Jena 6: Democracy Now's Coverage of Yesterday's Protest!

[emlev]

Democracy Now! has done an amazing job of covering this story for months. Here's what they've got today:


In Historic March, Tens of Thousands Gather from Across Nation to Demand Justice for Jena Six

Tens of thousands of protesters gathered Thursday in the town of Jena, Louisiana to demand justice for the Jena Six -- the six African American teenagers facing a total of over 100 years in prison for allegedly beating a white student in a schoolyard fight. The fight occurred after white students hung nooses from a tree at the school. Thursday's protest was one of the largest civil rights rallies in the South since the 1960s.

Rev. Al Sharpton: Jena Rally Marks “Beginning of a 21st Century Rights Movement”

Civil rights leaders from across the country, including the Rev. Jesse Jackson, the Rev. Al Sharpton and Congresswoman Maxine Waters, traveled to Jena to take part in Thursday's march. Rev. Sharpton joins us on the phone from Baton Rouge.

Live from Jena: Two Mothers of the Jena Six React to Outpour of Support for their Sons

We go to Jena, Louisiana to speak to two mothers of the Jena Six: Caseptla Bailey, mother of Robert Bailey; and Tina Jones, mother of Bryant Purvis. He was expelled from Jena High School last year and is now studying in Dallas, Texas. He's living with his uncle, Jason Hatcher, a professional football player on the Dallas Cowboys.

The Jena Six Story: A Look at the Origins of the Case

One day after the historic march, we re-air our July 10th report that helped bring the case of the Jena Six to national attention. Jacquie Soohen of Big Noise Films interviewed Jena Six members and their families.

[EFerrari]

1. Haven't seen it yet today but will catch the reairing. Did you see

those two interviews (school board guy and former administrator at the "black" school) the other day on Amy's show? The juxtaposition was mindboggling.

[emlev]

2. Heard them. Didn't see them. eom

[EFerrari]

3. Watching that school board member was to watch the banality of evil

in progress.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

4. Is it getting TV news coverage?

The dog chewed up the remote, so I have to change the remote manually, and that means there's no way in hell I'm going to waste my precious cartoon viewing minutes by flipping manually through news channels.

[emlev]

6. If you do a search on DU for "Jena 6" in the last 24 hours...

you'll find links to a bunch of news coverage.

Unless the dog ate your keyboard, too. :)

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

7. Or... somebody just watching TV could just tell me.

:shrug:

DU links to news stories isn't terribly accurate as to what's actually on the TV.

[emlev]

8. Oh. Don't have TV. Can't compare.

[Solly Mack]

5. recommended

[emlev]

9. Didn't know bananas watched DN! Thanks! eom

[Solly Mack]

10. bananas are so misunderstood :(

:)

[emlev]

11. It's true. Most people don't even know who's at the other end of that couch

[emlev]

12. kick

[emlev]

13. kick

[nofurylike]

14. great OP, emlev! thank you for all the work of it! sorry i missed it.

would've :kick:ed it!

makes it even more extremely painful to realize today's judge crap, doesn't it? unbelievable. well, grotesquely *believable* is the CRIME of it all!!


peace and solidarity

[emlev]

17. Thanks!

Seems to me like the system couldn't hand the protesters a victory. I still think yesterday's protests will have lots of positive effect, though. And the eyes of the nation are now upon the situation much more than they were.

[nofurylike]

18. "like the system couldn't hand the protesters a victory." yes!

i think you hit on it.

like to punish the protest!!

i agree, too, that it will have had very positive effect. even the often-junk coverage of it by msm was a surprise! they had to note it!

what next, scary, but onward....

[nofurylike]

15. though did get to it in time to rec! late, but did. so sad what has

happened.


peace

[nofurylike]

16. i got word it may have been 100,000+! wow. huge. eom

[emlev]

19. I heard that, too.

One of these days I'm really going to go to a protest wearing an extra head, and a T-shirt that says, "Doing my part to ensure an accurate crowd count."

[nofurylike]

20. LOL! perfect! should start a policy of it! they gon count half, or less,

then each wear a couple heads or more.

we'd finally know the true numbers!

i remember when the march for women's live in... uh... um... well, anyway, they actually counted marchers as they passed. got the highest count of any march ever. but then, it had been the only one that actually counted each person, and reported it themselves.

how many are a million or more, never counted or reported? the number dan rather called a revolution when a million marched in china. now, per capita that makes ours....

you know.

[EFerrari]

21. LOL!

That's a good idea! :silly:

[nofurylike]

22. kills me the freeper thread gets greatest while this Great Thread

hasn't. well, YET.

i guess there were a lot of Jena 6 threads, though, which really is truly outstanding. so, i guess is how it goes....

life, ah....

but it's a great thread people should get to see.

i'll kick it up later, too.

for now, thank you very much.


peace and solidarity, always

[emlev]

23. I find much appreciation for you

and few words

[nofurylike]

24. likewise. thank you, emlev. peace. eom

[emlev]

25. .

[nofurylike]

53. .

mmh.

ta

[nofurylike]

26. kick. folks, two more rec's and many will get to see this thread.

these are important pieces of a huge historical tragedy. there have been many threads on the Jena 6 Event, today, but this one ties them together.

please consider recommending it!

thank you


peace and solidarity

[nofurylike]

27. a kick for the early risers to get to see it too. eom

[nofurylike]

28. another while someone comes round to k&r.

