Wednesday, August 29, 2007
More Jena 6, Less Michael Vick
If I told you that a 16 year old was charged as an adult for attempted murder after allegedly getting into a fight (along with 5 others) with another student, would you believe me?
What if the victim was knocked unconscious but was released for the hospital the same night? What if the alleged victim testified that he didn’t know who hit him first?
Well, this is precisely what happened in the Jena 6 case.
Notably, the victim is white and the members of the Jena 6 are Black.
Bloggers tend to be ahead of the curve. Changeseeker put me on to the Jena 6 petition a month or two ago. However, I wasn’t compelled to write about it ’til Gotty reminded me of how the case was being buried by Micheal Vick stories.
Jena, Louisiana is a town comprised of approximately 3000 residents, and approximately, 350 Black folks. Apparently last summer, some of the Black students asked to sit under the “white tree”. Here is the backstory:
On a late summer day in 2006, in Jena, Louisiana, a Black high school student asked permission to sit beneath the “white tree” in front of the town’s high school. It was unspoken law that this shady area was for whites only during school breaks. But a student asked, and the vice principal said nothing was stopping them. So Black students sat underneath the tree, challenging the established authority of segregation and racism. The next day, hanging from the tree, were three ropes, in school colors, each tied to make a noose.
Many folks, especially the Black parents felt that the Noose Incident should have been treated like a hate crime. The attack was brushed off as a “youthful stunt.” The three white students responsible, given only three days of in-school suspension. In response to the incident, several Black students, among them star players on the football team, staged a sit-in under the tree. The principal reacted by bringing in the white district attorney, Reed Walters, and 10 local police officers to an all-school assembly. Police officers roamed the halls of the school that week, and tensions simmered throughout the fall semester.
In November, as football season came to a close, the main school building was mysteriously burned to the ground. This traumatic event seemed to bring to the surface the boiling racial tensions in Jena.
This is the background that let up TO THE FIGHT that happend on December 6th. The following is a description of what happened prior the major Jena Six Event.
On a Friday night [Friday December 3rd,2006], Robert Bailey, a 17-year-old Black student and football player, was invited to a dance at a hall considered to be “white.” When he walked in, without warning he was punched in the face, knocked on the ground and attacked by a group of white youth. Only one of the white youth was arrested—he was ultimately given probation and asked to apologize.
The night after that, a 22-year-old white man, along with two friends, pulled a gun on Bailey and two of his friends at a local gas station. The Black youths wrestled the gun from him to prevent him from using it. They were arrested and charged with theft, and the white man went free.
The following Monday students returned to school. In the midst of a confrontation between a white student, Justin Barker, and a Black student, Robert Bailey—where Bailey was taunted for having been beaten up that weekend—a chaotic fray ensued. Barker was allegedly knocked down, punched, and kicked by a number of Black students. He was taken to the hospital for a few hours and was seen out socializing later that evening.
The six young people, including Mychal Bell were charged with attempted murder and conspiracy charges.
Many charge that DA’s handling of the case is evidence of a Jim Crow/1992/Emmit Till legal system at work.
Mychal Bell, 16, a former Jena High School football star, and five other black students had been facing the potential of up to 100 years in prison if convicted of attempted murder, conspiracy and other charges for the December beating of the white student, who was knocked unconscious but not hospitalized. The incident capped months of escalating racial tensions at the high school that began after several white youths hung nooses from a tree in the school courtyard in a taunt aimed at blacks.
There was conflicting testimony from witnesses about whether Bell was among a group of black students who allegedly jumped the victim.
There are a series of peculiarities around this case. The jury pool was entirely white, the defense rested without calling any witnesses, Bell’s parents were excluded from the courtroom Mychal has been in jail since December, unable to post $90,000 bail.
As of June 26th, the charges were reduced to aggravated second-degree battery and conspiracy to commit aggravated second-degree battery, which together carry a maximum of 22 years in prison. Aggravated battery involves the use of a dangerous weapon, but no evidence of a gun, knife or other weapon was introduced.
As of June 26 Bell has been convicted and his case is up or appeal.
