Sad Story, Subtle Headlines, Misunderstandings

Mychal Bell is a troubled soul, I wish him a speedy recovery from his wounds and whatever peace he needs to grow as a man.

The nola.com headlines the AP article as such:

Convicted 'Jena 6' defendant Mychal Bell shoots himself

CNN went with something slightly different:

'Jena 6' figure shoots himself

I think it's fair to say from my quick googling of the event that the only new outlet to insert the word "convicted" into the title of that story was the Times-Picayune. I think it's important to notice these kinds of things.

-

Last night I was watching the Utah Jazz demolish my poor Philadelphia 76ers. Toward the end of the 4th quarter, with the outcome of the game already decided, Reggie Evans of the Sixers was called for a technical foul, the NBA equivalent of a yellow card in Soccer.

Reggie Evans is a big, bald, bearded, black guy that has developed a reputation for hard play, earning his paychecks by fighting on the offensive and defensive glass. Evans is gregarious on the court but also something of an enforcer for his team when necessary. He's kind of a goon, but a fairly well-respected goon.

Anyway, as the game slipped away from the Sixers, Evans was given some minutes off the bench. I forget exactly what transpired, but a Sixers offensive possession was cut short when Evans fouled Kyle Korver of the Jazz during a scuffle for a loose ball. Korver is an Ashton Kutcher look alike - a white boy next door - and a former 76er. Korver and Evans were teammates last season for a two month stretch before Korver was traded.

Evans, laughing at himself a little bit for losing a loose ball to the smaller Korver, said something crude to his former teammate and slapped him on the butt as they were both running back down court.

The white referee saw that and immediately called a technical foul against Evans.

Look, I found video:



Not included in that video is another interaction between Korver and Evans that occurred shortly thereafter in which Evans went over and shook Korver's hand just to make sure that he hadn't also misinterpreted the friendly gesture.

The local Sixers TV analysts, with very little to talk about in the blowout, later highlighted the penalty against Evans as the "call of the game." Again, the event was of little consequence. I'm sure the referee would admit that there had just been a misunderstanding and he had missed the call.

But I tend to notice this kind of thing.

Accountability for Police Brutality in Central LA?

A grand jury in Winnfield has indeed handed down an indictment of former officer Scott Nugent, accused of killing Baron Pikes by shocking him repeatedly with a taser in spite of pleas for mercy.

Mr. Pikes was wanted for simple possession and did not resist arrest. He had a four year old son.

I'd like to infer that the mobilization on behalf of the Jena 6 and helped short-circuit local law enforcement efforts to obscure justice with delays and inaction.

I'm not sure that's the case but certainly the empowerment of African American online and alternative media, concretely realized at Jena, has kept this story alive since January and was instrumental in forcing into the mainstream media.

Don't Kill Me Bro: A Police Murder In Central LA

I hope this evokes the same type of response as the injustices in Jena 6. I'm not looking forward to driving all the way to Winnfield, Louisiana, but I will.

At 1:28 p.m. last Jan. 17, Baron "Scooter" Pikes was a healthy 21-year-old man. By 2:07 p.m., he was dead.

What happened in the 39 minutes in between--during which Pikes was handcuffed by local police and shocked nine times with a Taser device, while reportedly pleading for mercy--is now spawning fears of a political cover-up in this backwoods Louisiana lumber town infamous for backroom dealings.

Even more ominously, because Pikes was black and the officer who repeatedly Tasered him is white, racial tensions over the case are mounting in a place that's just 40 miles from Jena, La. Jena is the site of the racially explosive prosecution of six black teenagers charged with beating a white youth that last year triggered one of the largest American civil rights demonstrations in decades. And in a bizarre coincidence, Pikes turns out to have been a first cousin of Mychal Bell, the lead defendant in the Jena 6 case.

This happened in January. It is only now beginning to generate steam as a result of foot-dragging by the justice department. This week it was picked up by CNN. This story has been kept alive by Tony Brown, a prolific radio host in Central LA that should be given more credit for the Jena 6 mobilization. He is interviewed about this case here. It upsets me that I didn't pick up on this sooner, that the national media was faster than the NOLA blogosphere on such an obvious case of injustice occurring so close to home. I was lucky enough to have had the gas money to drive up to Jena for the mobilization back in September. I thought that it was one of the most fascinating protest mobilizations in America in a decade.

Jena 6 Update

Time for an update:

Mychal Bell was released on bail on September 27th.

He appeared in juvenile court on October 2nd with his parents, dealing with the same charges on which he was convicted as an adult. That conviction was tossed by an appeals court in September.

The day before, on October 1st, hip-hop artists helped organize a student walkout in support of Bell and the other defendants.

Jena's mayor got pissed at John Mellencamp for writing a song critical of Jena's racial record. He ignored the hip-hop protest.

