Free the Jena 6! Fight racism.

There is so much information out there. So I tried to pick out a few. It's just awful what has happened, and no commentary I could ever write would do it justice.

Please take action and send a letter using the link below. Also keep up to date on what is happening. The trial is happening right now.

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Jena, Louisiana: Nooses and White Supremacy (intro only)

By Alice Woodward

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.

The events set in motion by those nooses led to a schoolyard fight. And that fight led to the conviction, on June 28, 2007, of a Black student at Jena High School for charges that can bring up to 22 years in prison. Mychal Bell, a 16-year-old sophomore football star at the time he was arrested, was convicted by an all-white jury, without a single witness being called on his behalf. And five more Black students in Jena still face serious charges stemming from the fight.

Read the story and transcripts below.

Democracy Now transcripts.

Democracy Now interview with the boys parents.

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