A group of Monroe defense lawyers have taken on the appeal of Mychal Bell, one of six black high school students known as the Jena six, convicted last month of beating a white fellow student.
Louis Scott, Bob Noel, Peggy Sullivan and Lee Perkins have agreed to work on Bell’s post-conviction matters in a case and trial Scott described as fraught with errors.
“Almost always when you have an unfair result, somewhere down the line you had an unfair process,” Scott said.
The fact that the May 20th Tribune report garnered the case national attention speaks to the importance of journalists and the attention that they can bring to an issue.
What if the Tribune never wrote about the Jena Six?
Peace to Howard Witt and all his journlistic del.ish.es.ness.
My question now is, where is the New York Times? Nightline? Newsweek?
What can you do to help?
1. Sign the petition at colorofchange.
2. Use this as a teaching opportunity to educate people on the importance of voting in national and local elections. DA’s are elected NOT appointed. In this case, the DA was instrumental in charging Bell as an adult, and pursing an attempted murder charge against him.
3. Send a letter to the DA and the Governor. Peep the template at the www.colorofchange.org.
===========
===========
What would you do if Bell was your son/brother/nephew?
What do the major papers have to lose by reporting on this case?
Perhaps they won’t have to, as Oprah has taken up the Jena 6 case.
Source
What if the victim was knocked unconscious but was released for the hospital the same night? What if the alleged victim testified that he didn’t know who hit him first?
Well, this is precisely what happened in the Jena 6 case.
Notably, the victim is white and the members of the Jena 6 are Black.
Bloggers tend to be ahead of the curve. Changeseeker put me on to the Jena 6 petition a month or two ago. However, I wasn’t compelled to write about it ’til Gotty reminded me of how the case was being buried by Micheal Vick stories.
Jena, Louisiana is a town comprised of approximately 3000 residents, and approximately, 350 Black folks. Apparently last summer, some of the Black students asked to sit under the “white tree”. Here is the backstory:
On a late summer day in 2006, in Jena, Louisiana, a Black high school student asked permission to sit beneath the “white tree” in front of the town’s high school. It was unspoken law that this shady area was for whites only during school breaks. But a student asked, and the vice principal said nothing was stopping them. So Black students sat underneath the tree, challenging the established authority of segregation and racism. The next day, hanging from the tree, were three ropes, in school colors, each tied to make a noose.
Many folks, especially the Black parents felt that the Noose Incident should have been treated like a hate crime. The attack was brushed off as a “youthful stunt.” The three white students responsible, given only three days of in-school suspension. In response to the incident, several Black students, among them star players on the football team, staged a sit-in under the tree. The principal reacted by bringing in the white district attorney, Reed Walters, and 10 local police officers to an all-school assembly. Police officers roamed the halls of the school that week, and tensions simmered throughout the fall semester.
In November, as football season came to a close, the main school building was mysteriously burned to the ground. This traumatic event seemed to bring to the surface the boiling racial tensions in Jena.
This is the background that let up TO THE FIGHT that happend on December 6th. The following is a description of what happened prior the major Jena Six Event.
On a Friday night [Friday December 3rd,2006], Robert Bailey, a 17-year-old Black student and football player, was invited to a dance at a hall considered to be “white.” When he walked in, without warning he was punched in the face, knocked on the ground and attacked by a group of white youth. Only one of the white youth was arrested—he was ultimately given probation and asked to apologize.
The night after that, a 22-year-old white man, along with two friends, pulled a gun on Bailey and two of his friends at a local gas station. The Black youths wrestled the gun from him to prevent him from using it. They were arrested and charged with theft, and the white man went free.
The following Monday students returned to school. In the midst of a confrontation between a white student, Justin Barker, and a Black student, Robert Bailey—where Bailey was taunted for having been beaten up that weekend—a chaotic fray ensued. Barker was allegedly knocked down, punched, and kicked by a number of Black students. He was taken to the hospital for a few hours and was seen out socializing later that evening.
The six young people, including Mychal Bell were charged with attempted murder and conspiracy charges.
Many charge that DA’s handling of the case is evidence of a Jim Crow/1992/Emmit Till legal system at work.
