We All Live in Jena
National Call to Action
Monday, October 1st, 2007 at Noon, Central Time.
Artist/ Activist Mos Def along with M1, Talib Kweli, Common, the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement, Sankofa Community Empowerment, Change the Game, the National Hip Hop Political Convention, and student leaders from 50 campuses call for a National Student Walk-Out to rally and show support for the Jena 6, who are being denied their human rights by the Louisiana criminal justice system.
Demands
Judge J.P. Mauffray and District Attorney Reed Walters have engaged in a string of egregious actions, the most recent of which was the denial of bail for Bell on Friday. We call for:
1. All charges against the Jena 6 be dropped
2. The immediate release of Mychal Bell
3. The United States Department of Justice to convene an immediate inquiry into the circumstances surrounding the arrests and prosecutions of the Jena 6;
4. Judge Mauffray to be recused from presiding over Bell 's juvenile court hearings or other proceedings;
5. The Louisiana Office of Disciplinary Counsel to investigate Reed Walters for unethical and possibly illegal conduct;
6. The Louisiana Judiciary Commission investigate Judge Mauffray for unethical conduct; and
7. The Jena School District superintendent to be removed from office.
Join the Movement!
Wednesday, September 26, 2007
Monday, September 17, 2007
A Collective Letter for the 20th of September
We, concerned Black students of the University of Texas at Austin, join the National Day of Protest to Free the Jena 6. The Jena 6 are six young Black men who have fallen victim to the unjust and racist American criminal justice system. Today, September 20, 2007, we come together with hundreds of thousands of Black and non-Black citizens across the country to support our brothers’ quest for justice.
The case of the Jena 6 begins in September of 2006. White students at Jena High School hung three nooses from a tree traditionally reserved for white students. While the white students were initially expelled, the board of education overruled the decision, playing it down as an “adolescent prank.” They were eventually given two-days of in-school suspension. Black students staged an impromptu demonstration under the tree. Days later at a school assembly, District Attorney Reed Walters responded that he could “end your lives with the stroke of a pen.” Shortly thereafter, a group of white students jumped a Black student, Robert Bailey, at a local party. The following day, an argument ensued outside of a local convenient store where a white student pulled a shotgun on some Black students. The Black students wrestled the gun away. Bailey, among them, was later charged with theft of a firearm, second-degree robbery, and disturbing the peace.
The events culminated on December 4th when Black students jumped a white student for bragging about having beaten up Bailey. The white student checked into a local hospital and was released a few hours later to attend a school event. Six Black students -- Mychal Bell, Carwin Jones, Theodore Shaw, Robert Bailey, and Bryant Pervis – the Jena 6, were arrested and charged with attempted murder and conspiracy to commit murder.
Mychal Bell, 16, the only one to have had a trial, was tried as an adult and convicted of attempted murder by an all-white jury. Bell faced a miximum 22 years in prison. This past Friday, the conviction was dismissed. The District Attorney must decide whether or not he wants to re-try Bell as a juvenile. The other 5 await trial.
But we are not deceived. The recent overturning of Mychal Bell’s conviction is little more than an attempt to pacify and mislead those outraged by this egregious miscarriage of justice. While Bell will no longer be charged as an adult, he still faces a possible re-trial in juvenile court. It would be both erroneous and naïve for us to believe that justice has been served. Justice would be the complete dismissal of all charges; justice would be the freeing of the Jena 6; justice would be reparations not only for the Jena 6, whose lives have been interrupted, but also to their families and the Black community of Jena who have been traumatized by this ordeal. Justice is not a re-trial in a court system that has proven itself unjust.
While the specifics of the Jena 6 case are startling, they are not altogether surprising. Similar to Hurricane Katrina, not unlike the New York Police Department’s murder of Sean Bell, this case exposes a wider set of issues still prevalent in today’s society, namely the persistence of deep-rooted structural racism perpetuated by the myth of a color-blind society.
