Atticus Chaos

Tuesday 03 July 2007 All white jury sitting before white judge agrees with white prosecutor and all white witnesses and convicts black youth in racially charged high school criminal case. In a small, still mostly segregated, section of rural Louisiana, an all white jury heard a series of white witnesses called by a white prosecutor testify in a courtroom overseen by a white judge in a trial of a fight at the local high school where a white student who had been making racial taunts was hit by black students. The fight was the culmination of a series of racial incidents starting when whites responded to black students sitting under the "white tree" at their school by hanging three nooses from the tree. The white jury and white prosecutor and all white supporters of the white victim were all on one side of the courtroom. The black defendant, 17-year-old Mychal Bell, and his supporters were on the other. The jury quickly convicted Mychal Bell of two felonies - aggravated battery and conspiracy to commit aggravated battery. Bell, who was a 16-year-old sophomore football star at the time he was arrested, faces up to 22 years in prison. Five other black youths await similar trials on second-degree attempted murder and conspiracy charges. Yes, you read that correctly. The rest of the story, which is being reported across the world in papers in China, France and England, is just as chilling. The trouble started under "the white tree" in front of Jena High School. The "white tree" is where the white students, 80 percent of the student body, would always sit during school breaks. In September 2006, a black student at Jena high school asked permission from school administrators to sit under the "white tree." School officials advised them to sit wherever they wanted. They did. The next day, three nooses, in the school colors, were hanging from the "white tree." The message was clear. "Those nooses meant the KKK, they meant 'Niggers, we're going to kill you, we're going to hang you till you die,'" Casteptla Bailey, a mother of one of the students, told the London Observer. The Jena high school principal found that three white students were responsible and recommended expulsion. The white superintendent of schools over-ruled the principal and gave the students a three-day suspension saying the nooses were just a youthful stunt. "Adolescents play pranks," the superintendent told the Chicago Tribune, "I don't think it was a threat against anybody." The African-American community was hurt and upset. "Hanging those nooses was a hate crime, plain and simple," according to Tracy Bowens, a mother of students at Jena High. But blacks in this area of Louisiana have little political power. The ten-person, all-male government of the parish has one African-American member. The nine-member, all-male school board has one African-American member. (A person called the local school board trying to find out the racial makeup of the school board, and was told there was one "colored" member of the board). There is one black police officer in Jena and two black public school teachers. Jena, with a population of less than 3000, is the largest town in and parish (county) seat of LaSalle Parish, Louisiana. There are about 350 African-Americans in the town. LaSalle has a population of just over 14,000 people - 12 percent African-American. This is solid Bush and David Duke Country - GWB won LaSalle Parish 4 to 1 in the last two elections; Duke carried a majority of the white vote when he ran for Governor of Louisiana. Families earn about 60 percent of the national average. The Census Bureau reports that less than 10 percent of the businesses in LaSalle Parish are black owned. Jena is the site of the infamous Juvenile Correctional Center for Youth that was forced to close its doors in 2000, only two years after opening, due to widespread brutality and racism including the choking of juveniles by guards after a youth met with a lawyer. The US Department of Justice sued the private prison amid complaints that guards paid inmates to fight each other and laughed when teens tried to commit suicide. Black students decided to resist and organized a sit-in under the "white tree" at the school to protest the light suspensions given to the noose-hanging white students. The white district attorney then came to Jena High with law-enforcement officers to address a school assembly. According to testimony in a later motion in court, the DA reportedly threatened the black protesting students saying that if they didn't stop making a fuss about this "innocent prank", "I can be your best friend or your worst enemy. I can take away your lives with a stroke of my