It is however, ironic that as LEAP is protested in Baton Rouge, the US Supreme Court in D. C., has begun its attempt to dismantle Brown v. Board of Education. Before Brown, their had been no "law" or legal standing against seperate facilities enforced. That, coupled with Plessy v. Ferguson's undoing, by the billy clubs and klan killings from immediately before "Bloody Sunday" to Memphis 1968; the "moral depravity of overt racism was buried, but not dead." And so, the lunch counters and the retail establishments opened up; housing and voting and, 1970's consent decrees; and private schools and "white flight", and the breeding ground for a covert festering suspicious racism. A morally corrupt "stealth racism" based in the South and propagated by The American Judicial Process.
This process, nationwide emanates from 400 Royal Street in New Orleans, Louisiana, where the Louisiana Supreme Court sits. The place[400 Royal] where Louis A. Martinet & a select New Orlean's group planned the Plessy rail car protest, evolving into a suit, that went to the US Supreme Court; is [Louisiana Supreme Court]practicing judicial voodoo.-hlr
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[reader comment thetowntalk.com]
Race! I don't care whether this is about race or not, this has gone to far and the punishment is way too harsh. These are children, YES, they need to learn to treat each other better but not by sending them to jail for the next 20 years or longer. I'm white, my son is white, he was jumped by 4 white boys, they broke his jaw, plus some other injuries. The justice? Those children didn't end up in prision, they paid all the hospital bills. I just don't undertsand sending these children to jail where their lives will be forever ruined by this. My heart and prayers and with all those involved!
Posted by: Dawn on Sat Jun 30, 2007 6:12 am
thetowntalk.com comment forum on "Jena Six"
Crowd of 30 in Jena says conviction was a ‘miscarriage of justice’
By Abbey Brown
abrown@thetowntalk.com
(318) 487-6387
JENA -- The mood Friday morning on the lawn of the LaSalle Parish Courthouse was far from somber as a group of close to 30 shouted "No justice, no peace."
Less than 24 hours after the conviction of Mychal Bell, the first of the "Jena Six" to face trial, supporters of the six black students said they aren't giving up
"You have to confront injustice," said the Rev. Raymond Brown, with the National Action Network. "This was a total and complete miscarriage of justice."
Throughout the rally, speakers gestured toward the courthouse using such words as "distressing," "unethical" and "battle." This was the same courthouse where an all-white jury convicted Bell, 17, of crimes that could put him in jail until he is almost 40.
District Attorney Reed Walters initially charged Bell and the others with attempted second-degree murder and conspiracy to commit that crime in connection with a Dec. 4 attack at Jena High School on white student Justin Barker that left him unconscious. Only Bell's charges were reduced, and that happened without explanation Monday.
The attack and subsequent arrests of the teens have made headlines from Chicago to China and have been held up as the culmination of racial unrest in Jena.
"I've seen a lot of trials in my time," said Alan Bean, with the Texas-based Friends of Justice. "... And I have never seen a more distressing miscarriage of justice than what happened in LaSalle Parish yesterday."
Local supporters stressed they aren't done trying to get the charges dropped against all of the students and get Bell's conviction overturned.
"We're going to do whatever it takes from this day forward to fight... not just for these six," said Catrina Wallace, secretary of the LaSalle Parish chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. "There's six more coming after this. And six more coming after that. They keep coming."
She said race doesn't matter -- black or white, "everybody knows right from wrong" and needs to stick together.
Caseptla Bailey, mother of Robert Bailey Jr., sent a plea out to national organizations and agencies such as the NAACP, U.S. and Louisiana Attorney General's offices, Gov. Kathleen Blanco and President George W. Bush to right the wrong that she said was done in allowing an all-white jury to convict Bell.
"We're not surprised, but we're highly upset about the outcome of the trial on yesterday," she said.
Included on the list of demands Bailey read during the rally were: that all of the charges be dropped against the students; that the six students receive their credits back from the school; that nothing from the incident be included in juvenile crime records; that an investigation be made into the nooses found hanging at the school in September; and that an investigation be made of Walters and alleged unethical behavior.
Herbert McCoy pleaded with those present to help raise the money to bail out his cousin, Theo Shaw, who is still jailed in lieu of $90,000 bond. He also was scheduled to face trial last week, but his case was continued without a date set.
McCoy said he and those with the Jena Six Defense Committee have raised about $49,000 in property so far for the bond.
"We want this child out of jail today," he said in his plea. "We want him out of there now."
While speaking to the gathered crowd, McCoy became emotional, raising his fist toward the courthouse.
"Reed Walters, the battle is on," he shouted. "... My brothers and sisters in Jena, you better get out of your houses. You better come out and defend your children ... because they are incarcerating them by the thousands. Jena's not the beginning, but Jena has crossed the line."
Khadijah Rashad of Lafayette described what happened to Bell on Thursday as a "modern-day lynching."
"We've got to fight force with force," Rashad said.
The Rev. Brown said the families of the Jena Six need to continue to stay strong.
"I'm afraid after the outcome of this trial that some of the defendants are planning on agreeing to a plea bargain," he said. "That would harm the struggle. They would leave themselves open to great harm with appeals and post-conviction relief."
Brown is hopeful the next case will be handled differently.
"What happened was a slap in the face to the civil rights movement," he said. "It proves that racism and jury fixing is alive and well in the Southern states, especially Louisiana."
But many in the community were quick to point out that although it was an all-white jury, there were minorities that were called to serve but weren't in court that day.
Because the database that creates the jury pool doesn't have a record of race, the number of each race called for jury duty isn't known.
"It was a fair trial," Harold Stevens said. "I think if you done the crime, you should be paying for it. I think the others involved should be punished too."
Stevens, who has lived in Jena his entire 87 years, said the incident at the high school and subsequent attention garnered is the "worst thing to happen in Jena in a long time."
"There's been a real good relationship between the blacks and whites for many, many years," he said. "I think it is still going to be that way once things get back to normal."
But that's what McCoy is afraid of. He said normal for the Jena justice system is to convict on "trumped-up charges."
"Justice is not right when you put on the wrong charges and then convict," he said. "... I believe in justice. I believe in the point of the law. I believe in accepting of the punishment. If I'm guilty, convict me and punish me, but if I'm innocent, no justice."
"No peace!" the crowd shouted.
