Post by ocelot on Sept 20, 2007 10:01:51 GMT -5
Protesters pack Louisiana town to rally for accused black teens
Last Updated: Thursday, September 20, 2007 | 10:09 AM ET
CBC News
Thousands of demonstrators gathered Thursday in a small Louisiana town to condemn what they contend is a racially motivated prosecution of six African-American teenagers charged with attempted murder following a schoolyard fight.
The 2006 incident in the mostly white town of Jena has garnered international attention and again placed the contentious issue of race at the forefront of America's political landscape.
The protest — initially set to coincide with the sentencing of one of the defendants, Mychal Bell — has drawn busloads of supporters from across the United States, from college students to veterans of the civil rights movement. Organizers said they hoped to draw more than 40,000 people to support the teens, who have become known as the "Jena Six."
Surrounded by two of the six teens and their relatives, U.S. civil rights leader Rev. Al Sharpton told the crowd the protest was the beginning of the 21st century's civil rights movement, one that would challenge disparities in the justice system.
"In the 20th century, we had to fight for where we sit on the bus; now we've got to fight on how we sit in the courtroom," Sharpton said to rapturous shouts of approval from the vocal crowd.
Rev. Jesse Jackson and Martin Luther King III are scheduled to address the rally.
The six were arrested after Justin Barker, 17, a white student, was beaten unconscious on Dec. 4, 2006, after nooses were hung from a tree on the grounds of Jena High School. Barker was knocked unconscious, his face badly swollen and bloodied, though he was able to attend a school function later that night.
The teens were charged a few months after the local prosecutor declined to charge three white high school students who hung the nooses. Five were initially charged with attempted murder; the sixth was charged as a juvenile.
Bell was found guilty on second-degree battery charges June 28 by a six-member, all-white jury. Before the case was overturned by the state 3rd Circuit Court of Appeal, his sentencing had been set for Thursday.
The court said Bell, who was 16 at the time of the alleged beating, shouldn't have been tried as an adult.
Case 'never has been about race': D.A.
District Attorney Reed Walters, breaking a long public silence, denied Wednesday that racism was involved.
He said he didn't prosecute the students accused of hanging the nooses because he could find no Louisiana law under which they could be charged.
"I cannot overemphasize what a villainous act that was. The people that did it should be ashamed of what they unleashed on this town," Walters said.
In the beating case, he said, four of the defendants were of adult age under Louisiana law and the only juvenile charged as an adult, Bell, had a prior criminal record.
"This case has been portrayed by the news media as being about race," he said. "And the fact that it takes place in a small southern town lends itself to that portrayal. But it is not and never has been about race. It is about finding justice for an innocent victim and holding people accountable for their actions."
On Wednesday, British rock musician David Bowie donated $10,000 to the teens' legal defence fund, the NAACP said.
Meanwhile, Jackson appeared to backtrack Wednesday on being quoted earlier in the week as saying Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama was "acting like he's white" for not speaking out more forcefully about the case.
Jackson, who has run several times for the Democratic presidential nomination and endorsed Obama in the current race, said in a statement that he was "taken out of context."
Last Updated: Thursday, September 20, 2007 | 10:09 AM ET
CBC News
Thousands of demonstrators gathered Thursday in a small Louisiana town to condemn what they contend is a racially motivated prosecution of six African-American teenagers charged with attempted murder following a schoolyard fight.
The 2006 incident in the mostly white town of Jena has garnered international attention and again placed the contentious issue of race at the forefront of America's political landscape.
The protest — initially set to coincide with the sentencing of one of the defendants, Mychal Bell — has drawn busloads of supporters from across the United States, from college students to veterans of the civil rights movement. Organizers said they hoped to draw more than 40,000 people to support the teens, who have become known as the "Jena Six."
Surrounded by two of the six teens and their relatives, U.S. civil rights leader Rev. Al Sharpton told the crowd the protest was the beginning of the 21st century's civil rights movement, one that would challenge disparities in the justice system.
"In the 20th century, we had to fight for where we sit on the bus; now we've got to fight on how we sit in the courtroom," Sharpton said to rapturous shouts of approval from the vocal crowd.
Rev. Jesse Jackson and Martin Luther King III are scheduled to address the rally.
The six were arrested after Justin Barker, 17, a white student, was beaten unconscious on Dec. 4, 2006, after nooses were hung from a tree on the grounds of Jena High School. Barker was knocked unconscious, his face badly swollen and bloodied, though he was able to attend a school function later that night.
The teens were charged a few months after the local prosecutor declined to charge three white high school students who hung the nooses. Five were initially charged with attempted murder; the sixth was charged as a juvenile.
Bell was found guilty on second-degree battery charges June 28 by a six-member, all-white jury. Before the case was overturned by the state 3rd Circuit Court of Appeal, his sentencing had been set for Thursday.
The court said Bell, who was 16 at the time of the alleged beating, shouldn't have been tried as an adult.
Case 'never has been about race': D.A.
District Attorney Reed Walters, breaking a long public silence, denied Wednesday that racism was involved.
He said he didn't prosecute the students accused of hanging the nooses because he could find no Louisiana law under which they could be charged.
"I cannot overemphasize what a villainous act that was. The people that did it should be ashamed of what they unleashed on this town," Walters said.
In the beating case, he said, four of the defendants were of adult age under Louisiana law and the only juvenile charged as an adult, Bell, had a prior criminal record.
"This case has been portrayed by the news media as being about race," he said. "And the fact that it takes place in a small southern town lends itself to that portrayal. But it is not and never has been about race. It is about finding justice for an innocent victim and holding people accountable for their actions."
On Wednesday, British rock musician David Bowie donated $10,000 to the teens' legal defence fund, the NAACP said.
Meanwhile, Jackson appeared to backtrack Wednesday on being quoted earlier in the week as saying Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama was "acting like he's white" for not speaking out more forcefully about the case.
Jackson, who has run several times for the Democratic presidential nomination and endorsed Obama in the current race, said in a statement that he was "taken out of context."