pen." The school was put on lockdown for the rest of the week. Racial tensions remained high throughout the fall. On the night of Thursday November 30, 2006, a still-unsolved fire burned down the main academic building of Jena High School. On Friday night, December 1, a black student who showed up at a white party was beaten by whites. On Saturday, December 2, a young white man pulled out a shotgun in a confrontation with young black men at the Gotta Go convenience store outside Jena before the men wrestled it away from him. The black men who took the shotgun away were later arrested; no charges were filed against the white man. On Monday, December 4, at Jena High, a white student - who allegedly had been making racial taunts, including calling African-American students "niggers" while supporting the students who hung the nooses and who beat up the black student at the off-campus party - was knocked down, punched and kicked by black students. The white victim was taken to the hospital treated and released. He attended a social function that evening. Six black Jena students were arrested and charged with second-degree attempted murder. All six were expelled from school. The six charged were: 17-year-old Robert Bailey Junior whose bail was set at $138,000; 17-year-old Theo Shaw - bail $130,000; 18-year-old Carwin Jones - bail $100,000; 17-year-old Bryant Purvis - bail $70,000; 16-year-old Mychal Bell, a sophomore in high school who was charged as an adult and for whom bail was set at $90,000; and a still unidentified minor. Many of the young men, who came to be known as the Jena Six, stayed in jail for months. Few families could afford bond or private attorneys. Mychal Bell remained in jail from December 2006 until his trial because his family was unable to post the $90,000 bond. Theo Shaw has also remained in jail. Several of the other defendants remained in jail for months until their families could raise sufficient money to put up bonds. The Chicago Tribune wrote a powerful story headlined "Racial Demons Rear Heads." The London Observer wrote: "Jena is gaining national notoriety as an example of the new 'stealth' racism, showing how lightly sleep the demons of racial prejudice in America's Deep South, even in the year that a black man, Barak Obama, is a serious candidate for the White House." The British Broadcasting Company aired a TV special report titled "Race Hate in Louisiana 2007." The Jena Six and their families were put under substantial pressure to plead guilty. Mychal Bell was reported to have been leaning towards pleading guilty right up until his trial when he decided he would not plead guilty to a felony. When it finally came, the trial of Mychal Bell was swift. Bell was represented by an appointed public defender. On the morning of the trial, the DA reduced the charges from second-degree attempted murder to second-degree aggravated battery and conspiracy. Aggravated battery in Louisiana law demands the attack be with a dangerous weapon. The dangerous weapon? The prosecutor was allowed to argue to the jury that the tennis shoes worn by Bell could be considered a dangerous weapon used by "the gang of black boys" who beat the white victim. Most shocking of all, when the pool of potential jurors was summoned, fifty people appeared - every single one white. The LaSalle Parish clerk defended the all white group to the Alexandria Louisiana Town Talk newspaper saying that the jury pool was selected by computer. "The venire [panel of prospective jurors] is color-blind. The idea is for the list to truly reflect the racial makeup of the community, but the system does not take race into factor." Officials said they had summoned 150 people, but these were the only people who showed up. The all-white jury which was finally chosen included two people friendly with the district attorney, a relative of one of the witnesses and several others who were friends of prosecution witnesses. Bell's parents, Melissa Bell and Marcus Jones, were not even allowed to attend the trial despite their objections, because they were listed as potential witnesses. The white victim, though a witness, was allowed to stay in the courtroom. The parents, who had been widely quoted in the media as critics of the process, were also told they could no longer speak to the media as long as the trial was in session. Marcus Jones had told the media, "It's all about those nooses" and declared the charges racially motivated. Other supporters who planned a demonstration in support of Bell were ordered by the court not to do go near the courthouse or anywhere the judge would see them. The prosecutor called 17 witnesses - 11 white students, three white teachers