Talib Kweli, MC Lyte, and student leaders from over 100 campuses call for a National Student Walk-Out on Monday October 1st at 12 noon to support the Jena 6, who are being denied their human rights by the Louisiana criminal justice system.
“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”.
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 troubles began in summer 2006, when a black student, Kenneth Purvis, asked the school’s principal during an August assembly if he could sit under the “white tree,” a large, shady tree on campus that when planted was supposed to be a tree of knowledge. The spot under the tree had traditionally been a hangout for white students.
“We all live in Jena”–Mos Def
The principal said students could sit wherever they wanted, but the next morning, three nooses were discovered hanging from the tree. The students responsible were found and expulsion was recommended by the principal, but LaSalle Parish Schools Superintendent Roy Breithaupt disagreed and reduced the punishment to three days of in-school suspension, saying the noose hanging seemed more like a prank than a threat.
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.
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. 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 Mychal Bell’s juvenile court hearings (the only Jena 6 member over 18), that the Jena School District superintendent be removed from office and more.
Kenneth Purvis, asked the school’s principal during an August assembly if he could sit under the “white tree”.
The “white tree” was cut down by the school’s administration earlier this summer, but for many of the town’s residents, the memory of those nooses remains.
Threats and Harassment
On September 22, 2007, the FBI opened an investigation of a white supremacist website that listed the addresses of five of the Jena Six and the telephone numbers of some of their families “in case anyone wants to deliver justice.” According to an FBI spokeswoman, the website “essentially called for their lynching.” The site is registered to William A. “Bill” White of Roanoke, Virginia, who claims to be the commander of the American National Socialist Workers Party.
On September 27, 2007, it was reported that the New Black Panther Party would begin patrolling the streets of Jena in order to protect the Jena Six and their families, as well as other African American residents of the town, “against open and imminent threats from Ku Klux Klan and other White supremacists advocating violence.”
Mos Def and Cornell West talking about the issue
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Jena High School students, teachers and administrators say that students of both races congregated beneath the tree and that the tree was never officially or unofficially reserved for white students. According to the Jena Times, the black student who requested permission at an assembly posed the question in jest. The paragraph below is taken from the Jena Times chronology of events: “August 30, 2006: During a Wednesday assembly of all males at Jena High School, many items were discussed concerning rules and policies of the school for the new school year. Such items included dress codes, etc. Near the end of the assembly, one black student jokingly asked Assistant Principal Gawen Brugess if black students were permitted to sit underneath the tree in the center of the square located in the center of the campus. The question evoked laughter from everyone at the meeting, including the black students, with Burgess responding, “Don’t even go there. You know you can sit anywhere you want.” Burgess and the rest of the students knew the remark was made to gain laughter as a joke, not as a serous question. A couple more jokes were also made (not about the tree) before the lighthearted assembly was dismissed.”
Following the beating incident, the Justice Department reopened its investigation into the noose-hanging incident and determined there was no link between the nooses and the attack on Justin Barker at Jena High School. U.S. Attorney Donald Washington told CNN that, “A lot of things happened between the noose hanging and the fight occurring, and we have arrived at the conclusion that the fight itself had no connection.” He added that none of the black students involved in the beating made “any mention of nooses, of trees, of the (N) word or any other word of racial hate.” According to CNN, federal official also examined the way the school handled the infractions and whether black students were being treated differently than white students. Washington told CNN that they discovered “it was not unusual for the school superintendent to reinstate students after the principal recommends expelling them.” Washington also told CNN that the 16-year-old defendant, Mychal Bell, has “several previous assault charges on his record.” The CNN story (U.S. Attorney: Nooses, Beating at Jen High Not Related) is online at http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/law/09/19/jena.six.link/index.html
In their statements to police, none of the black student accused of attacking Barker alleged that he taunted them with racial slurs. Those that admitted to taking part in the attack said they were angry because they had overheard Barker talking to other students about a fight at a private party that involved one of the Jena Six. As Washington pointed out, now racial slurs were involved.
This got to be bigger than a Tree… A Tree! , this is priceless… We got a War going on and America is going crazy over a “Tree”, Once again at the risk of repeating myself, this Shit is priceless… You did say a “Tree”… “Jena Tree”
I agree that not every problem between Black and White individuals in America has something to do with racism. But I do believe that a lot of problems in America are about racism and the Jena 6 is one of them.
First of all, a tree can not be called a white tree for no reason. It’s not a coincidence; there must be a story behind that tree that involves racism and we know where the story comes from. It was only yesterday that Blacks could not set in front of a public transportation bus, only yesterday that blacks could eat in the White’s restaurants or even sit under White’s TREE. This is where the Jena tree story began and it is sad that today those ugly histories are on our kids’ mind which means that we taught them the difference between a regular tree and a so called white tree. Thanks America!
The second question is about the nooses. What hanging nooses had to do in a public high school? Kids do not play with nooses, they play with video games. If anybody has a problem with a Black person and he or she hangs a noose somewhere in order for the Black to see it and feel threaten, that is not a child play. That is straight up a racist act learned from the KKK. Nice trick by the way!
Now who is going to tell me that the Jena 6 is not about racism because I can keep going with the unfair charges and everything?
No one cares about the tree, not even the poor mother fucker who had to sit alone jail and the last motherfucking person to be let free; gives a shit about a tree. No one believes this is not a racist act; this is some racist shit. However, with Jena 6 cooling off, this motherfucking Jean 6 alone kids fucks up and end up back in jail. Now thats a motherfucking bitch for you, and your marcher’s… that’s the end of you tree…
We got more serious issues to deal with other than a racist tree. I don’t give a shit bout a motherfucking tree. I would like to hear more about our education system, the unemployment concerns, or the motherfucking weather… fuckit!!! lets talk bout medical institutional practices, why everyday people can’t afford medical insurance. Any motherfucking topic but jena mother 6 and its motherfucking tree //signed// michael jackson is it black or white