A spate of racist copycat incidents have occurred around the country. Here is another especially troubling example from Columbia University. Here's another town dealing with similar racial tensions at its high school.

And here's a story out of Tennessee regarding a school's decision to ban a student from wearing a t-shirt supportive of the Jena 6.

Also on October 2, the Supreme Court began hearing oral arguments related to a case that will determine the constitutionality of sentencing guidelines that demand harsher penalties for crack dealers than those guilty of pushing powder cocaine. To me, this long-standing discrepancy might be the most egregious and obvious example of overt racism in the entire criminal justice system. Read this. Or this. The Jena 6 protest was as much about inequalities in our criminal justice system as a whole as much as it was about the singular incident in Louisiana. This Supreme Court case, if favorable decisions come down in this Spring, could represent an important victory.

Big time props to Maitri's VatulBlog for calling attention to this Saturday's party at Vaughn's to raise money for the Jena 6 legal defense team. Maitri, I'm just going to go ahead and take that image you took the time to upload. Hope you don't mind.

For my firsthand coverage of the Jena 6 protest last month, go here and here.

Reed Walters Is An Idiot

Nice to hear that Reed Walters has decided to drop his attempt to try Mychal Bell as an adult. I'm happy for the young man that he gets to finally sleep at home while awaiting a new trial as a juvenile. Kudos to Mr. Walters for coming to his senses and realizing that poor Jena, Louisiana needs justice and healing as it attempts to forge a new path of racial underst...





"I firmly believe and am confident of the fact that had it not been for the direct intervention of the Lord Jesus Christ last Thursday, a disaster would have happened. You can quote me on that." - Reed Walters

Wait. Wha?

Well, I will quote you on that. And so will lots of other people. Nice job using a press conference that could have started to bring some closure to this particular incident to spout off something else utterly ridiculous and insulting and racist. Mr. Walters, you almost just got yourself off the hook for this whole ordeal by finally dropping the adult charges. What type of disaster would have happened had it not been for Jesus? Did Jesus save Jena from all those mean nasty black people? Did you think the protesters were going to burn the town to the ground? Were you afraid the Rev. Al Sharpton was tie you down to an operating table and make you watch while he ate your heart while it was still beating?

What a jackass! It's not like I thought you had much credibility before, but in your one chance to rescue some respect... unbelievable.



UPDATE: Turns out Bill O'Reilly is also shocked that black people are civilized. Unbelievable. Here's the audio on that one. Bill is ticked (really?) that people are even offended.

The Old Leadership vs. the New Crowd

Unfortunately, Mychael Bell is still in prison awaiting a new trial as a juvenile. I have no idea why the judge can't grant this kid bail. He's been in jail for ten months and his conviction just got tossed. Is he a flight risk? Give me a break.

Many still question the point of yesterday's protest. Will is actually help the six teenagers? Does it really indicate the birth of a new era of African American political activity?

I wrote yesterday about what made this protest different.
Or you could read this, about internet organization. Or this, about the role of black radio.

Here is a related anecdotal story:

At around 8:00 AM yesterday, in Jena, a large crowd was gathered in front of the La Salle Parish courthouse, where a podium was erected. The crowd was outraged but also excited and celebratory as leaders gathered at the lectern.

First to grab the microphone, were members of the Southern Christian Leadership Council, which was a stalwart organization of the 1960s Civil Rights Movement, founded by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Of three or four gentlemen standing there in their yellow SCLC hats, one came forward and began to address the crowd, noting the historical importance of the SCLC, and his own personal intimacy with Ralph Abernathy and Dr. King. Largely, he seemed to be attempting to give as much credit to the SCLC as possible for their role in bringing about the Jena protest. People around me rolled their eyes, these guys were clearly past their prime, especially as far as their ability to connect to the hip hop generation is concerned.


As he spoke, another group that shared the stage began to shout over him, with the help of megaphone. This group was the New Black Panther Party. One woman, in particular was clearly uninterested in what SCLC had to say and continued shouting slogans through the megaphone as the SCLC official with the microphone pleaded with her. "Please, everyone will have a chance to speak. There is a certain way that we're going to do things."

The crowd became annoyed and chanted "We are United! We are United!" while the two groups were talking over each other. The woman with the megaphone showed no interest in waiting her turn, so the SCLC vacated the podium in disgust.

Now, with access to the microphone and its speakers, the woman stepped up. The crowd cheered along as she lead chants and slogans and applauded her as she introduced herself as a representative of the New Black Panther Party.

Next, she began to criticize the direction of the protest. She laid into radio host and protest organizer Michael Baisden for "selling out" the protest by bringing in Al Sharpton and negotiating with corporate interests by agreeing to hold an afternoon rally in Alexandria. She implied that by doing so, Baisden and protest organizers were short-circuiting the campaign to free Mychael Bell. While her critique of protest tactics may have produced valid points had she continued, the crowd was clearly upset by her attacks on the other organizers, booing her rigorously and renewing chants of "we are united."