and two white nurses. Some said they saw Bell kick the victim, others said they did not see him do anything. The white victim testified that he did not know if Bell hit him or not. The Chicago Tribune reported the public defender did not challenge the all-white jury pool, put on no evidence and called no witnesses. The public defender told the Alexandria Town Talk, after resting his case without calling any witnesses, he knew he would be second-guessed by many, but was confident that the jury would return a verdict of not guilty. "I don't believe race is an issue in this trial. I think I have a fair and impartial jury" The jury deliberated for less than three hours and found Mychal Bell guilty on the maximum possible charges of second-degree aggravated battery and conspiracy. He faces up to a maximum of 22 years in prison. The public defender told the press afterwards, "I feel I put on the best defense that I could." Responding to criticism of not putting on any witnesses, the attorney said "why open the door for further accusations? I did the best I could for my client, Mychal Bell." At a rally in front of the courthouse the next day, Alan Bean, a Texas minister and leader of the Friends of Justice, said: "I have seen a lot of trials in my time. And I have never seen a more distressing miscarriage of justice than what happened in LaSalle Parish yesterday." Khadijah Rashad of Lafayette Louisiana described the trial as a "modern day lynching." Tory Pegram with the Louisiana ACLU has been working with the parents for months. "People know if they don't demand equal treatment now, they will never get it. People's jobs and livelihoods have been threatened for attending Jena Six Defense meetings, but people are willing to risk that. One person told me: 'We have to convince more people to come rally with us ... What's the worst that could happen? They fire us from our jobs? We have the worst jobs in the town anyway. They burn a cross on our lawns or burn down my house? All of that has happened to us before. We have to keep speaking out to make sure it doesn't happen to us again, or our children will never be safe.'" Whites in the community were adamant that there is no racism. "We don't have a problem," according to one. Other locals told the media, "We all get along," and "most blacks are happy with the way things are." One person even said, "We don't have many problems with our blacks." Melvin Worthington, the lone African-American school board member in LaSalle Parish, said it all could have been avoided. "There's no doubt about it," he told the Chicago Tribune, "whites and blacks are treated differently here. The white kids should have gotten more punishment for hanging those nooses. If they had, all the stuff that followed could have been avoided." Hebert McCoy, a relative of one of the youths who has been trying to raise money for bail and lawyers, challenged people everywhere at the end of the rally when he said: "You better get out of your houses. You better come out and defend your children - because they are incarcerating them by the thousands. Jena's not the beginning, but Jena has crossed the line. Justice is not right when you put on the wrong charges and then convict. I believe in justice. I believe in the point of law. I believe in accepting the punishment if I'm guilty. If I'm guilty, convict me and punishment, but if I'm innocent, no justice." The crowd joined with him and shouted, "No peace!" What happened to the white guys? The white victim of the beating was later arrested for bringing a hunting rifle loaded with 13 bullets onto the high school campus and released on $5000 bond. The white man who beat up the black youth at the off-campus party was arrested and charged with simple battery. The white students who hung up the nooses in the "white tree" were never charged. Since the arrests, a group of family members have been holding well-attended meetings, and have created a defense fund- The Jena Six Defense Committee. They have received support from the NAACP, the Louisiana ACLU and Friends of Justice. For more information: The Jena Six Defense Committee, PO Box 2798, Jena, LA 71342 [email protected]; Friends of Justice, 507 North Donley Avenue, Tulia, TX 79088 www.fojtulia.org; or the ACLU of Louisiana, PO Box 56157, New Orleans, LA 70156 www.laaclu.org or 417-350-0536. What is next? The rest of the Jena Six await similar trials. Theodore Shaw is due to go on trial shortly. Mychal Bell is scheduled to be sentenced July 31. If he gets the maximum sentence he will not be out of prison until he is nearly 40. Meanwhile, the "white tree" outside Jena High sits quietly in the hot sun. -Bill Quigly truthout report

