JENA 6: WHAT NEXT TO ERASE THIS NATIONAL DISGRACE?

Unless you have been on vacation or otherwise under a rock, a case
that is rocking Black America involves the racist conviction of six
black youths, by an all-white jury, to the tune of potential 100-year
sentences, while white youths were given the comparative leniency of
in-school probation and non-prosecution for committing violent acts.
This legal lynching of six young Black students by officials in Jena,
La. is not only a continuing manifestation of Southern justice, it is
a symptom of a vicious period in American history now in existence
emphasizing the use of the law to severely punish Blacks. So, while
there are justified mobilizations taking place around the Jena 6
injustice, the heat of the Black community, activists, officials,
church leaders, all, should be directed toward the changes in the law
that have made these injustices easier to perpetrate by local
criminal justice officials.

Recent data from the Department of Justice indicates that 5 percent
of Black males are incarcerated; 0.7 percent of white males; 11
percent of Black men 25-34. Moreover, in twelve states, between 10
and 15 percent of adult Black men are incarcerated and they are
incarcerated at rates between 12 and 16 times greater than those of
white men. There desperately needs to be a change in the laws
promulgated during the era of the "war on drugs" that have greased
the wheels of the criminal system that have focused the heavy weapons
of targeted policing, ineffective legal defense, and police
corruption to affect the disproportionate convictions of Blacks.
Mandatory minimum sentencing drug guidelines like the Rockefeller
Drug laws, "three-strikes and you're out," etc. - all of these
devices are instruments of the problem creating run-away
incarceration. They should be repealed!

On vacation recently in West Palm Beach, Florida I noticed that in a
smaller section known as Riviera Beach that was predominantly Black.
the local newspaper carried a story about police there attempting to
reduce the crime rate by focusing on gang-busting tactics. The police
used "no-tolerance" measures to stop drivers for any infraction, such
as not coming to a full stop at a light, not wearing seat-belts,
etc., as a pretext to search their vehicles. And by the end of June
2007, while, 1,879 people were arrested, only 10 confirmed gang
members were in that number, where 330 autos were also impounded.

Meanwhile, no targeted policing was occurring in the plush cocaine
alleys of affluent Palm Beach or other areas. We need laws to
establish a prohibition against such "targeted policing" that is
racially discriminatory and amounts to racial profiling.

Mychal Bell, one of the Jena 6, was prosecuted as an adult and
assigned a public defender who never called any witnesses. This
situation is also common and reports indicate that this practice of
adult prosecution and incarceration of youths is out of control. In
six states, Black youth under age 18 are incarcerated in adult
facilities at rates between 12 and 25 times greater than those of
white youth. And they can be prosecuted and incarcerated for either
non-violent or violent offenses, contrary to clear evidence in recent
Zogby poll that 68 percent of the public opposes the practice. So
laws must be passed that outlaw this practice - that the evidence
shows has not deterred youth crime - and return the administration of
justice for youths to the juvenile system.

The Justice Department sent representatives to participate in a
community forum in Jena and the Black attorney proceeded to uphold
all that local officials had done. This might have been anticipated,
because of the strong tie to the Bush government. On September 9,
local officials broke ground on a $30 million detention facility,
awarded them by the Department of Homeland Security.

We are coming up to the September 20 sentencing of Mychal Bell by the
Louisiana authorities who have recently reduced his conviction to
something they may be able to prove in court. The Congressional Black
Caucus weekend of September 26. Much will be made of the result of
the sentencing at that gathering, but the offensive should carry on
into the presidential election and result in overturning the vicious
and racist legislation that this case reflects.