By now, many of you have heard that the first of the Jena 6 defendants to be tried has his conviction overturned.
Mychal Bell, 17, should not have been tried as an adult, the state 3rd Circuit Court of Appeal said in tossing his conviction on aggravated battery, for which he was to have been sentenced Thursday.
From that same article, it appears that the rally will still be held:
Civil rights leaders, including the Revs. Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton, had been planning a rally in support of the teens for the day Bell was to have been sentenced.
“Although there will not be a court hearing, we still intend to have a major rally for the Jena Six and now hopefully Mychal Bell will join us,” Sharpton said in an e-mailed statement.
Said Jackson: “The pressure must continue until all six boys are set free and sent to school, not to jail.”
If you were planning to attend the rally with the locals, please make sure that you contact them.
h/t Howling Latina
Technorati Tags: Jena 6
VIVIAN J. PAIGE | All Politics is Local 
saw an article on cnn this a.m. this is dispicable in this day and age.
this country is losing the gains made over the years on inclusion. where are the adults on this?
or are there any?
The main thing I got out of the CNN.com piece I saw last week (or so) was that it totally missed an important part of the story (and one that I only got by following a link from this blog – VJP, rock on in educating me more fully than the news!). They didn’t even mention the part about the black student being attacked at a party before the white student was at school.
Regardless – at least there is a little light being shed on the darkness of LA (I lived there for a while – there’s a lot to love there, and a bunch that needs alot of help). Even Bill Maher has been bringing it up on his show. Just wish the whole story was getting out.
I’m not a huge fan of Sharpton or Jackson, but they are spot on with this one, I think.
I think the media and “the powers that be” needs to be held responsible for perpetuating these typtes of injustice! #1 We need to dictate to the media what we deem as inportant to us, what we consider news to our community at large. O. J., Britney, and Paris Hilton and not global news, they are entertainment. The irresponsible acts of the media helps to faciliate these types of injustice. I am extremely disappointed in CNN, ACB, CBS, & MSNBC. I did not expect much from fox news, but the way the Duke Lacross player’s was displayed in the media almost 24/7 and the attention that the Jena 6 has gotten is a true testament to the inequality that the media helps to perpetuate. Every local news station needs to run weekly or bi weekly segments attributed to the civil and social injustices that occur. A hotline number, email, and mailing address needs to be conveyed to the public to report these types of situations. It needs to be manditory that these reports be investigated and corresponded to affiliates world wide.
#2. We need to begin to reprimand these judges and prosecutors. Have them dis barred and removed from the bench for promoting such injustice. Their pentions needs to be comphiscated and allocated to those lives who they set out to destroy. We need to make aware to anyway, that this type of injustice regardless of your position will not be tolerated!!!
Any presidential canidates en route to Jena on Thursday? Or maybe the new Attorney General designate?
For those African Americans that think we are overreacting…if not now—when? If it was your son would you want the support of the rally.
Oh that’s right, little junior is studying at Duke and we got rid of that irresponsible prosecutor
I don’t care what color any of them are. When six individuals beat another to within inches of his life, they should be incarcerated for a long time.
They didn’t beat him within an inch of his life, he went to a part a couple hours later smart guy. Donald your one stupid b******.
Events in sequence
1) White student takes a gun to black students and gets gun taken form his hand. Police do not arrest white kid.
2)Black student asks for permission to sit somewhere, which is beyond a doubt a sign of being afraid of a racist lingering element in his community and school
3) three nuces are hung at the same place the black student sat.
4) Black student is beaten in a hate crime by multiple whites.
5) White kid who called black kids n****s and participated in the beating of the black kid gets what he deserved, a beating.
And in the end the black kids get a life in prison charge, not to mention a quick one liner from the DA telling them there lives could be over with a single stroke of a pen? How can you call it a hate crime for those black kids to beat up a person who called them niggers and beat down a single black kid based on his race with his friends, not to mention pulled a gun on them cus there black! Oh that and hanging nuces to threaten blacks. What are you bi-polar or something? That’s like if someone came up to me and called me Osama, and I lump him up, they tell me I was the one being “intolerant” oh and that kind shit has happened to me.