Mychal Bell, 16, a former Jena High School football star, and five other black students had been facing the potential of up to 100 years in prison if convicted of attempted murder, conspiracy and other charges for the December beating of the white student, who was knocked unconscious but not hospitalized. The incident capped months of escalating racial tensions at the high school that began after several white youths hung nooses from a tree in the school courtyard in a taunt aimed at blacks.
There was conflicting testimony from witnesses about whether Bell was among a group of black students who allegedly jumped the victim.
There are a series of peculiarities around this case. The jury pool was entirely white, the defense rested without calling any witnesses, Bell’s parents were excluded from the courtroom Mychal has been in jail since December, unable to post $90,000 bail.
As of June 26th, the charges were reduced to aggravated second-degree battery and conspiracy to commit aggravated second-degree battery, which together carry a maximum of 22 years in prison. Aggravated battery involves the use of a dangerous weapon, but no evidence of a gun, knife or other weapon was introduced.
As of June 26 Bell has been convicted and his case is up or appeal.
A group of Monroe defense lawyers have taken on the appeal of Mychal Bell, one of six black high school students known as the Jena six, convicted last month of beating a white fellow student.
Louis Scott, Bob Noel, Peggy Sullivan and Lee Perkins have agreed to work on Bell’s post-conviction matters in a case and trial Scott described as fraught with errors.
“Almost always when you have an unfair result, somewhere down the line you had an unfair process,” Scott said.
The fact that the May 20th Tribune report garnered the case national attention speaks to the importance of journalists and the attention that they can bring to an issue.
What if the Tribune never wrote about the Jena Six?
Peace to Howard Witt and all his journlistic del.ish.es.ness.
My question now is, where is the New York Times? Nightline? Newsweek?
What can you do to help?
1. Sign the petition at colorofchange.
2. Use this as a teaching opportunity to educate people on the importance of voting in national and local elections. DA’s are elected NOT appointed. In this case, the DA was instrumental in charging Bell as an adult, and pursing an attempted murder charge against him.
3. Send a letter to the DA and the Governor. Peep the template at the www.colorofchange.org.
===========
===========
What would you do if Bell was your son/brother/nephew?
What do the major papers have to lose by reporting on this case?
Perhaps they won’t have to, as Oprah has taken up the Jena 6 case.
Source
Tuesday, August 28, 2007
Wednesday, August 08, 2007
Family seeks help finding daughter
Local radio stations have teamed up with Esserman Nissan in Miami to spread the word about a missing 22-year-old woman.
BY ROBBYN MITCHELL
rmitchell@MiamiHerald.com
Sylvia Henry prepared small mountains of curry chicken and roti to encourage someone to come forward with information about her missing daughter, Stepha.
Henry, along with her husband and younger daughter, spent Monday at Esserman Nissan in Miami talking to the media and residents, taking donations and serving food to radio listeners who were drawn by the family's pleas.
''The best thing is that this will increase the reward for information,'' she said. ``That will really help because somebody out there knows something.''
So far the family and community organizations have raised $11,000.
Stepha Henry, a 22-year-old Brooklyn resident and a graduate of New York's John Jay College of Criminal Justice, disappeared on May 29 after being seen at Peppers Cafe in Sunrise about 1 a.m.
During her annual Memorial Day visit to her aunt's home in Miami Gardens, she told her mother she was getting a ride from a friend's brother-in-law.
The 5-foot-2, 110-pound woman with auburn hair was picked up in a dark four-door Acura Integra that night.
That was the last time her family saw her.
Sylvia Henry left her Brooklyn home to try to find her daughter in early June and has been in South Florida since then trying to find ways to reach out to the community to aid in her search.
She did a radio interview on Cox Radio's WHQT-FM 105.1 and caught the attention of Chris Assmar, general manager of Esserman Nissan and a longtime advertiser with the radio station.
''After I heard the interview, I went and Googled Stepha and was disturbed about how little media coverage she had been given,'' Assmar said.
So he contacted the station and set up a fundraiser for reward money at the dealership, which also donated $5,000 to the Stepha Henry Fund. Esserman also vowed to donate $200 to the fund from every vehicle sold during the event.
