Concerned Blogosphere Launches Virtual March In Support Of Jena 6

For Immediate Release

 Concerned Blogosphere Launches Virtual March In Support Of Jena 6

Contact: Daz Wilson theultravioletunderground@gmail.com or Yobachi Boswell 615-478-5204.

Afrospher Jena 6 Coalition – Worldwide Web — September 17, 2007
The Blogosphere recently took matters into their own hands when they saw the lack of coverage for the Jena 6 case in mainstream media. A day of blogging was coordinated with the intent of magnifying the voices of ‘the people’, while also requesting that the mainstream media share the story of miscarriage of justice that has taken place in the Jena 6 case, with their mass audiences. A press release was issued to notify the media, and on Thursday August 30, 2007 the Day of Blogging for Justice (http://www.pr.com/press-release/50358) took place. On the very same day of the event, MSNBC stepped up and aired a 5 minute segment on the Jena 6 case. They also continued to cover the story online.

The Blogosphere is again coordinating another show of support and concern with an online Virtual March which will act as an unofficial companion and alternative to the Michael Baisden and Al Shaprton lead March in Jena Louisiana on September 20, 2007, for those who cannot make it to the physical March and also for those who wish to double and triple their efforts.

Interested bloggers, webmasters, and social networking profile owners are asked to take a picture of themselves holding a sign that reads ‘Free the Jena 6′ and other messages. As an added measure, if possible, Virtual Marchers are asked to wear black as Marchers will be doing on September 20th. The digital photos can then be posted to visible sidebar areas on their blogs, sites, profiles and anywhere else they feel it will send a constant message that ‘the people’ are standing against racism in the justice system and elsewhere. Virtual Marchers are asked to keep displaying the pictures on their profiles until true justice has been served for all of the Jena 6, as a show of solidarity.

Those who don’t have digital cameras can check with their local office supply stores. Most office supply stores will scan a photo and save it to a disk that can hold the file needed to upload to the internet. After that, Image hosting services like Imageshack.us can  store the photos and generate a code Virtual Marchers can use on their profiles. If there are no office supply stores in the area, other Virtual Marchers who have access to scanners will likely accept photos through the mail, scan them, then email them back.

‘The hope is that the Virtual March in addition to other acts of solidarity will stand as a message that ‘the people’ are aware of the evils these young men have encountered, and are also aware that theirs is not truly an isolated incident. This March is therefore symbolic of our refusal as aware individuals to allow these evils to befall people of color, or people targeted for any reason of systematic prejudice. Many have shed blood and stood strong against tyranny, and it is up to us to honor those sacrifices,’ Advises Daz, a coordinator of the Virtual March. Go Here for some blogs that may participate in the campaign: http://www.blackperspective.net/index.php/jena-6-page/day-of-blogging-for-justice/

More information can obtained by typing ‘Virtual March’ in search at: www.ultravioletunderground.com , and also by visiting www.blackperspective.com

– Recommended *-*

We Will Free the Jena 6!

ColorOfChange.org

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Contact: Mervyn Marcano, 510-903-1809

Friday, September 14, 2007

Black activist group ColorOfChange.org praises court decision vacating “Jena 6” conviction

Group will continue to press for all charges to be dropped

ColorOfChange.org applauded Louisiana’s 3rd circuit court of appeals’ decision to throw out the conviction of Mychal Bell, one of six black teenagers known as the “Jena 6.” “Today’s court decision vacating Mychal Bell’s conviction is a huge step towards justice in this case,” said James Rucker, executive director of ColorOfChange.org. “We will continue to press for all charges to be dropped on all of the young men who have become known as the Jena 6.”

More than 200,000 people have signed ColorOfChange.org’s online petition calling on District Attorney Reed Walters to drop the charges against the Jena 6, and have called on Governor Kathleen Blanco to intervene in the case. Thousands of ColorOfChange members are planning to attend a rally in Jena on September 20th. Also that day, ColorOfChange members across the country are participating in a national day of action, using the group’s website to organize small gatherings, distribute flyers about the case, and make phone calls to put pressure on Governor Blanco to intervene.