But it is both inspiring and encouraging to see that, despite a lack of mainstream media attention, people all over the country have mobilized in support of the Jena 6. We understand that neither a court decision nor a protest alone will prevent these atrocities from occurring in the future. This can only be done through the radical transformation of American society. However, we find it imperative to come together in order to build a foundation from which these aims may be met. We, as concerned Black students, stand firm in our pursuit of justice.
The case of the Jena 6 begins in September of 2006. White students at Jena High School hung three nooses from a tree traditionally reserved for white students. While the white students were initially expelled, the board of education overruled the decision, playing it down as an “adolescent prank.” They were eventually given two-days of in-school suspension. Black students staged an impromptu demonstration under the tree. Days later at a school assembly, District Attorney Reed Walters responded that he could “end your lives with the stroke of a pen.” Shortly thereafter, a group of white students jumped a Black student, Robert Bailey, at a local party. The following day, an argument ensued outside of a local convenient store where a white student pulled a shotgun on some Black students. The Black students wrestled the gun away. Bailey, among them, was later charged with theft of a firearm, second-degree robbery, and disturbing the peace.
The events culminated on December 4th when Black students jumped a white student for bragging about having beaten up Bailey. The white student checked into a local hospital and was released a few hours later to attend a school event. Six Black students -- Mychal Bell, Carwin Jones, Theodore Shaw, Robert Bailey, and Bryant Pervis – the Jena 6, were arrested and charged with attempted murder and conspiracy to commit murder.
Mychal Bell, 16, the only one to have had a trial, was tried as an adult and convicted of attempted murder by an all-white jury. Bell faced a miximum 22 years in prison. This past Friday, the conviction was dismissed. The District Attorney must decide whether or not he wants to re-try Bell as a juvenile. The other 5 await trial.
But we are not deceived. The recent overturning of Mychal Bell’s conviction is little more than an attempt to pacify and mislead those outraged by this egregious miscarriage of justice. While Bell will no longer be charged as an adult, he still faces a possible re-trial in juvenile court. It would be both erroneous and naïve for us to believe that justice has been served. Justice would be the complete dismissal of all charges; justice would be the freeing of the Jena 6; justice would be reparations not only for the Jena 6, whose lives have been interrupted, but also to their families and the Black community of Jena who have been traumatized by this ordeal. Justice is not a re-trial in a court system that has proven itself unjust.
While the specifics of the Jena 6 case are startling, they are not altogether surprising. Similar to Hurricane Katrina, not unlike the New York Police Department’s murder of Sean Bell, this case exposes a wider set of issues still prevalent in today’s society, namely the persistence of deep-rooted structural racism perpetuated by the myth of a color-blind society.
But it is both inspiring and encouraging to see that, despite a lack of mainstream media attention, people all over the country have mobilized in support of the Jena 6. We understand that neither a court decision nor a protest alone will prevent these atrocities from occurring in the future. This can only be done through the radical transformation of American society. However, we find it imperative to come together in order to build a foundation from which these aims may be met. We, as concerned Black students, stand firm in our pursuit of justice.
Friday, September 14, 2007
We Sick
A few weeks ago, in an interview with Amy Goodman, Curtis Muhammad said, “You know, people like me get accused of being a conspiracy theorist or something. But this is stuff people can see!” He was talking about Katrina, the government-sponsored attempt to exterminate the Black population of New Orleans, Louisiana.
I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately – Curtis’ statement, Katrina, and the larger climate of Black genocide, not only in this country, but anywhere White supremacy has rooted itself, i.e., the entire world. Perhaps even more than these things, I’ve been thinking about Black complacency, the complete and utter self-distancing from, even denial of (!!!), such events. And by “self-distancing” I mean self-deluding.
What will it take for us to realize that this place ain’t for us? What will it take for us to comprehend that this place is killing us? A few years back, this brother told me he wished they’d bring lynching back so that Black people would wake up, so that we’d see that a middle class nigger is still a nigger. Many of us swore Katrina was our generation’s lynching. We were wrong.