The problem with Shawn as champion is, because he's a part timer, he doesn't work house shows. If you're going along to a WWE houseshow, you're going to want to see the brand's champion.

Ya. The Smackdown/ECW taping I went to Sep. 25th, he had a dark match w/ Kahli for the title. After the match, there was a kid (around 8) who had gotten a pair of black trunks to match Batista's and actually took his shit off and just wore the trunks and was standing up on his chair in the 1st row. When batista was posing in the corners of the ring, after he won the match and kahli had gone to the back, he got to the post by where the kid was and started to climb the turnbuckles, but saw the kid and fell back down laughing. He was pointing at the kid and told one of the security guys to get the kid and bring him up. The security helped the kid over the guardrail and got up in the ring w/ Batista. Batista posed with the kid for the crowd in the middle of the ring and shook the ropes with the kid. Then he handed him the belt and the kid posed w/ it in the middle of the ring and climbed the turnbuckles in the corner and posed with it. After all that, which lasted around 10 minutes, Batista walked around the ringside and gave fives to everyone who had their hand out. If he missed someone, he went back and made sure he got everybody. It was crazy. I didn't expect anything like that from him. I have a hard time respecting anyone who writes something like this. I don't give a fuck how many hands he has slapped. "Now, don't get me wrong, my ex-wife is the love of my life and I would never knowingly hurt her. However, while I was busting my BUTT on the road like a dog, she would sit around the house and do nothing. I mean, yeah, she had cancer, but she couldn't vacuum? And since the chemo made her "not in the mood", I had no choice but to have threesomes on the road. I mean, she's talented and I hated to see her waste her life like that when she could be a dancer, or maybe a nurse. But she's not a bad person and I take full responsibility for my actions, even though it was her fault." -From Batista's book That quote is fake. Several people who had read it claim it isn't in there.

Word is that Angle and Jeff Jarrett have made peace. The two had been forming factions backstage to vie for more control from Dixie Carter, with Sting being the only big name who refused to pick a side. Despite the differing opinions about TNA's booking it seems the status quo is going to be the way forward for now. wrertling observer newsletter

More on Kristal's release. From Alvarez

I also read she wanted the writers to agree to a one year non compete clause after they left, as well.

I don't think a wrongful death suit would hold up in court, personally. As for Michael Benoit: I feel bad for the guy, but he seems to be desperate to shift the blame for what happened onto everyone but his son. Which is only natural of course, but everyone else shouldn't have to go along with it.

I'd compare it to all these congressman who preach family values and then get caught in sex scandals with hookers/interns/guy in the toilet. If you're talking about cleaning up society and preserving morals and then coming down on those who don't, then really, you should have a pretty clean slate yourself and live up to your own standards. Granted it doesn't matter now, but what if all this "Bret sleeping around all the time" had came out back then? What would his younger fans have thought? Their hero was a liar?

I don't think WWE blamed Kennedy for what happened to Cena, he was under consideration for the title at No Mercy, and he hasn't gotten majorly depushed either. They probably accepted there was blame on both guys for what happened. That said, HBK coming out and saying he thinks he's unsafe to work with will not do him any favours. And I think last night guaranteed we won't be seeing a HBK/Kennedy feud anytime soon. Maybe heading back to smackdown is the best option at this point.

Wasn't Bret preaching family values and saying what a corrupting influence on kids DX were in 1997? I'm not denying HBK from back then was an asshole, but at least he was upfront about who he was, and wasn't making himself out to be some sort of saint.

RAW RATINGS by Dave Scherer @ 6:57:29 PM on 10/23/2007 Last night's edition of Raw did a 3.3 cable rating. The show did hours of 3.31 and 3.33 so there was almost no growth from hour one to hour two. -PWInsider.com

After the match when HBK was whispering something in Orton's ear, I'm begininng to think he was bitching about Kennedy.

Bryan Alvarez was pretty scathing about Kennedy's performance in the main event in his latest podcast (freeloader version). Watching it I was kind of aware Kennedy and HBK weren't working well together, but going back and looking at it, you can see Shawn getting pretty pissed at him.

I'm looking foward to seeing Randy Orton's first class sell of sweet chin music again. That's about it.