Afrosphere Bloggers Ask Media To Cover Jena Six Story

The Afrosphere Jena 6 Coalition “ask that the mainstream traditional media step forward and discharge their duty to provide coverage of this vitally important event to their viewers and readers and act as “the fourth institution” of governmental “checks and balance” that constitutional framers intended the press to be.” To further this effort the Afrosphere Jena 6 Coalition will embark on a ‘Day of Blogging for Justice’ on Thursday August 30th.

Jena, LA, August 29, 2007 –(PR.com)– There is growing concern surrounding the Jena Six case in Jena Louisiana. Yet, inexplicably, the national media, most particularly on television, has been abysmally silent on an occurrence of grave social, political and legal importance.

The ‘common folk’ media of the blogosphere, has stepped up to the plate in the absence of adequate traditional media coverage. Bloggers have taken to hanging banners to blog side-bars and placing them in blog entries at an increasing rate; displaying the words ‘Free the Jena 6′ accompanied by the evocative symbolism of a noose hanging from a tree. On these blogs strategies that can assist in bringing awareness to these young targets of racist psychological abuse are finding willing participants in discussion, and action; but they need the media’s help.

This issue, like Katrina, highlights how some people receive deference in treatment over others. “The Jim Crow style racism and government negligence, reflected in the Jena 6 case, are both quite worrisome. Unfortunately, the case is another incident that points to the entrenched racial and socio-economic disparities in the South, which this country has yet to fully confront,” says political scientist Dr. Sekou Franklin of Middle Tennessee State University. As the Congressional Black Caucus has noted “…we must speak out against injustice and inequality. This tale of two standards depicts a pattern of gross violations.”

The Afrosphere Jena 6 Coalition “ask that the mainstream traditional media step forward and discharge their duty to provide coverage of this vitally important event to their viewers and readers and act as “the fourth institution” of governmental “checks and balance” that constitutional framers intended the press to be.”

In furtherance of this effort the Afrosphere Jena 6 Coalition will embark on a ‘Day of Blogging for Justice’ on Thursday August 30, where dozens of the coalition’s members (and all else who wish to join with them) will write entries in their blogs on behalf of these six young men who are victims of racially motivated civil rights abuses. A list of bloggers who’ve signed on to participate can be seen here:

Along with blogger support, a united front of more than 300 concerned community members gathered at the steps of the courthouse in Jena on July 31, 2007, in a show of support for the African-American youth civil rights victims who were imprisoned after reacting to the provocation of Caucasian students who received only a school suspension of 3 days for hanging nooses from a ‘whites only’ tree in the schoolyard that all students share.

In addition to online and in-person support, those who could not travel to join others at the steps of the courthouse have added their signatures and comments, some 45,000, to petitions generated by individuals globe-wide who are appalled enough to take action.

A coalition of civic groups has formed www.freethejena6.org as a standing central location, providing solutions for those who are seeking information with intent to take action.

Afrosphere Jena 6 Coalition Advisory Group:
Wayne Hicks electronicvillage.blogspot.com
D. Yobachi Boswell www.BlackPerspective.net
Francis Holland afrospear.jconserv.net/
Daz Wilson http://purplezoe.blogspot.com/

Primary Contact: D.Yobachi Boswell * 615-478-5204 * lionrunner777@yahoo.com

What About Our Daughters is Outraged Over Horrific Rape

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Austin, TX - August, 5 2007- Fresh off a battle with Black Entertainment Television, Gina McCauley isn’t slowing down on her blog, What About Our Daughters? McCauley is outraged over Al Sharpton’s planned ” Day of Outrage” scheduled for August 7, 2007, also sponsored by the BloggingWhileBrown Blog. Her next targets are Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson, the NAACP and other African American elites who have been noticeably silent about what may be one of the most horrific crimes committed against a Black woman in recent history, she’s talking about the June 18th gang rape of a 35-year- old woman that took place in Dunbar Village, a housing project in West Palm Beach, Florida.

