Real Talk: The Jena 6

Enough of the females, let’s do the knowledge for a second. If you haven’t heard about the plight of the Jena 6, then you need to forget about Mike Vick for a second and learn something.

Props to WhileSeated.org for the pic.

***UPDATE***Click this link to see the full story on the Jena 6.

With all the attention #7 has been getting, this is a story that deserves way more media coverage than Mr. Vick. It goes like this (compiled from media reports and accounts):

Jena, Louisiana. Population around 2,000. Very divided racially. 85% white.

At the high school, a black kid asked the principal if he could sit under a tree typically “reserved” for whites during lunch. The principal said that he could sit wherever he wanted. The next day when the kids arrived at school, 3 nooses had been hung from the tree. After finding out who the perpetrators were, the head master of the school asked that they be expelled. However, his decision was overruled and the students (who were white) were suspended for 3 days, which eventually turned into in-school suspension. His reasoning? “Adolescents play pranks. I don’t think it was a threat against anybody.” What a joke. Thank God Nat Turner wasn’t around to hear that explanation.

In the days preceding the incident (detailed below), several racially motivated events occurred throughout Jena, mostly involving fights between black and white students and townspeople. In one case, a white student pulled a shotgun on 3 black students during an altercation.

The real heart of the case starts here.

Six black students at Jena High School in Central Louisiana were arrested last December after a school fight in which a white student was beaten and suffered a concussion and multiple bruises. The six black students were charged with attempted murder and conspiracy. They face up to 100 years in prison without parole.

Attempted murder? Conspiracy? For a schoolyard fight? And get this…the assaulted student suffered no life-threatening injuries. In fact, he was discharged from the hospital for a concussion and swollen eye and able to return to school THE SAME DAY to attend a ring ceremony. That counts for attempted murder?

It’s not hard to see what’s going on here. If this had been a fight between all black students, I doubt that these types of charges, if any, would have been filed. In a town with a history of racism, this is very unsettling. There are also accounts that when US Attorney Donald Washington addressed the students following the incidents, he told them that he could affect their lives with the stroke of a pen. THIS IS 2007 FOLKS, NOT 1963!!!

So far, one kid, Mychal Bell has gone to trial. On the day of his trial, the DA reduced the charge to conspiracy to commit aggravated second-degree battery. To be convicted of this charge, you must have used a “deadly weapon.” What was the deadly weapon you might ask? HIS TENNIS SHOES. And yes, he was convicted and is facing 22 years in prison. You see where I’m going with this?

His case is under appeal b/c: 1) his public defender did not call any witnesses during his trial (ineffective assistance of counsel); and 2) all black jurors were excluded during voir dire. We all know that a jury must be a fair, impartial cross-section of the community. And to exclude a juror, the side must have a race-neutral reason for each discharged juror. I doubt we find that.

So let’s forget about the millionaire black quarterback who will find out his fate on Monday. Let’s try to help these 6 black kids in Louisiana who did engage in some wrongdoing, but not at the level for which they have been charged. There is no reason why kids involved in a schoolyard brawl are charged with attempted murder when the injured party walked away with bruises. So here’s what you can do.

Sign this petition. Read this open letter from Jemele Hill on espn.com. Talk about this issue in your homes, barbershops, schools, work. Get the word out about what’s going on and that this isn’t a game. Also, educate our young black men (and women) about what’s going on out here. The justice system absolutely works differently for us. We know this. So let’s try to stay out of situations where opportunistic prosecutors would love to lock us up. How can a people that are 13% of the population be 40% of the jail population?? That makes no sense!!!

Like I said before, both Vick and the Jena 6 are not without fault. They committed these “crimes.” My whole point is that we shouldn’t give these people any opportunity to throw the book at us. And if they do, take the book and read it. Learn from our mistakes so we don’t repeat them in the future. We are an angry people. But instead of taking that anger and wanting to fight or rail against the system for how it treats us, lets stay out of situations like this. Go to school. Get your education. And please stay out of these streets. I know the fast money looks good, but think about your families- your kids, your parents, your spouses. Who’s going to take care of them if you are dead or in jail? Wouldn’t you like to know how it feels to sleep at night without someone (police or rivals) plotting on your life?

Get @ me.

lik dot