Lynching in the 21st Century

First there was the story of Genarlow Wilson, the 17 year old young Black man that got 10 years in jail for having consensual oral sex with a 15 year old. At least in that case there was a faulty law that the powers that be could blame for the Draconian sentence laid down on Wilson (never mind the question of whether the law would still of "had to" have been applied if the case were between a white boy and Black girl). Now we have the case of the "Jena 6," the case of 6 Black boys that admittedly beat up a white classmate in a schoolyard fight. The white child suffered a concussion, but was at a school function later that day, hanging out with friends, while the Black kids were arrested and charged with 2nd Degree murder and conspiracy and now face up to 100 years in prison. The first of the Jena 6 to go to trial, Mychal Bell, was convicted of aggravated assault and conspiracy and could be sentenced up to 22 years in prison; for a schoolyard fight.

The fight came after a long series of events that began when a Black student asked to sit under a tree on the High School campus that only white students traditionally sat under. The next day, 3 nooses were hung on branches of that tree. The perpetrators were suspended for 3 days(!) causing the Black students to respond with a protest.
The students all sat under "the tree" one day. The next day the Principal called an assembly that included the town's District Attorney, who reportedly said that he could end any of their lives with a stroke of his pen (clearly intending the statement for the Black students in the assembly). This was followed by a Black student getting jumped at a party by white students (and being told that he should stay on his side of town by the police), and the same Black student having a gun pulled on him (and being charged with stealing the gun when he wrestled it away). Then came a fight that produced a white victim, followed by murder charges.

While ridiculous sentences for Black convictions are nothing new, and far from relegated to the rural South, this is such a blatant lynching of these young men, at a time when there's no Justice Department to speak of with the current administration, that something on the grassroots level must be done for this evil to be undone. Watch the whole report from yesterday's Democracy Now! (it's long, but try and find the time), sign the petition to Louisiana's Governor and Jena's District Attorney, and if you can help spread the word, or know of someone that can help with legal assistance you can contact the Jena 6 at:

Jena 6 Defense Committee
PO BOX 2798
Jena, LA 71342