Mos Def and other Artists, Students and Activists Call for a Student Walk out on Monday October 1st To Support the Jena 6
Artist/Activist Mos Def, Idris Elba, Common, M1, Talib Kweli, MC Lyte, Pharoahe Monch, the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement, Sankofa Community Empowerment, Change the Game, the National Hip Hop Political Convention, The Hip-Hop Association, Color of Change and student leaders from over 100 campuses call for a National Student Walk-Out on Monday October 1 at 12 noon central time to support the Jena 6, who are being denied their human rights by the Louisiana criminal justice system.
Good to see people working together for a cause, too bad their isn’t more cohesion in the black community.
September 26, 2007 New York - Black and Latino/a artists, activists and students across the country are organizing a national day of support for six Black high school students known as the “Jena 6.” Over 100 schools have joined in the call to walk out of classrooms at 12 noon, Central Standard Time on Monday October 1 and rally either on campus or at other designated areas to demand the immediate release of Mychal Bell from jail.
Mos Def, who spearheaded the campaign, said “This is the time for Black people to support the Jena 6, and call attention to the unequal treatment the criminal Justice system is dishing out not only in Jena Louisiana but across this nation”we all live in Jena.”
The Jena case began last fall, when two Black high school students sat under the “white” tree on their campus. White students responded by hanging nooses from the tree, conjuring up images of lynching and racial terrorism endured by Black people across the country. When Black students protested the light punishment for the students who hung the nooses, District Attorney Reed Walters came to the school and told the students he could “take [their] lives away with a stroke of [his] pen.”
Racial tension continued to mount in Jena, and the District Attorney did nothing in response to several egregious cases of violence and threats against black students. But when a white student–who had been a vocal supporter of the student’s who hung the nooses, taunted a black student and called several black students “nigger”–sustained minor injuries from a school fight, six black students were charged with second-degree attempted murder. Last month, the first young man to be tried, Mychal Bell, was convicted. He faced up to 22 years in prison for a school fight until Black people began to organize and his conviction was thrown out by a court that rules he should not have been tried as an adult. However, the DA and the judge still refuse to drop the charges in this case and Bell, though released on $45,000 bail, is still subject to trial.
This case has become a symbol for the Black community of the disproportionate arrest and incarceration rate of Black people and the excessive punishment of Black students in schools across the country. Many local organizers say what is happening to the Jena 6 youth is similar to what happens in their cities.
Mos Def added, “Jena Louisiana is the same as “Jena” New York. From Mychal Bell to Sean Bell our communities continue to be targeted.”
The group has created a list of demands that will be read at noon during rallies around the country.
Demands
Judge J.P. Mauffray and District Attorney Reed Walters have engaged in a string of egregious actions. We call for:
1. All charges against the Jena 6 be dropped;
2. The United States Department of Justice to convene an immediate inquiry into the circumstances surrounding the arrests and prosecutions of the Jena 6;
3. Judge Mauffray to be recused from presiding over Bell’s juvenile court hearings or other proceedings;
4. The Louisiana Office of Disciplinary Counsel to investigate Reed Walters for unethical and possibly illegal conduct;
5. The Louisiana Judiciary Commission investigate Judge Mauffray for unethical conduct;
6. The Jena School District superintendent to be removed from office; and
7. That each local, state and federal criminal justice apparatus stop profiling the black community in general and specifically black youth for imprisonment and free labor.
For more information: www.mxgm.org and www.myspace.com/SankofaEmpowerment
To add your name and school to join this movement please contact:
Assata Richards at assata@pitt.edu or Shantrelle P. Lewis at SJPLewis@hotmail.com
15 Comments so far
That’s Hip-Hop, standing up for each other when in need. Take notes people! By the way top 5.
i thought he already got out?
oh I’m mean first & second!
good luck
“7. That each local, state and federal criminal justice apparatus stop profiling the black community in general and specifically black youth for imprisonment and free labor.”
WHITEY,TAKE NOTICE OF THIS ONE ^
I ONCE WENT TO A POLICE STATION TO ASK FOR DIRECTIONS AND THEY DAMN NEAR GAVE ME LIFE.
mos def the peoples champ!he dat dood
That’s a stupid request! The last thing black people need to do is interupt their education. You won’t be hurting anyone but yourself.