Free the Jena 6, this is a clear as crystal case of total and absolute bigotry against people of color. If you don’t see oppression here than it’s only because you’ve turned a blind eye to reality.
politicalassasin@hotmail.com-get at me
OK, I know some of you guys are new here. Please keep it clean.
Get informed Donald Lucas before you make rash decisions like sending people to prison for a long time. Put your child in these guys place. How would you like your child being called a cracker, redneck, or some other vulgar exchange just because the color of his skin. Or may be if he (your son) was jewish and he was constantly reminded about so many of his family members being killed in the holocaust. People are so close minded and you forget about these same things can happen to your child, reverse discriminsation. This guy was not beat within inches of his life. He went to a ring ceremony hours after the so called brutal beating. I also think that when people write checks that their behinds can’t cash they beg for trouble and outcomes such as this. People like yourself can justify flying a flag that offends Americans (African-Americans), hanging nooses, beating others (a black child was beat nights prior to this incident, one of those accused of being involved in this fight) and using the N word when it feels good to you, that’s exactly why America have the issues we have today.
First. Mr. Political,go back to 6th. grade and learn correct english and spelling.
You’re exactly one of the reasons this country will always have racists. You create hate based on color affiliation when it’s not the same as yours. You weren’t there and you have only the liberal drive by media to cloud the events of what really happened. Let the courts decide what to do based on the facts of the events as collected by trained law enforcement personnel. If we listened to the likes of you every black in prison, and there’s quite a few, would be out continuing to escalate violence and murder.
I wish we all (black,white,red,yellow, etc.) could hold hands and sing cum bye yah my lord. But racists like you want an all black world. It ain’t gonna happen.
Why do political undertones have to creep into everybody’s posts. I see it all the time when the issue is believed to be “racist”. What I can’t stand is when we get posts, that say, Jim Crow this, “the black man this”, etc, etc. Ever here about crying wolf one to many times. The problem in doing that, when the wolf really comes, nobody is listening. I’m a conservative, and this is what happens. We here things like. Bush hates black people, or the government caused the levies to overflow. Crying wolf, like this, causes rational minded conservatives to stop listening. Instead tell me the facts of what has happened and I believe my I am fair minded enough to make the correct decision. And trying to get through all the “black people get treated like this all the time and don’t deserve …. “, I can look at this and say, hmmm, something doesn’t look equal and fair here. But continue with the “black man …” crap, then I’ll stop listening.
what a double standard i think the charges should be upgraded as a hate crime because if 6 white kids beat up 1 black kid sharpton and jackson would demand it
Being from the south and growing up in a town where there is still an abundant amount of racial tension in the year 2007, I certainly hate that this has happened to our black community. As I heard about the story and the outrageous charges that were handed down, I started to shake. I say to everyone reading this, put yourself in the shoes of one of these young men. If not the young men, maybe the parents or siblings of the “Jena 6”. If you are not of color, turn the situation around and see your son or even yourself in this place. You can’t begin to comment on situations when you don’t know about the consequences of being a different race in a “equal” nation
I’m so tired of the whole racial issue. When will it end? As long as we have the likes of events in Louisiana happening, and black activists as Jackson sensationalizing them, it will never happen. In the eyes of the law, we should all be seen as equals, whether it is black students beating a “white guy” or white students beating a “black guy”. Unfortunately, we are products of our environments, and as long as we, as adults, teach our children to hate, it will continue. The “activists” in our country, whether they are white or black, just love to hear themselves speak, and we need to tune them out and just do what’s right. Instead they insight riots and more hate!
Thousands of outsiders are going to converge on Jena tomorrow, and I don’t like to say it, but people are so charged, I hope there’s no trouble. Unfortunately, my bet is there will be. Please prove me wrong.
I also hope there is no trouble. The only reason my friends and I are bringing our guns is for self defense.
Jesse:
That’s what worries me. There should be NO GUNS there! Period. It only takes one person overreacting, and there will be lost lives and more devastated families. Please leave the guns at home in a locked safe where they belong, if you have to have them.