The woman was raped repeatedly for over three hours by at least ten African American youths, while they brutally beat her son. Eventually the woman and son were forced to lie naked together in their bathtub and the woman was forced under gunpoint to perform oral sex on her 12-year-old son before the attackers poured cleaning solution on them, burning the mother’s skin and blinding her son. Not a single neighbor called the police and the woman and her son were forced to walk alone to a hospital. Only three of the alleged attackers have been arrested and residents of Dunbar Village aren’t talking to police.

McCauley is angry about a lack of public outrage from many of the people who were so swift to inject themselves into the Duke rape case a little over a year ago.

” Jesse Jackson and Rainbow PUSH rushed to issue press releases announcing that they were going to give a college scholarship to the Duke rape accuser .” McCauley said, referring to Jackson’s offer to the Duke rape accuser.

In an interview with the Associated Press on June 15, 2006 Jackson indicated that he was anxious to get in contact with the Duke rape accuser. “”I can’t wait … to talk with her and have prayer with her, because our organization is committed, when she’s physically and emotionally able … to provide for her the scholarship money to finish school so she will never … again have to stoop that low to survive,” Jackson said from Chicago in a telephone interview with The Associated Press at the time. Jackson has issued no such statements in the case of the Dunbar Village rape victim. His silence and the silence of others is damning to McCauley.

” Where is his press release offering a scholarship to this woman? Where is the announcement of how much Rainbow Push has donated to this poor woman and her child? Where is his offer to go down to Florida and have prayer with this woman?”

McCauley goes on to criticize the NAACP for holding a press conference of support for Michael Vick, but not doing the same for the West Palm Beach victim. ” I mean Michael Vick is a multimillionaire who is more than capable of defending himself, who is looking out for this poor Black woman in Florida trying to eek out a living selling Avon and delivering telephone books?”

When McCauley heard about Sharpton’s “Day of Outrage,” she decided to wade into controversy again by pointing out what she thinks is a moral inconsistency within the African American community.

” Here we have Sharpton initiating a self-promoting publicity blitz announcing a national day of outrage about rap lyrics which denigrate Black women, but I am not aware of a single e-mail from the National Action Network speaking out about this brutal attack, asking the residents of Dunbar Village to start cooperating with police, or encouraging people to help this woman and her child.”

McCauley hopes that by targeting Sharpton, Jackson and other African American leaders on her blog, she can produce some off line results. ” I notice that on his tour he plans a stop in Miami. That is not far from West Palm Beach. I wonder if he is going to pass the collection plate to contribute to this woman’s victim’s assistance fund?”

A victim’s assistance fund has been set up for the West Palm beach woman and her child through Saint Ann’s Church in West Palm Beach, FL. Checks can be made payable to the Dunbar Village Victim Assistance Fund-St. Ann. They can be dropped off at any Wachovia branch or mailed to: St. Ann Catholic Church, 310 N. Olive Ave., West Palm Beach, FL 33401. The church’s phone number is (561) 832-3757.

–

Sincerely,
Gina
What About Our Daughters
“Combating negative portrayals of African American women in popular culture.”
whataboutourdaughters.blogspot.com

Join us at Blogging While Brown in Atlanta in July 2008.
BloggingWhileBrown.Blogspot.com

Why Black Children are being sent from Schools to Jails

Why Black Children are being sent from Schools to Jails

Resubmitted by Eddie Griffin

Monday, July 30, 2007

The case of the Jena 6 black youth is hereby being resubmitted for your consideration, along with the following explanation of why certain children as harshly disciplined and prosecuted through our education system.