But the main objective of the event was media coverage, to keep Stepha's name on the mind of the public.
''When Natalee Holloway went missing in Aruba, I felt like I knew her because her family was on TV every night talking about her it seemed,'' said Jerry Rushin, vice president and general manger of WEDR-FM and WHQT-FM, which co-sponsored the event. Both stations broadcast live at the dealership from 1 to 8 p.m.
''We're just trying to get that kind of exposure for Stepha,'' Rushin said. ``I've seen it a 1,000 times. Once you put the call out on the radio, the community will respond.''
''It's good to see so many different types of media in one place,'' said Steve Henry, Stepha's father. ``It should help us bring her home.''
Source
BY ROBBYN MITCHELL
rmitchell@MiamiHerald.com
Sylvia Henry prepared small mountains of curry chicken and roti to encourage someone to come forward with information about her missing daughter, Stepha.
Henry, along with her husband and younger daughter, spent Monday at Esserman Nissan in Miami talking to the media and residents, taking donations and serving food to radio listeners who were drawn by the family's pleas.
''The best thing is that this will increase the reward for information,'' she said. ``That will really help because somebody out there knows something.''
So far the family and community organizations have raised $11,000.
Stepha Henry, a 22-year-old Brooklyn resident and a graduate of New York's John Jay College of Criminal Justice, disappeared on May 29 after being seen at Peppers Cafe in Sunrise about 1 a.m.
During her annual Memorial Day visit to her aunt's home in Miami Gardens, she told her mother she was getting a ride from a friend's brother-in-law.
The 5-foot-2, 110-pound woman with auburn hair was picked up in a dark four-door Acura Integra that night.
That was the last time her family saw her.
Sylvia Henry left her Brooklyn home to try to find her daughter in early June and has been in South Florida since then trying to find ways to reach out to the community to aid in her search.
She did a radio interview on Cox Radio's WHQT-FM 105.1 and caught the attention of Chris Assmar, general manager of Esserman Nissan and a longtime advertiser with the radio station.
''After I heard the interview, I went and Googled Stepha and was disturbed about how little media coverage she had been given,'' Assmar said.
So he contacted the station and set up a fundraiser for reward money at the dealership, which also donated $5,000 to the Stepha Henry Fund. Esserman also vowed to donate $200 to the fund from every vehicle sold during the event.
But the main objective of the event was media coverage, to keep Stepha's name on the mind of the public.
''When Natalee Holloway went missing in Aruba, I felt like I knew her because her family was on TV every night talking about her it seemed,'' said Jerry Rushin, vice president and general manger of WEDR-FM and WHQT-FM, which co-sponsored the event. Both stations broadcast live at the dealership from 1 to 8 p.m.
''We're just trying to get that kind of exposure for Stepha,'' Rushin said. ``I've seen it a 1,000 times. Once you put the call out on the radio, the community will respond.''
''It's good to see so many different types of media in one place,'' said Steve Henry, Stepha's father. ``It should help us bring her home.''
Source
Tuesday, August 07, 2007
An Anxious Heart
In the message "Consistent Trust" we were encouraged to "trust in the
Lord with all your heart" (Proverbs 3:5). We saw how a consistent
trust ought to invade all areas of our life. We must be able to
trust God for our eternity as well as our daily walk. A good measure
of our trust (or lack of trust) is in our level of anxiety.
Being anxious, or having anxiety, is defined as being mentally
troubled with worry or concern. Unfortunately, we have all been
battling anxiety ever since Adam ate the forbidden fruit and tried in
vain to hide from God; "I heard You in the garden, and I was afraid"
(Genesis 3:10). The negative effects of anxiety were understood
three thousand years ago when King Solomon wrote his proverbs of
wisdom; "An anxious heart weighs a man down, but a kind word cheers
him up" (Proverbs 12:25).
Anxiety remained a necessary topic as Paul preached the Good News of
Jesus. Almost in the same breath that he instructs us to "Rejoice in
the Lord always!" (Philippians 4:4), Paul teaches on removing anxiety
from our life; "Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything,
by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to
God" (Philippians 4:6).
