It turns out that in 2007, there are still American towns where a British reporter can come and discover, to our great shame, that
Billy Doughty, the local barber, has never cut black men's hair. 'They just don't come here,' he mumbled. 'Anyway, their hair is different and difficult to cut.'
The town - Jena, LA - is 12% black. Against this background, a black high school student's request to sit under 'The White Tree' 'naturally' led to three nooses hanging from that tree one morning. Then, mounting tensions (guess whose side the local authorities have taken throughout?) culminating in a brawl after which one white kid was hospitalized for a few hours, resulted in six black teenagers arrested and charged with second-degree attempted murder.
Don't believe it? Well, on July 3 the first of them - Mychal Bell - was already convicted by an all-white jury, in a kangaroo trial with a court-appointed lawyer. We must do something.
A list of things we can do is below the fold.
First, educate yourselves, for example by reading this diary entry and searching online. There is precious little information and attention, though, compared with headline-grabbing political news.
Then, sign the online petition.
A Southern organization called Friends of Justice is trying to help the Six out, both by raising awareness and by looking for pro-bono lawyers.
Their site has a paypal-supported online donation system.
Meanwhile, the Six's families and friends have also set up a direct legal defense fund. They are accessible by email, jena6defense@gmail.com . Or you can mail a check to
Jena 6 Defense Committee
PO Box 2798
Jena, LA 71342
If you know of, or can arrange, help in legal defense, please let both of these groups know about it.
And of course, write about this and bother your friends. It is a shame that such a thing can happen under our noses.
I see this as a test case.
If all these millions of web-hero progressives cannot even make a difference on the Jena Six - then forgive me for saying this, but we are not worth much.
UPDATE 1: Link to the Democracy Now story on the Jena Six.