CONTACT INFORMATION

Office of the Governor
Attn: Governor Kathleen Babineaux Blanco
P.O. Box 94004
Baton Rouge, LA 70804-9004

866-366-1121
225-342-0991
225-342-7015
Fax: 225-342-7099

RE: Pardon Mychal Bell & Free the Jena 6

BACKGROUND OF CASE:
On July 31, 2007, there will be a national rally behalf of six Jena juvenile defenders from further prosecution by the state of Louisiana. It is a fact that, in public schools around the United States, black children are disciplined more than white children. The harshest form of punishment is doled out through criminal prosecution. We find black boys being disproportionately criminalized.

The town of Jena, Louisiana, its public school system, and law enforcement allowed white children to tease, threaten, intimidate, and assault black children with impunity. When black youth defend themselves by retaliating, the local dominant white population assailed them with Jim Crow law and discriminatory practices. They prosecuted the black youth, while letting their own pass with egregious wrongdoings, along race lines.

Monday, July 30, 2007

Dear Governor Kathleen Blanco:

Please stop the prosecution of the Jena 6. Drop all charges and pardon Mychal Bell.

This is a classic case of racial injustice much like the Scottsboro boys. Do realize that these are children, high school students, who were caught up in a race tense situation. The Jena High School administration is the blame for allowing a white prank to go unpunished. The Jena police have acted as protectorates of white wrongdoers. The Jena district attorney’s office leveled some of the heaviest criminal offenses against six young black boys. Reading the sequence of events, you cannot help but realize that the “alleged” crimes were nothing more than a schoolyard fight, common to most high schools. But every high school does not take racial sides when administering punishment, as in the case of Jena, Louisiana.

The reputation of this great state is at stake.

REMEMBER: One out of every three African-American males, who go through the nation’s public school systems end up going to jail and prisons. Why so?

The Jena 6 case takes a common school yard fight, which grew out of racial tension, and treats it as a serious criminal offense. The application of law is so arbitrary that it can be said: The white people in Jena make the law up as it goes along. In so doing, they suppress the minority black population in submission, albeit aided by the school system, prosecution office, and local judicial system.

There are hundreds of school disciplinary incidents prosecuted each year as criminal offenses against black youth. The result is a pattern of misdemeanors, leading to incarceration.

In Paris, Texas, a 14-year old teenager shoves a teacher’s aide while trying to enter a school building. They charged her with “aggravated assault upon a public servant”. The minor incident then became a major felony by local officials and school administrators arbitrarily applying the Texas Criminal Code.

The child was tried in a court of law by a judge, who applied adult standards equivalent to that of an assault of a prison inmate upon a guard. ShaQuanda Cotton was incarcerated in the Texas Youth Commission (TYC) lockup facilities, hundreds of miles from home and family.

If she was a “good girl”, she could go home in 9 months. If she received any prison infractions, her stay could be extended up to her 21st birthday. As a prerequisite to gaining her freedom, little Ms. Cotton must confess and show remorse for the crime of assaulting a “public servant”- a dubious and concocted offense. Otherwise, she would not be released. In fact, her nine-month stay was extended, because of a TYC disciplinary report for the offense of “possession of contraband”, to wit an extra pair of socks.

The Texas legislature was so appalled at the case of ShaQuanda Cotton that the teenager was immediately released. She and hundreds of other incarcerated teens were released immediately because their original sentences had been arbitrarily extended.

It seems ironic that, during the Texas legislature’s investigation into the children sexual abuse scandal by TYC prison officials, district attorneys around the state fought vigorously against the mass release of these youth. And, small rural Texas prison towns who, otherwise would not exist except for these lockup facilities, protested depopulating the youth prison system. To them, it would mean the loss of jobs- but, to us, it would be jobs that depended on the continued rate of incarceration of our children.

Texas Governor Rick Perry has seen fit to shut down two or three of these facilities as a result of trying to reform the Texas Youth Commission. And, many Texas counties are beginning to look at keeping their own youth offenders and working at finding an in-house solution to juvenile delinquencies, rather than send the kids off to these scandalized facilities.

But the statistics speak for themselves. More black youth are being sent to prison straight out of the school system- a practice condoned by the office of many district attorneys and courtroom benches.

