The blog Color of Change, which has been at the forefront of The Jena Six situation from the beginning, now has a petition up to Governor Blanco of Louisiana requesting that she intervene.
Dear Governor Blanco,
I am writing to request your intervention into a situation of great injustice taking place in Jena, LA, as well as a written response to this letter.
Last fall, when two Black high school students sat under the "white" tree on their campus, white students responded by hanging nooses from the tree. When Black students protested the light punishment for the students who hung the nooses, District Attorney Reed Walters came to the school and told the students he could "take [their] lives away with a stroke of [his] pen."
Racial tension continued to mount in Jena, and the District Attorney did nothing in response to several egregious cases of violence and threats against black students. But when a white student--who had been a vocal supporter of the students who hung the nooses--taunted a black student, allegedly called several black students "nigger", and was beaten up by black students, six black students were charged with second-degree attempted murder. Thankfully, Mychal Bell’s June conviction has been nullified but all 6 young men are still awaiting trial, and remain unable to return to Jena High School and get on with their lives.
I would like to believe that what is happening in Jena is not consistent with your values, or with what the State of Louisiana sees as justice. I have asked District Attorney Reed Walters to drop all charges against the six young men. You should act immediately to make clear your commitment to justice in this case, and announce that you will grant immediate reprieves to any of the young men who are convicted. And you must investigate the conduct of District Attorney Reed Walters, whose actions are a blatant and unacceptable abuse of power, to begin the process of healing in Jena and to make sure this never happens again.
Respectfully,
There is also a letter to the DA, Mr. " I can change your life with a stroke of a pen" Walters.
Please go here to find both of them as well as the petition.
FREE THE JENA SIX
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6 comments:
The white tree myth was debunked weeks ago.
Writing a letter with factual errors to a governor is ineffective. No biggie though, sorting through mail and throwing away the form letters is a minimum wage job.
I suggest Color of Change start getting its facts straight now before the Congressional hearings start.
I hope someone at Color of Change has started working on how to spin the news after Bell's ex-girlfriend and his grandmother testify.
That young lady, with her permanently disfigured eye, is going to make some heads snap once she gets before the TV cameras.
Anonymous,
How about you putting a name to your comments.
The ' White Tree Myth'.
Oh, and I guess you're going to say that the Nooses were a prank.
Yup. According to the Federal Attorney and the FBI, both of whom concluded their investigations in July and as reported in the MSM, the boys who hung the nooses had received no education linking nooses as a symbol of hate. They were in complete ignorance of any racist connotations.
Despite that, they were still given time at an alternative school followed by two weeks of in-school suspension.
Would you prefer NPR's retraction over the AP link I posted earlier?
That's ok. I'll wait for the Congresssional hearings. I'm sure Bell's exgirlfriend, with her permanently disfigured eye, will make a big impression.
Yup. According to the Federal Attorney and the FBI, both of whom concluded their investigations in July and as reported in the MSM, the boys who hung the nooses had received no education linking nooses as a symbol of hate. They were in complete ignorance of any racist connotations.
They grew up in THE SOUTH, and didn't comprehend the noose.
Oh, tell it to someone else.
They weren't 3, they were teens, and they damn well knew what the noose meant.
If there wasn't a 'White Tree', then what did they CUT DOWN?
The Justice Department investigated the noose-hanging incident and determined that it did not fall within federal guidelines for a hate crime. Following the Jena High School beating incident, the Justice Department reopened its investigation and found no link between the noose-hanging incident and the assault on Justin Barker or other confrontations between black and white students at Jena High School. Donald Washington, U.S. attorney for the Western District of Louisiana, 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 "We could not prove that, because the statements of the students themselves do not make any mention of nooses, of trees, of the 'N' word or any other word of racial hate." 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
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