When we find ourselves being overly concerned or mentally troubled
about ANYTHING, we must go to God (with thanksgiving) and give our
burdens to Him. This doesn't mean we ignore our problems, but we
must learn to view the things of this world against the backdrop of
eternity. The concerns of this life always fade as we compare them
to the eternal glory of His Kingdom.
Matthew 6:25,34
"Therefore I tell you, do not worry {or be anxious} about your life,
what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear.
Is not life more important than food, and the body more important
than clothes? But seek first His Kingdom and His righteousness, and
all these things will be given to you as well."
When we feel weighed down, pressured, or stressed - when concerns are
coming in fast motion from all directions and we don't know where to
begin - we must stop and take a long, deep breath! We must refocus
on Jesus and His Word. We must be reminded of eternity in the
presence of a loving God and diligently seek His Kingdom; "make every
effort to enter that rest" (Hebrews 4:11).
As we draw closer to our Heavenly Father, our eyes become adjusted to
His light and we see He has already given all we really need. As we
love Him more, all fear is removed: "perfect love drives out fear" (1
John 4:18). And as we trust Him more and more, we will receive His
gift of peace and no longer live with the burdening weight of an
anxious heart.
Have a Christ Centered Day!
Steve Troxel
God's Daily Word Ministries
*****************************************************
Archive of previous devotions : http://www.gdwm.org/archive07.htm
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by invitation from friends. Please unsubscribe if these messages are
no longer desired. We absolutely do not support unsolicited E-mail.
Scripture references: The Holy Bible: New International Version.
Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society.
God's Daily Word Ministries
P.O. Box 190
Lorena, TX 76655
*****************************************************
Lord with all your heart" (Proverbs 3:5). We saw how a consistent
trust ought to invade all areas of our life. We must be able to
trust God for our eternity as well as our daily walk. A good measure
of our trust (or lack of trust) is in our level of anxiety.
Being anxious, or having anxiety, is defined as being mentally
troubled with worry or concern. Unfortunately, we have all been
battling anxiety ever since Adam ate the forbidden fruit and tried in
vain to hide from God; "I heard You in the garden, and I was afraid"
(Genesis 3:10). The negative effects of anxiety were understood
three thousand years ago when King Solomon wrote his proverbs of
wisdom; "An anxious heart weighs a man down, but a kind word cheers
him up" (Proverbs 12:25).
Anxiety remained a necessary topic as Paul preached the Good News of
Jesus. Almost in the same breath that he instructs us to "Rejoice in
the Lord always!" (Philippians 4:4), Paul teaches on removing anxiety
from our life; "Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything,
by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to
God" (Philippians 4:6).
When we find ourselves being overly concerned or mentally troubled
about ANYTHING, we must go to God (with thanksgiving) and give our
burdens to Him. This doesn't mean we ignore our problems, but we
must learn to view the things of this world against the backdrop of
eternity. The concerns of this life always fade as we compare them
to the eternal glory of His Kingdom.
Matthew 6:25,34
"Therefore I tell you, do not worry {or be anxious} about your life,
what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear.
Is not life more important than food, and the body more important
than clothes? But seek first His Kingdom and His righteousness, and
all these things will be given to you as well."
When we feel weighed down, pressured, or stressed - when concerns are
coming in fast motion from all directions and we don't know where to
begin - we must stop and take a long, deep breath! We must refocus
on Jesus and His Word. We must be reminded of eternity in the
presence of a loving God and diligently seek His Kingdom; "make every
effort to enter that rest" (Hebrews 4:11).
As we draw closer to our Heavenly Father, our eyes become adjusted to
His light and we see He has already given all we really need. As we
love Him more, all fear is removed: "perfect love drives out fear" (1
John 4:18). And as we trust Him more and more, we will receive His
gift of peace and no longer live with the burdening weight of an
anxious heart.
Have a Christ Centered Day!
