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Name: soulmusic101

Comment: I like how Al Sharpton is taking up the cause while the hater's sit on the sidelines and throw stones. Keep your head up The Jena Six. I will have to get my T-Shirt and wear it with pride. Oh and prop's to MLK III and the other Peep's bringing this to the Nation's attention. I hear the track "Strange Fruit" by Billie Holiday playing gently in the background of my mind. Too bad Kanye couldn't have sampled that track for his new CD, I would love to hear what Kanye and Talib have to say about this.

Name: Renetta

Comment: It’s alright for them to kick the shyt out of us, but when we fight back with a sneaker we get up 22 years? Come on man, please. That is bullshyt.

Name: naturalsista

Comment: wish i could be there but i will be in spirit supporting the overturning of mychal bell's so-called conviction and the throwing out of the charges against the others. power to the people!

Name: DOne

Comment: The march is a good idea, but I think another focus should be to target whatever industries are located in Jena. I was just looking online. Jena doesn't seem to have much industry, but like a lot of small towns there's a Wal-Mart. So maybe we should put pressure on Wal-Mart. Not just the local store but nationally. Believe me, Wal-Mart carries a lot of weight with local city governments in these small towns. I bet if we decided to spend only at K-mart and Target for a while, Wal-mart officals would put pressure on the locals in Jena. The same could be done for any other national chains located in the town.

Name: Industrypro

Comment: Things like this just %*$! me off...I hope that the pressure put on the officials of that time result in what has happened to the DA in the Duke Lacross Scandal..Really holding people accountable for racism.

Name: SaintAlbansGirl

Comment: Good Work to the Rev Al and MLK III. Did anybody see David Banner!!! This is what real leaders do! They put it out there for all of us. Those who cannot attend and those who wouldn't go if the bus pulled up in front of their house.

Name: McNasty

Comment: Governor Blanco should use this as her swan song and remove the judge and the prosecutor and work to determine how this mentality has been encouraged to live for so long, and especially after her total inaction during Katrina!

Name: mseffy

Comment: I will try my best to be in that march on Sept 20th. We must demonstrate that racist behavior in any form will be met with protest by the black community. We need to put this town on blast...I hope the economy of this entire town dies until things change!

Name: mseffy

Comment: Very good point McNasty, but to be honest, between this trifling heffa and Nadin's inaction, neither one is capable of vision, so I doubt they see the opportunity that you describe. We need a lot less of these type of politicians representing us!

Name: SmokeyBones2004

Comment: On the surface, the story sounds like a horrifying tale of Emmett Till-style justice. At a predominantly white high school in a segregated town (Jena), a black student sat under a shade tree that was traditionally used by white students. The next day three white students hung nooses from the tree, sparking racial tension and a sit-in (under the tree) by black students. The principal attempted to expel the three white students, but the school board overruled the principal and the students were given a suspension, which sparked more racial tension.

Name: SmokeyBones2004

Comment: Police patrolled the school's hallways. The town's district attorney visited the school for an impromptu %*$embly, allegedly looked at the black students and said he could end their lives with one stroke of his pen. A little more than three months after the noose incident — and just days after two off-campus fights/heated exchanges involving a black student and white former students — the "Jena Six" punched, beat and stomped a white kid who made fun of a black kid for getting whipped in a Friday-night fight.

Name: SmokeyBones2004

Comment: The white kid was knocked unconscious. After a three-hour hospital visit, he was released. The town prosecutor initially charged the "Jena Six" with attempted murder. Mychal Bell, the first of the six to stand trial and a Division-I football prospect, was convicted of aggravated second-degree battery and conspiracy by an all-white, six-person jury, a white judge and a white prosecutor. His public defender did not call a single witness in his defense. Bell could be sentenced to 22 years. Whew! Before I go any further, let me state this: The prosecutor should've never charged these boys with attempted murder. The entire school board should be replaced for stopping the noose-hanging kids from being expelled.

Name: SmokeyBones2004

Comment: OK, having said that, much of the mainstream reporting on this story has been misleading, irresponsible and inflammatory. No one mentions that Mychal Bell's clueless public defender was black. No one mentions that there were no black jurors because of the 50 people who responded to the more than 100 summons, none were black. No one mentions that Bell was already on probation for battery relating to a Christmas day incident in 2005. No one mentions that Bell was adjudicated (convicted) of two other violent crimes in 2006 and one charge of criminal damage to property. No one mentions that Bell's father acknowledged he moved back to Louisiana in February (after seven years in Dallas) to supervise his son because of the "Jena Six" mess. No one mentions that Bell starred on the Jena High football team while constantly jeopardizing/violating his seemingly flimsy probation. This was all talked about in open court during a bond hearing for Bell, and a newspaper in Alexandria, La., wrote about it. Just about everybody else has pretty much ignored the "other side" of the story. Including the fact that not one witness — black or white, and there were 40 statements taken — connected the jumping/beatdown of the white student (Dec. 4) to the noose incident (Sept. 1).

Name: SmokeyBones2004

Comment: No one mentions that a black U.S. Attorney, Donald Washington, investigated the "Jena Six" case and held a town-hall meeting explaining that there was no evidence connecting the jumping/beatdown to the noose incident. Only after the prosecutor overreacted (or tired of letting Bell and others skate once the successful football season was over; Bell wasn't the only football star charged) did the "Jena Six" blame the attack on the nooses and the white shade tree. Rather than report the truth, flames have been fanned by lazy or cowardly or agenda-driven members of the media. Because the white kid regained consciousness and survived the attack with only a swollen eye, defenders of the "Jena Six" have called it a typical "schoolyard fight." Would anyone call it that if six white football and basketball players jumped one black kid? I've mulled this topic for months, and I keep coming back to one question: Where in the hell were the parents — all of the parents, white and black? Shame on the parents of the kids who hung the nooses for hiding behind a seemingly racist and insensitive school board when their kids were inexcusably wrong. Shame on the parents of the "Jena Six" for blaming white racism for the cowardice of a six-on-one attack. And shame on the prosecutor, the media and Al Sharpton for not rising above the ignorance and distortions, and seeking a truth that will set everyone in Jena free, including the "Jena Six." http://msn.foxsports.com/other/story/7170510?MSNHPHMA

Name: DOne

Comment: A lot of good info Smokey

Name: jazzfan

Comment: If you want daily updates from a Black reporter at the scene, check out www.eyesopenwithtonybrown.com

Name: HipHipEsq

Comment: SaintAlbansGirl FYI, David Banner was on TV about 2-3 weeks ago spreading the word about this case to young people. We should stop dividing ourselves by age (and/or musical preferences) and try to get some help for those of us in need. It takes us ALL to raise awareness and make change.

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