The Silence of the Jena Tree
Originally uploaded by firoze shakir photographerno1
The Jena Six refers to a group of six black teenagers who were charged with the beating of Justin Barker, a white teenager at Jena (pronunciation: IPA: /ˈ dʒ iː nə /) High School in Jena, Louisiana, United States, on December 4,2006. The beating followed a number of racially-charged incidents in the town, of which the earliest that has been reported was when three white students hung nooses from a tree at Jena High School after a black student asked permission from a school administrator to sit under the tree.
The Jena Six case sparked protests by those who view the arrests and subsequent charges as excessive and racially discriminatory, especially as compared with the treatment of white Jena youths involved in other incidents. On September 20,2007, between ten and twenty thousand protesters marched on Jena in what was described as the 'largest civil rights demonstration in years.' [1][2] Related protests were held in other U.S. cities on the same day.[3][4]
U.S. Attorney Donald Washington—an African American and a Bush appointee[5]—who led an investigation into events in the town, concluded that there was no evidence of unfair prosecution.[6]
Mychal Bell, the only member of the 'Jena Six' who was tried, has had his convictions set aside. Bell was originally charged with attempted murder, but the charges were subsequently reduced and he was convicted of aggravated battery and conspiracy. Both convictions were overturned on the grounds that the defendant should have been tried as a juvenile, not as an adult, on the reduced charges.[7][6][8] Bell was incarcerated for almost 10 months, before being released on September 27,2007, after bail was posted on his behalf. Bell’s retrial is scheduled for December 6,2007.
On October 11,2007 District Judge J.P. Mauffray, Jr. revoked Bell’s probation for his four previous juvenile convictions ruling that he had violated his probation (Bell had been placed on probation prior to the Jena Six incident) . Bell was sentenced to 18 months in a juvenile facility on two counts of simple battery and two counts of criminal destruction of property unrelated to Jena 6 beating.
http: //en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jena_Six
The Tree of Knowledge
The Tree of Humanity
The Tree planted by one man
For all men
Mankind
Shade and Harmony
Carrying message
of Peace and Love
Buddha’s Bodhi Tree
In far off Lumbini
The Jena Tree
Branches
In hate in mans mind
Hung nooses to
Remind you
Of your colored ancestry
Black man was never born free
Slaved to a system of Hate
Within the morass of White depravity
Blackened human values self respect
So called human dignity
Yes Louisiana the land
Plantations of human atrocity
Colored hate White Justice
A mocking Travesty
Every blow a blow to
A Nations Peace and Prosperity
And Human Integrity
Love poetry Hate racism