And there’s been so much lately, too. The Jena 6 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YuoiZnr4jLY&mode=related&search=). The sister in West Virginia who was kidnapped and raped by 6 red-necks, including a mother and her daughter as well as a mother and her son, most of whom have some sort of criminal record. Despite using racial slurs while committing their atrocities, the 6 will not be charged with hate crimes.
(http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/12/us/12captive.html?_r=1&ref=us&oref=slogin). Then the subtler, yet continual injustices: barred access to decent public education; rising incarceration rates of both Black men and women despite decreasing crime; the connection between (mis)education and incarceration, the criminalization of Black youth; lack of employment; gentrification, or the forced displacement of poor citizens; denial to health care; the list goes on…and on.
Some people take this is a reason to keep fighting, continuing the struggle for “justice and equality.” But I ask: how can an unjust system produce justice? Ameirca has never been just, nor does it have the potential to be. Just look at the roots of its political philosophy. Asking America to be just is like asking a pig to be clean. And beyond that, why do we strive to be equal to Americans, that is, white folks? Don’t we have any sense of history? To be equal would be to be equally murderous, torturous, dastardly. Is this what we want?
Using the standards of a society that hates you to dictate your aspirations and ideals, then constantly turning towards said hateful society for approval breeds self-hatred. When we hate ourselves, we allow things like Katrina or Jena or West Virginia to happen, then call them “isolated incidents,” or worse, say they have nothing to do with race. When we hate ourselves, we abdicate our dignity out of infantile self-interest. And when we hate ourselves, we never allow ourselves to admit, no matter how much writing there is on the walls, that our master doesn’t love us.
What’s the matter boss? We sick?
Indeed. We real sick.
Holler at me if you wanna get well.
-Amari
I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately – Curtis’ statement, Katrina, and the larger climate of Black genocide, not only in this country, but anywhere White supremacy has rooted itself, i.e., the entire world. Perhaps even more than these things, I’ve been thinking about Black complacency, the complete and utter self-distancing from, even denial of (!!!), such events. And by “self-distancing” I mean self-deluding.
What will it take for us to realize that this place ain’t for us? What will it take for us to comprehend that this place is killing us? A few years back, this brother told me he wished they’d bring lynching back so that Black people would wake up, so that we’d see that a middle class nigger is still a nigger. Many of us swore Katrina was our generation’s lynching. We were wrong.
And there’s been so much lately, too. The Jena 6 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YuoiZnr4jLY&mode=related&search=). The sister in West Virginia who was kidnapped and raped by 6 red-necks, including a mother and her daughter as well as a mother and her son, most of whom have some sort of criminal record. Despite using racial slurs while committing their atrocities, the 6 will not be charged with hate crimes.
(http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/12/us/12captive.html?_r=1&ref=us&oref=slogin). Then the subtler, yet continual injustices: barred access to decent public education; rising incarceration rates of both Black men and women despite decreasing crime; the connection between (mis)education and incarceration, the criminalization of Black youth; lack of employment; gentrification, or the forced displacement of poor citizens; denial to health care; the list goes on…and on.
Some people take this is a reason to keep fighting, continuing the struggle for “justice and equality.” But I ask: how can an unjust system produce justice? Ameirca has never been just, nor does it have the potential to be. Just look at the roots of its political philosophy. Asking America to be just is like asking a pig to be clean. And beyond that, why do we strive to be equal to Americans, that is, white folks? Don’t we have any sense of history? To be equal would be to be equally murderous, torturous, dastardly. Is this what we want?
Using the standards of a society that hates you to dictate your aspirations and ideals, then constantly turning towards said hateful society for approval breeds self-hatred. When we hate ourselves, we allow things like Katrina or Jena or West Virginia to happen, then call them “isolated incidents,” or worse, say they have nothing to do with race. When we hate ourselves, we abdicate our dignity out of infantile self-interest. And when we hate ourselves, we never allow ourselves to admit, no matter how much writing there is on the walls, that our master doesn’t love us.
What’s the matter boss? We sick?
Indeed. We real sick.
Holler at me if you wanna get well.
-Amari
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