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OneBrickOneVoice
27th September 2007, 02:02
Free the Jena 6! Free Mychal Bell!
Join the Protest at the U.S. Justice Department

Tuesday, October 2 at 5:00 pm
9th St. and Pennsylvania Ave. NW
Washington DC


Click to download the flyer

On Sept. 20, tens of thousands of people marched in Jena, La. to demand immediate freedom for Mychal Bell and the Jena 6. The case of the Jena 6 has garnered international attention, and shone a spotlight on the racist nature of this country's criminal "injustice" system.

Although the message of the Sept. 20 protest was broadcast far and wide, just one day later, a Louisiana judge delivered another outrage. Mychal Bell, 17, was denied bail while awaiting an appeal of his recently overturned adult conviction.

Bell and the other five young men that make up the "Jena 6" were charged with crimes ranging from assault to attempted murder. Bell, the first convicted, recently had his case overturned by a court ruling that he had been improperly tried as an adult. His hopes of freedom, however, have been dashed yet again. It will only be the mobilization of the people that will win justice for Mychal Bell and the Jena 6.

It is time to turn up the heat. The Sept. 20 protest in Jena has to be replicated over and over across the country until the Six are free. The ANSWER Coalition is joining with the hundreds of other groups calling for the freedom of the Jena 6 and Mychal Bell. We are demanding that all the charges be dropped!

On Tuesday, Oct. 2nd, people from all over the Washington DC community and northeastern region will stage an important demonstration in front of the Justice Department. The civil rights of Mychal Bell and all of the Jena 6 have been grossly violated. Mychal Bell's continued imprisonment is a flagrant miscarriage of justice.

"All those in the Washington DC area who believe in justice should be in front of the Justice Department on Oct. 2nd at 5pm. Injustice of this magnitude cannot be tolerated. Join with the ANSWER Coalition and other community organizations to Free Mychal Bell and end the persecution of all of the Jena 6."
-- Eugene Puryear, Howard University student and ANSWER organizer

Volunteers and activists are needed from throughout the northeast to organize for this demonstration. Email us at [email protected] or call 202-544-3389 to find out how you can get involved.

Everyone should help spread the word by forwarding this email widely and by clicking here to print out flyers.

For more information on the case of the Jena 6, and to make a contribution to their legal defense, go to http://www.freethejena6.org/.

http://www.answercoalition.org/

Comrade Rage
27th September 2007, 02:13
Any local actions?

blackstone
27th September 2007, 14:29
We All Live in Jena
National Call to Action

Monday, October 1st, 2007 at Noon, Central Time.

Artist/ Activist Mos Def along with M1, Talib Kweli, Malcolm X Grassroots Movement, Sankofa Community Empowerment, Change the Game, National Hip Hop Political Convention, Hip Hop Association, and student leaders from 50 campuses call for a National Student Walk-Out to rally and show support for the Jena 6, who are being denied their human rights by the Louisiana criminal justice system.

The Case of the Jena 6

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. 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, 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 the Black people began to organize and his conviction was thrown out because he was tried as an adult. However the DA and the Judge still refuse to set a reasonable bail or to drop the charges in this case and Mychal is still in jail!!

Mos Def is asking students worldwide to assist in the fight against racial injustice and show solidarity for these young people, who have been treated unequally by the law. The prosecution of these young men symbolizes a terrible miscarriage of justice, by punishing students who opposed segregation in their schools and disregarding the threatening acts of others who advocate it.

As students and activists we say enough is enough! What is happening in Jena is happening all over this country. From Sean Bell to Mychal Bell, the criminal justice system is killing and incarcerating us. We will not be silent!

Demands
Judge J.P. Mauffray and District Attorney Reed Walters have engaged in a string of egregious actions, the most recent of which was the denial of bail for Bell on Friday. We call for:

1. All charges against the Jena 6 be dropped

2. The immediate release of Mychal Bell

3. The United States Department of Justice to convene an immediate inquiry into the circumstances surrounding the arrests and prosecutions of the Jena 6;

4. Judge Mauffray to be recused from presiding over Bell 's juvenile court hearings or other proceedings;

5. The Louisiana Office of Disciplinary Counsel to investigate Reed Walters for unethical and possibly illegal conduct;

6. The Louisiana Judiciary Commission investigate Judge Mauffray for unethical conduct; and

7. The Jena School District superintendent to be removed from office.

Other endorsers include: Common, Immortal Technique, NyOil, Cynthia McKinney

For more info contact [email protected]
To add your school to the list [email protected] or [email protected]

OneBrickOneVoice
29th September 2007, 03:34
Watch this video to the end. It's titled "Until the Jena 6 are Free, Neither are We"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3gJqZs0B6Xk