Steve Troxel
God's Daily Word Ministries
*****************************************************
Archive of previous devotions : http://www.gdwm.org/archive07.htm
Subscribe/Unsubscribe by email to closerwalk@gdwm.org
Subscribe via web: http://www.gdwm.org/subscribe.htm
Feedback and Prayer: http://gdwmboard.org/6/ubb.x
Send Invitation: http://www.gdwm.org/invite.htm
Verses and Psalms: http://www.gdwm.org/verses
Spanish Devotions: http://www.gdwm.org/spanish
Mail from GDWM is only sent to those who subscribe (free of cost) or
by invitation from friends. Please unsubscribe if these messages are
no longer desired. We absolutely do not support unsolicited E-mail.
Scripture references: The Holy Bible: New International Version.
Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society.
God's Daily Word Ministries
P.O. Box 190
Lorena, TX 76655
*****************************************************
Friday, August 03, 2007
Edwards, Obama, Richardson and Clinton on Energy
Which of the major Democratic party candidates has the best energy platform? I thought I'd do a comparison based on what I could find on their websites and some interviews. The good news is that all four of Edwards, Obama, Richardson, and Clinton have either "Energy" or "Energy and Environment" as one of the top-level platform issues on their sites. The not-so-good news is the content of those platform proposals. Details below!
(Cross-posted from my blog at altenergyaction.org.)
To facilitate comparisons I broke down the candidates' energy plans into 14 significant policy areas, with an additional note on the detail level of the plans and a final "miscellaneous" category for special ideas found in each. Every one of the proposals has something that seems unique and useful, but not all will do as much to solve our energy and climate problems.
| Energy policy area | Edwards | Obama | Richardson | Clinton |
| Plan detail level | Medium | Low | High | Low |
| CO2 reduction goal | 15% by 2020, 80% by 2050 | 80% by 2050 | 20% by 2020, 80% by 2040, 90% by 2050 | No policy |
| Post-Kyoto | Yes: binding greenhouse reductions in trade agreements | After we take first step; help developing countries with our technology | Mandatory world-wide limits, help finance leapfrogging in developing countries | No policy |
| CAFE | 40 mpg by 2016 | 4% annual increase | 35 mpg by 2016, 50 by 2020 | No policy |
| Renewable electric standard | 25% by 2025 | No policy | 30% by 2020, 50% by 2040 | 20% by 2020 |
| Bio-fuels | Goal of 65 billion gallons/year by 2025 (corn ethanol first, then cellulosic) | National Low Carbon Fuel Standard: reduce fossil carbon in fuels by 5% in 2015, 10% in 2020; expand E85 and biodiesel | life-cycle low carbon fuel standard - 30% lower by 2020 | Part of Strategic Energy Fund |
| Carbon tax or cap and trade? | Cap and trade | Cap and trade | Cap and trade | Cap and trade |
| "Clean coal" | freeze on new coal power until sequestration in place | No freeze; use cap and trade market to decide | by 2020 new plants have to emit 90% below today's | Fund R&D on "clean coal" |
| Energy R&D | $13 billion/year New Energy Economy fund | No policy | Energy and Climate Investment Trust Fund - several billion dollars/year | Part of Strategic Energy Fund |
| Solar/wind production tax credit | make permanent | No policy | 10-year extension; add storage technology tax credit | No policy |
| Oil company subsidies | Repeal | No subsidies that increase global warming | Invite oil companies to become energy companies | Eliminate tax breaks, create new "Strategic energy fund" - oil companies can invest in renewable energy themselves, or pay into the fund |
| Distributed generation | $5000 tax credit, R&D, smart meters, smart grids | No policy | No policy | No policy |
| Public transportation | No policy | No policy | increase funding, tax incentives for passengers | No policy |
| Buildings | weatherizing and other efficiency | No policy | goal of 50% savings by 2030; incentives and regulations on retrofits and new buildings | No policy |
| Improving Efficiency | Goal-based; cut US govt energy use 20%, add R&D dollars | Market-based; don't prejudge what works | Strong federal standards; efficiency resource program through utilities | Market-based; invest in R&D |
| Other ideas | GreenCorps - volunteers adding renewable/efficient infrastructure | domestic auto makers get health care assistance for efficiency investments | 100 mpg car, smart growth, bike and walking trails, more specifics | "Apollo Project-like program" for energy independence |
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