The case of the Jena Six should never have been prosecuted as a criminal offense, but handled as a school disciplinary matter, in context of the overall tense racial climate. Only as last resort does a public school disciplinary action warrant being processed through the criminal justice system. It appears that teachers and administrators are using the punitive concept of “Zero Tolerance” to comport youth behavior and language to server forms of social control. It is a bully weapon against minority children and their parents.

The only way to correct the egregious injustice in Jena, Louisiana would be:

1. CEASE PROSECUTION OF ALL JENA SIX YOUTH
2. DROP ALL THE CHARGES
3. PARDON Mychal Bell
4. REFORM SCHOOL POLICIES ON DISCIPLINE

Free The Jena 6

ALERT! FREE THE JENA 6 Rally July 31, 2007

Report Submitted by Eddie G. Griffin

Friday, July 27, 2007

An all-white jury in the central Louisiana town of Jena swiftly convicted a black teenager Thursday for attacking a white student in an incident that capped months of racial unrest and attracted the scrutiny of civil rights leaders concerned about the application of justice in the town.

Jurors convicted Mychal Bell, 17, of aggravated second-degree battery… He allegedly jumped the victim as he emerged from the gymnasium at the local high school on Dec. 4, knocking him unconscious.

This case is important to all African-Americans who are suspicious of disparities in the administration of Justice. A young black man being convicted by an all-white southern jury is nothing new. In fact, the disparities in charging and convicting blacks are so one-side. This case merits shame of white justice upon African-American children, who get caught up in the southern criminal justice system.

The white students started the fight at Jena High School when they hung three nooses across a tree in front of the school. The black students had appealed to the school principal to allow them to sit under the tree. But the display of the three nooses anger the black students. The school administration played it off as a childish “prank”.

It proved to be no prank, as the situation escalated into racial violence over the next several months, culminating in the charging of six Jena black male students with aggravated assault… and, with a “deadly weapon”, to wit, “a pair of tennis shoes worn on the feet of Mychal Bell as he allegedly kicked and stomped a white student”… deadly weapon equal a pair of tennis shoes. How arbitrary can the law be? Is it arbitrary enough to satisfy a blood-thirst revenge of white authority against black youths retaliating for previous violent incidents instigated by white but wholly unpunished?

Mychal Bell, the first of the Jena 6 defendants, is scheduled to be sentenced on July 31, 2007.

PLEASE REVIEW the Michael David Murphy video, if you agree that this is a grievous miscarriage of justice, PLEASE SIGN THE PETITION to the US Justice Department Civil Rights Division. And give your support to FREE THE JENA SIX Campaign organized by Friends of Justice.

We need to ASK the Right People THE RIGHT QUESTIONS:

* Is there a current investigation of this shooting? If so, who is doing the investigating? Where is the Justice Department Civil Rights Division?

Here are the Telephone Numbers for Fulton County Board of Commissioners.

Telephone Numbers for Fulton County Board of Commissioners.

[Previous conversation: Gloria, Secretary to (African-American) Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard (404) 330-6100, said the District Attorney Howard had "just got the case," and she was unable to readily provide a statement about the status of the investigation.]

We must hold law enforcement officers accountable for the actions and culpable to excessive use of force and murder-in-the-name-of-the-law. We have enough proof to show that the State of Georgia has returned to the type of lawlessness and violence against minority like in the days of Dr. Martin Luther King.

Call: Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue: (404) 656-1776

The Sacred Rule Of Law in the South is as much a farce as Jim Crow, which is why African-Americans have always had to call upon the international community for Justice. The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, Article 37 provides:

States Parties shall ensure that:

(a) No child shall be subjected to torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. Neither capital punishment nor life imprisonment without possibility of release shall be imposed for offences committed by persons below eighteen years of age;

(b) No child shall be deprived of his or her liberty unlawfully or arbitrarily. The arrest, detention or imprisonment of a child shall be in conformity with the law and shall be used only as a measure of last resort and for the shortest appropriate period of time.