:kick:

[nofurylike]

29. please recommend. these are important. thank you! eom

[nofurylike]

30. i'll just keep it kicked for the morning folk then. hope one more r. nt

[nofurylike]

31. kick so all can see. and act, soon, when we know what's next.

maybe those buses some were writing of, earlier today?

more soon.


peace

[nofurylike]

32. should be on greatest page. kick to the top! eom

[nofurylike]

33. to the top. eom

[EFerrari]

34. Kick

[nofurylike]

35. one recommend to greatest. please. eom

[nofurylike]

36. have you looked at the pieces offered in the OP? please do, then

recommend for others to see them?

thank you!

[nofurylike]

37. get this to the morning folks, please. eom

[nofurylike]

38. it's a complex story, and people need to know it for the next

actions.

please recommend, so it's visible.


thank you

[nofurylike]

39. kick.

[nofurylike]

40. kick

[nofurylike]

41. kick

[nofurylike]

42. wow. one rec and it's on greatest, where it should be. eom

[nofurylike]

43. is it that people think it's over? it's not. please k&r. at least one

more r, to greatest.

thank you.

[nofurylike]

44. okay. i'll let it be. hope someone will know how important, and

send it to greatest.

thank you to whoever that will be!

[nofurylike]

45. kick

[nofurylike]

46. kick

[nofurylike]

47. and good morning kick.

[nofurylike]

48. and got to go now kick

[nofurylike]

49. and a "one recommend" only, kick.

[nofurylike]

50. a hope someone will, kick.

[nofurylike]

51. a then please keep this kicked or pass it on, kick

[nofurylike]

52. and a let you be now, kick. thank you all! more to come on this

VITAL matter!

INJUSTICE!!!!!!


WE MUST STAND UP AGAINST RAMPANT WHITE-SUPREMACISM!!!!!!!



peace and solidarity, all.

[emlev]

57. Thank you...

for such tenacious kicking! I hope your toes aren't sore. You did, in fact, succeed in kicking this all the way to the greatest page. Amazing.

[nofurylike]

60. wow. thank you! yay DUers!!.....

:blush:

:kick:

ouch! :)


any time.
thank you for making the thread!


peace and solidarity
always

[emlev]

64. Hundreds more views of the thread

(if not the DN segments) as a result of the work of your toes.

Thank you again.

[nofurylike]

67. very good to hear. it was an honor to do it. eom

[and-justice-for-all]

54. Amy Goodman/Democracy Now! kicks ass!! nt

[The Backlash Cometh]

55. Having lived through the 60s, I can say that those unity marches

spell serious trouble for Republicans. The discrepancy in the way the laws are being applied to blacks and hispanics vs whites is just deplorable. Maybe whites should stop and think why teenage boys thought they had the power to put up hangmen nooses without fear of repercussion. Minorities know why. That kind of chutzpah is cultivated at home.

[ellacott]

56. CNN also did a SIU special on this

It was a very good program. Hopefully they'll replay it a few more times.

[emlev]

58. If you find a link for it online, please post! Thanks!

[EFerrari]

59. kick

[emlev]

61. I appreciate all the kicking. Have you gotten to see/hear any of the reports?

I watched them all. Definitely worth it. It includes a replay of their original story about the situation.

[EFerrari]

62. I've been watching Amy's reports up until Friday.

I just couldn't go there but will when I've gathered myself back up again.

:kick:

[emlev]

63. It's really different from hearing them on the radio...

which is my usual way of getting DN. I had heard that initial report on Jena where the dad of one of the 6 talks about how now his son will know what it is to be Black, and it troubled me to hear it, yet it was even more powerful to see it.

So much pain.

[EFerrari]

65. That' s where we are and the challenge we need to confront.

:hug:

[emlev]

66. Yes and

it's certainly not the whole picture of what it means to be Black in this country. And it's tragic and absolutely unacceptable for injustice to be even part of the picture of what it is to be Black.

Or queer.
Or disabled.
Or female.
Or Asian.
Or Latino.
Or Native.
Or an immigrant.
Or a Muslim.
Or a Jew.
Or an atheist.
Or an elder.
Or a child.
or ... ... ...
or a combination of many of these.

[flashl]

68. Just watched CNNs SIU report on Jena 6

Why didn't they know ...

Questioning The Context Of The Story: Was This Really Six On One?

THE JENA SIX IS NOT a story about six African-Americans students assaulting one white student. It is a story about six African-American students allegedly assaulting one white student. During this avalanche of media coverage about the massive peaceful protest, this has been the one crucial point missing from many of the descriptions of an incident that the world is now talking about. For many, this may be a minor point, a rhetorical clarification, but in this case, it is important to remember, because the burden of proof is on the district attorney and not on the six young men accused of this crime.

During the past few days, CenLamar has received a number of comments from people who seem to take for granted that the six young men accused are all equally guilty of the crime of which they are accused (or at least all guilty of participating in the fight) , but they seem to forget the reason people are calling attention to this story is not merely because of the district attorney’s initial decision to charge all six students with second-degree attempted murder, it is also because the nature of the altercation, the context of the series of prior events, and the numerous conflicting eyewitness statements, none of which are able to identify all six students by name as participants in the fight. Again, the burden of proof belongs to the district attorney.

Pursuing Holiness gives this some perspective. It is not as if the fight occurred out of the blue. There is an issue of provocation, and moreover, simply because the DA is alleging that six young men were involved does not mean that the fight was actually six on one. There are some serious conflicts in the eyewitness reports, and at least three (excluding Bell, who is currently being tried, and another minor, who is being charged as a juvenile and to the best of my knowledge has not made any public statements) members of the Jena Six have publicly claimed to simply have witnessed the fight as bystanders.

After considerable reading, I have learned that Justin Barker's provocation, the use of the N-word and taunting, prior to the alledged fight (Jena 1), may be construed as Ethnic Intimidation - a "hate crime" (felony) and Riot (felony).