^ agree …stay in school. Let Mos Def boycott filming a movie.
#2 he did get out of adult jail but he is still not out of the dark. He will be tried in Juvenille court. Apparently is he is found guilty he will serve time until he turns 21. this poor kid. FUCK WHITE PEOPLE!!! They are so fucken two faced it is no joke!! They love to smile with black people all the time but when they gey around their kind they love calling us NI**ers No wonder they are the most hated race on this planet. Dr. Phil will have a follow up to his friday show tomorrow. Catch it Monday October 1st.
This is pure bullshit.He should have never served anytime to begin with for some school yard fight. The alleged gut who got beat, his parents were so worried about one more kick could hae taken his life.If that be the case then why was he seen at a party that night! What. Talking about this gets me angry.
I COSIGN LYNN1!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
damn you two up there #9 and 10 are ignorant racist fucks. you act like just cus some redneck town or whatever are treating these kids unfairly means every white man eveywhere is racist. you are fucking little bitch ass losers who wont ever get anywhere wit that shit. you classify all wite people by what some white people did, it doesnt apply to teh whole race. fucking racist cunts. ive been robbed and beat up by black street gangs many times (probably cus i’m white and they’re racist) but yet i still dont classify your whole race by those guys. what if I said “fuck black people” like you said about whites. racism works both ways. you trying to act like the white man is so bad when you yourself said that whites are the most hated race.
grow the fuck up or go fucking hang yourselves #9 and 10. fucking racist hypocrite bitches.
#11 suth da fuck white people are racists them mufuckas be comin down my block every nite checkin niggaz pockets for no reason and try to give grown ass niggaz a curfew lol these pigs be grabbin lil gurls for double dutchin out in da streets but white crackheads roam da block and they dont stop them im tired of white people tryin to be da victim yall mufuckas are dirty not all yall but alot of yall and its a damn shame yall need to get a life and stop fuckin wit us…
what, and alot of you blacks are not dirty? fuck that, the fuck did i just explain to you? listen! I just said how ive been beaten and shit by blacks and yet i dont judge. the jena 6 conviction is wrong and all that but alot of you go around robbing, beating and threatening whites. i dont even blame some people for being racists when all they experience is hate and violence coming from blacks. you just proved how dumb you are. its allright for blacks to hate whites but not for whites to hate blacks nowadays.
so a white guy with black friends who is not racist can be called racist, whitey or cracker by a random black guy and has to smile and accept it just cus he white. yet the same white dude cant get mad at the bad treatment and beatings he gets from black people. fuck this, like i said: racism has to work both ways, stop fucking acting like victims. i dont even know any white racist people who have a problem with blacks. but you bet your fucking monkey ass i know blacks who hate whites.
put it this way:
- a white guy beats up a black guy: he is immediately a racist (even if it was self defense) and his whole race gets hated on by black people
- a black guy beats up a white guy: the black community immediately assume he called him nigger or something and deserved it. (if a black guy called a white guy cracker see above point) the white victim presses charges and the whole world goes crazy
white people gotta do everything so carefully and tip toe around blacks cus they’re afraid to say something that might lead someone to use the race card.yet blacks can say whatever the fuck they want.
#13 i co sign that shit too. i dont care what people say, its that mentality that keeps blacks down. i think they should stay in school what is walking out of school gonna do except piss them off? racism is going to last forever as with any other form of negativity, whether its black against whites, hispanic against black, whatever the case may be, it aint going no where. this world has already come so far.
in regards to the Jena 6 though, this situation, was not handled correctly. those kids didnt deserve the treatment or charges they received. when i was a kid, a similar situation happened to me, just not as serious. for a while i hated white folks. but i grew up a nd learned more about the world through travel, education and experience. you dont have to point a finger at a whole group in order to bring positivty and justice to your community.
Its good that we black people can get together and fight for justice its just a shame not alot of rappers went down there are the rappers so scared of losing their white fans ? Props to everybody that went down their just a shame more black people no matter what they do couldn’t be bothered to fight the justice. I Heard Bun b drove all the way down from Texas