She regained the favor of the protesters by chanting for Mykael Bell and handed the microphone over to another Panther. The damage was done, however, and his more radical statements were met by more booing and chants for unity and against "hate."

The microphone then went to a seemingly unaffiliated Reverend who got the crowd's undivided attention and admiration for a great speech that lauded the protest and the beauty of seeing so many different people together for one cause, etc. The SCLC returned to share the stage and the speeches continued without similar incidents throughout the day. The Panthers remained and seemed to adopt the unity rhetoric during their other opportunities with the microphone.

What is remarkable to me about this particular incident was the crowd's disinterest in these historic bastions of African American leadership. Throughout the day, I noticed that people posed for pictures with those dressed in the traditional uniform of the Black Panthers. This, to me, speaks volumes about their modern relevance as an organizing force. Members of the SCLC seemed like relics too, as they spoke about their own organization's importance and significance.

For me, this particular incident really underscores a shift in the way African American political organization is occurring in this country. These old movement organizations, SCLC and the BPP, are largely antiquated and provided little substantive mobilization momentum, particularly in comparison to the critical role of the blogosphere and radio. This is why I think so many people that have followed this issue closely or were there yesterday are so excited about this particular protest. It is easy to be dismissive of claims about the dawn of a new civil rights movement as fantastic or sensational. However, to shrug off the significance of the Jena mobilization misses a real chance to analyze a breakthrough in internet-driven political activism.

Freeing the Jena 6

Last night I went to bed for a three hour nap, waking up at 2:00 AM to hit the road for Jena, Louisiana.

For those that haven't heard yet, Jena is a small town of around 3000 that, today, was the scene of a massive protest in support of six teenagers charged in connection to a fight that developed from months of racial tension at Jena High School.

I won't go into all of the details of the case at hand, here's a link to a timeline of events.

I will say, however, that it is obvious that the local District Attorney went way overboard with the charges and deserves all of this negative attention for being so stubborn and one-sided. There were obviously racial issues in the high school that needed to be addressed with discussion, workshops, and education. That the DA thought the best way to address the racial conflict was by incarcerating the black students demonstrates an obvious racial bias and a stunning naivety that this would somehow repair the Jena community.

Lots of folks have negative opinions about District Attorney Reed Walters, I spent the day with thousands of them.

Jesse Jackson in front of Jena Courthouse

There is no doubt that people are outraged at the application of justice in Jena, that is what sparked this mass mobilization. The crowd certainly expressed their displeasure with the situation in Jena, but the protest atmosphere was closer to euphoria than revolution. People were mostly high-spirited, both moved by the unity and excited by the spontaneity of it all.

Hot 8 Brass Band always gets the crowd moving.

For me, the most fascinating aspect of this particular protest activity was the way in which it was organized. The story of the Jena 6 went largely unnoticed in the mainstream media for almost an entire year. The general stalwarts of African American political organization, Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson, and Louis Farrakhan did not inspire the primary interest in the story. Rather, outrage over this particular incident fermented virally, under the radar of the mainstream media, and even mainstream African American media.

The story was kept alive locally as it developed by radio host Tony Brown and his "Eyes Open" program on 88.1 fm, which services Alexandria and its surrounds. At some point in August, nationally syndicated radio host Michael Baisden picked up on the plight of the Jena 6 and the story exploded. He has been given a lot of credit for organizing and promoting today's protest.

Quickly, the Jena 6 story became an internet sensation. The outrage over the story demanded direct action, and that is what pushed Baisden to reach out to Sharpton, Jackson, and others about the September 20th date. This article, in the Chicago Tribune, explains the emergence of the black blogosphere, its influence on this particular issue, and its expanding role into the traditional civil rights leadership.

Tonight, I logged onto facebook and searched within groups for 'Jena' and found that there are over 500 different facebook groups supporting the Jena 6 teens. If you're a facebook member, you can recreate this search for yourself. These groups began recruitment early on, as well, before news of emerging national discontent became a fixture. The group 'Philly Supports the Jena Six' has nearly 4,000 members and its main page includes a wealth of activist information including contact information for all major national media outlets as well as several major local newspapers. Another group, called "A MODERN DAY LYNCHING: FREE THE JENA 6" boasts nearly 15,000 members.

Oh, Oyster, actually one gubernatorial candidate did make his mark at the rally in Jena.

Sorry about the picture quality, but those FREE bottled waters bear the campaign logo of the famous anti-racist John Georges. This article confirms his actual presence there.

Check back in later for an anecdotal story about the interaction between the old-guard African American leadership groups and the crowd that may illustrate the shift in mobilization tactics written about in the Chicago Tribune article linked above.