A British women's magazine (Chat!) has published a semi fictionalised dramatisation of the Benoit tragedy...they sort of try and get into his mind. The scans http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2316/169558...a22d282ed_b.jpg http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2352/169473...985b74141_b.jpg My favourite parts "They'd be no need for muscles where he was going." "the idea of just being an ordinary dad filled him with cold dread" "Chris wanted to join his friend (Eddie)....and he had no intention of going there alone"

Have you seen Lashley? And size aside, he is also a legitimate tough guy. Even Edge isn't that stupid.

Jeff himself is probably hoping he doesn't win. He doesn't need the heat that would come with it.

I'm a bit shocked she thought the role was too sexual...it wasn't too long ago she was rolling around half naked in paint. And she was supposedly eager to pose for playboy. But making out with Edge every Tuesday is too sexual?

News on Kristal Marshal's release. Due to the nature of the Teddy Long storyline, where Marshal had left TV to be with Teddy, neither her nor WWE have acknowledged her release. The original storyline plan was that Vickie Guerrero would have been behind the Teddy Long heart attack, as a way to become the heel general manager of Smackdown. That plan was then changed, and the new plan for the angle with Teddy Long was that it would be revealed that Edge had put Kristal up to seducing Long to get him out of the picture on Smackdown, as revenge for Long stripping Edge of the World Heavyweight Championship when Edge was injured. Edge and Marshal would then become a retread of Edge and Lita from Raw, with Marshal becoming a much more sexual character. Marshal was very against the idea for a number of reasons, mainly the sexuality of it. She is currently dating Raw superstar Bobby Lashley, and the two of them had both been pushing for Kristal to be moved to Raw so they could be together. WWE was not in favor of this, and decided that if she wasn't going to "play ball" with them on the Edge storyline, then there were plenty of divas who would and she was then released. No word on how Lashley is reacting to this release. -PWI Audio

Nick Hogan is overwhelmed with guilt... omggggg its been forever since i blogged...hell i dont even know what blog means but i guess its where you write stuff for people to read anyways my last one was before i even drove for mopar, if you check my pics youll see that i did end up driving for them for my amateur season and most of my pro rookie season. i recently left the mopar team tho...things didnt work out to well but!....i picked up a new title sponsor...POLAROID! and started my own team with twin 350z's pretty cool i know anyways id like everyone to wish my luck for my 08 season and keep john graziano in your prayers http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseacti...logID=321027024 Gee, Nick you really feel now is the best time to be bragging about your racing skills?

You think someone who has worked on any kind of successful television show is going to lower themselves to writing for WWE? Any half-decent writer is either going to avoid WWE like the plague or use it as a stop-gap until a job with a real television show comes along, in which case they're not going to put any kind of effort in. WWE having bad writing has little to do with their views on the union status of their writers and everything to do with who the writers are writing for and what that person wants out of them. Honestly, I think there are plenty of talented writers that would lower themselves to writing for WWE. All said and done, it's a steady job with decent pay, something hard to come by in the writing profession. Heck, I don't mind if they phone it in. A talented writer phoning it in is still better than a crap one giving it 100%. When I said the sopranos or 24, obvioulsy I don't mean they should phone up David Chase or anything like that, but they should try and get in people with a more impressive body of work. Brian Gerwitz's only writing credit was for that awful Jenny McCarthy sitcom and most of the other writers only have one or two things to their name prior to going to WWE. The writers they get in don't have to be emmy award winning but they should have a a track record of success somewhere.

Probably why they can't get any good ones and have to make do with failed Hollywood writers. I never had a major problem with them bringing in tv writers but, damn, at least get someone who worked on the sopranos or 24 or something.

I don't think he can go against it, can he?

No Gerwitz for a few months? Hooray!

f4w newsletter So, Stephanie's worried about using Bonnie Hammer's ideas in case they turn out better than hers? USA are going easy on WWE, though. You know if this ratings slump were happening to desperate housewives or House, the network would just demand the show's executive scrap most of the writing team and bring in new people with better ideas. I'd love to see Bonnie demand Vince sack Stephanie and Bryan Gerwitz.