The Rev. Al Sharpton called for an investigation of the district attorney prosecuting a group of black teenagers on serious criminal charges stemming from a Louisiana school fight involving a white classmate. In a telephone interview Sunday from New York, Sharpton also said he would join thousands of people in Jena on Sept. 20 — the day one of the teens is scheduled to be sentenced on an aggravated second-degree battery conviction. Mychal Bell faces up to 15 years in prison. “After that, if we need to, we’ll go to Baton Rouge and see the governor and the Legislature,” Sharpton said. Sharpton said he wants the state attorney general and judicial oversight agencies to investigate the actions of LaSalle Parish District Attorney Reed Walters. A telephone message left at Walters’ residence was not returned Sunday. He has previously said he cannot comment because of the pending cases. Today in Americas On 9/11 anniversary, looking inward to explain terrorist attacks Petraeus sees partial pullout by 2008 Interest grows in limiting life tenure in Supreme Court The case drew protests after five of the six teens, dubbed the “Jena Six,” were originally charged with attempted second-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder, carrying sentences of up to 80 years in prison. The sixth was charged in juvenile court. The beating victim, who is white, was treated for injuries at a hospital and released the same day, and a motive for the alleged Dec. 4 attack at Jena High School was never established. The beating came amid tense race relations in Jena, a mostly white town of 3,000 in north-central Louisiana. After a black student sat under a tree on the school campus where white students traditionally congregated, three nooses were hung in the tree. Students accused of placing the nooses were suspended from school for a short period. In Jena on Sunday, the Rev. Jesse Jackson urged residents to come together to demand equal justice. “Why be fighting when we can turn to each other and find common ground?” Jackson said. “Jena is too small not to move together.”

 Pressure from the top down! This has been a issue that has not been raised to the top. Here are the Congressional and Senatorial Delegates for Louisiana. Have them contact the DA and the judge.
Sacha Louisiana Congressional Delegation U.S. Senate

FURTHER CONTACT INFORMATION

The Jena 6 Defense Committee
PO Box 2798,
Jena, LA  71342
jena6defense@gmail.com <mailto:jena6defense@gmail.com>
Murphy McMillan, Mayor
P.O. Box 26
Jena, La.  71342
Phone (318) 992-2148

To contact District Attorney Reed Walters directly:
Reed Walters, District Attorney
28th Judicial District
PO Box 1940
Jena, Louisiana  71342-1940
(318) 992-8282
Fax: (318) 992-4731
contact Governor Kathleen Blanco
Write:
Office of the Governor
Attn: Constituent Services
P.O. Box 94004
Baton Rouge, LA 70804-9004
Fax: 225-342-7099
Call:
866-366-1121
225-342-0991
225-342-7015

CONTACT JUDGE J.P. MAUFFRAY:
1050 COURTHOUSE STREET
P.O. BOX 1316
JENA, LA  71342
(318)992-2002- phone
(318)992-8701-fax

“The frenzy was when the levies broke!”

attempted murder charges leveled against six black teens show “one rule for white kids and one for black kids.”
Sharpton and an entourage of three dozen religious and civil rights leaders met and prayed privately with one of the teens, 17-year-old Mychal Bell, for about 15 minutes at the LaSalle Parish courthouse.

Bell faces up to 22 years in prison after being convicted of aggravated second-degree battery and conspiracy to commit aggravated second-degree battery. He had initially faced attempted murder charges. Four 18-year-olds and a juvenile—who round out the group dubbed the Jena Six—are awaiting trial on attempted murder and conspiracy charges.

“I did not come to Jena to start trouble,” Sharpton said while preaching at a local church service after the meeting. “I came to Jena to stop trouble.”

Bell and five other teens were charged in the December 2006 beating of a white schoolmate, 18-year-old Justin Barker. Barker was treated for a swollen and cut face and released the same day, but said he took pain medication for a week.

Black community leaders across the country were outraged, protesting that the attempted murder charges were too harsh.

In comments directed at District Attorney Reed Walters, who is prosecuting the Jena Six, Sharpton said, “You can’t sit in the courthouse and have one rule for white

kids and one for black kids.”
Walters did not return a call for comment left on an answering machine at his residential number. No one answered Sunday at his office.

Jena, a town of 3,000, is mostly white with about 350 black residents. Residents said racial tensions have escalated because of events at Jena High School.

Last year, the morning after a black student sat under a tree on campus where white students traditionally congregated, three nooses—unmistakable lynching symbols in the old South—were hung in the tree.

Students accused of placing them were suspended from the school for a short period, and tensions increased.

Then on Dec. 4, six black students were accused of jumping Barker and beating and kicking him. A motive for the attack was never established.

“You cannot have two levels of justice,” Sharpton said Sunday. “Some boys assault people and are charged with nothing. Some boys hang nooses and finish the school year. And some boys are charged with attempted murder.”

Jena six- Racism in Louisiana - PART ONE

Jena six- Racism in Louisiana - PART TWO