As part of the case against the Jena 6, it was alleged that the sneakers that the boys were wearing could be considered a “dangerous weapon,” because as we know, rubber soles have a long and wholly imagined history of causing severe head trauma. This was the reason why the charges brought included “aggravated battery.” On September 20, 2007, black people are going down to Jena to protest this sham of a judicial system. Now, we all can’t go, because everybody doesn’t have money like that. I, personally, do not have a job, so there’s no way I can make the trip. But I want to show support for the Jena 6. Yelling about it in my blog isn’t enough.
On the Michael Baisden show, he had a caller (Shanelle, I believe was her name) suggest a way to mock the judiciary down there: She suggested taking shoes down to the police department in Jena and turn them in as “dangerous weapons.”
I thought it was a brilliant way to show support for the Jena 6 as well as give a “f-you” to the police department, the district attorney, and basically the entire local government of Jena. So that’s what I’ve decided to do. I’m sending about four pairs of sneakers to the District Attorney’s P.O. Box with the following note enclosed: “Just wanted to help you get these ‘dangerous weapons’ off the street.
At the very least, I’ll mildly irritate this man. And it’s funny to me.
If you want to show support for the Jena 6, but don’t have the resources to get down there on the 20th, then send a pair of sneakers to the following address:
Mr. Reed Walters, District Attorney
28th Judicial District Attorney’s Office
P.O. Box 1940
Jena, La. 71342
Spread the word and if you know anyone else who might be interested, please pass along this information.
Thanks for reading and Support the Jena 6!
TM
2 comments:
Tony
Sadly you are missing the point. I also believe charging these young men with attempted murder is silly but the real point is they did commit a crime. Flip it around. Imagine if you will the uproar caused if six white students had beaten a black student because he called them "white trash","redneck","honkey", "cracker" of some other hateful moniker for a "white boy". Even the nooses in the tree doesn't excuse what is at the very least assault and battery. Do you think the race police would be down in Jenna screaming to let the white kids go?
The worst part is I've read where people are defending the beating by saying he was able to attend a school function later that evening. Just because the six were unable to perform their beating as well as some people would have liked doesn't lessen the crime. It's like saying an armed robber only got away with a few packs of smokes so he should be freed. Just because he's a bad robber doesn't change the crime.
I also have a few questions for the Jenna 6 defenders.
Should they be let off scott free?
Should they be charged with a hate crime?
Do any of them have rap sheets?
Is this a pattern of behavior for these young men?
Fair of unfair there are white people that hate black people no matter what they do, however; there are plenty of black people that hate white people no matter what they do. These young men should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law not held up as examples for the black community because they "beat down whitey"
No one's saying they didn't commit a crime. What we're saying is, the charges don't fit the crime. I don't think what they did to this boy can be considered attempted murder, or aggravated battery. They tried to say that their sneakers were "dangerous weapons." I mean, come on.
As far as the uproar is concerned, six white students DID beat up a black student, at an off campus party weeks before the Jena 6 did what they did. There were no arrests, and they hit this kid in the head with a bottle.
Now, how is that fair? All we're saying is, let the punishment be fair. If the white kids can get off, why can't the black kids? Furthermore, do you really think that this fight is worth 20 years of these kids' lives? I don't. There are rapists and murderers that have gotten less.
I'm not defending the fight. All I'm saying is, I understand. Because if I was in their position, I can't say I wouldn't have reacted the same way.
To answer your questions:
1. At this point, after everything that's happened, sure. They've already been serving time, at least as much time as someone would for a weekend bar fight.
2. No, they shouldn't be charged with a hate crime. The hostility has been brought to them, time and time again. If you look at the chain of events leading up this, this entire thing could have been avoided by punishing the wrongdoers, but they chose otherwise.
3. Mychal Bell has been arrested four times, I believe.
4. I believe Mychal Bell had been in fights previously.
But basically, everyone who believes that we're just making a stink over nothing is basically telling us that we, as black people, should just take any kind of treatment given to us. Look back on the chain of events. That's all I'm saying. It's a wonder that this didn't happen sooner. It would be nice if this could have been settled in a different way, but we don't live in the world where things like that happen. We are not all Martin Luther King. We can only take so much.
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