DNA Study Solves Mystery Of Mysterious Mixed-Race People
ALEC Loses Another Big Company
District Attorney Reed Walters argued last year that the tennis shoes of students known as the Jena Six where "dangerous weapons" in order to press the harshest charges against the teens for attacking a classmate. Now, some young NAACP members in Philadelphia are collecting those so-called "dangerous weapons" to send to the district attorney, according to BlackAmericaWeb.com.
The Rev. Elisha B. Morris, youth adviser for the Philly's NAACP youth council, says they are going to send a box of smelly sneakers to Walters in Jena, La. to send a message. The group also wants each person who donates sneakers to contribute $2 for the Jena Defense Fund, the Web site reported.
Four Charged in Killing of Memphis Player
Four men were charged this week in the killing of Memphis defensive lineman Taylor Bradford, authorities said.
According to The Associated Press, police said Bradford, 21, had won thousands at a casino the night before his death. Investigators said Bradford had about $7,400 in his pocket when he was found dead on the Memphis campus and his killers did not get what they came for.
Three of the suspects were not students and between the ages of 21 and 22. Prosecutors have also charged a 21-year-old Memphis student with murder and plotting the robbery.
Teacher Sanctions in Noose Lesson Incident
The president of Grambling State University in Ruston, La., wants sanctions against five teachers who did a "hands on" demonstration of a lynching at a predominantly black elementary school on the university campus.The University president says the activity was inappropriate for kindergarten and first-graders and showed lack of judgment. At least one teacher has been placed on leave with pay, according to The Associated Press.
The Sept. 20 lesson on racism involved a noose placed around a young girl's neck. The university newspaper ran photos of the lesson and reported that teachers explained what a noose meant. The children that day also held their own march for equality for the Jena Six to coincide with a civil rights march of thousands about 100 miles away in Jena, La.
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By: Lneal on 10/23/2007 8:43AM
In memory of Pedro R. of Minneapolis. The tennis shoe assault incident. Come on people, lets not be that close minded. If you believe stomping and kicking someone with tennis shoes will not cause their death, then you have not grown up in the hood. Too many times, the life of one of our own has been taken by mob/group/gang violence because someone was stomped and or kicked to death and their attackers were wearing tennis shoes. Keep your smelly snickers at home.
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By: Kay on 10/23/2007 10:26AM
Why the fuck do they want to sanction the teachers? Our kids neeed to know their history, children need to know about how hatred and racism breeds. If we can teach them about sex we can teach them about racism. Let the teachers go!
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By: TINY on 10/23/2007 11:27AM
This has been beat to death (pardon the pun). I agree to a point with Lneal, you can stomp someone to death wearing sneakers, you can stomp someone to death with bare feet, if that is what your intention is. I agree, the issue is not the sneakers, but the way justice was meeted out to all the people involved (black and white). I believe that the teachers should be fired period! What were they thinking? There is enough pictures to show what a person looked like afer they have been hung. As to the suspension with pay, that is a labor law, they have to do that even with the pedophile teachers that are caught, until after an investigation. Blair, Cecil Jones, VJ, Whitey, you just don't get it! Everyone that was involved with that school yard fight should have been arrested, charged with either breach of peace or battery. This was not an attack on one white student, it was a school yard fight between white and black students. Yet the instigators who hung the nooses, initiated the school yard fight were not charged. Then there is the incident of the black student at a party (he was invited/setup) and was beaten so severly, he had broken bones. Yet not one of the white students spent a night in jail or was charged with attempted murder. Why? Remember Columbine and the other school shootings? The only reason that this made national news was because they killed so many! None of the parents that were supplying their children with the arsenal that was used did a day in jail. Look at the innocence project. They spend all their time getting innocent people of all races out of prison for crimes they didn't commit, the majority of which are black. Until we recognize that blacks are more likely to be incarcerated for any type of crime than whites, do more time, than whites, are subject to more prejudical treatment than whites, things are never going to change. Until we recognize that people like Imus, the guy that played Kramer, Mel Gibson, Jesse Jackson didn't just have a lapse in judgment and make the statements that they did or anyone else for that matter; we will constantly be looking at such incidents. We all have to change history, not repeat it.
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By: ME!!! on 10/23/2007 12:42PM
OK I DO BELIEVE A SHOE IS A DEADLY WEAPON.......AND I ALSO BELIEVE THAT A SHOTGUN IS ONE ALSO, SO WHEN ARE THE TEENAGERS WHO PULLED A SHOTGUN ON THE BLACK STUDENTS GONNA BE ARRESTED, AND CHARGED WITH USING A DEADLY WEAPON???
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By: synney on 12/07/2007 11:35PM
Our African American communities first and foremost need to seriously get ourselves together. Yes we have racism in this country and it is very real. However don't come together on only selected issues that we face as a race lets come together on all aspects of all our issues that we are facing. When we learn to respect each other maybe white america will respect us. We are meant to be here regardless of what white america thinks of us, the thing is what do we think of ourselves. I'm not scared because people are hanging nooses all over the place, more scared that someone of my own race will hang me first.
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By: Linda on 10/23/2007 11:00PM
I don't understand the comment made about exposing the children to racism. I see it daily. Do you live in a world without racism? I think there is nothing wrong with what the teachers did. The noose is a "hot topic" right now, I think had this been at any other time it would not have been an issue or "news worthy".
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By: JazzeQ on 10/23/2007 11:34PM
The other day I presented the issue of the Jena SIx with my classmates as a school-based discussion. I asked them if they thought that racism still existed. And they responded that racism is not so much the issue its segreagation between races and now even cultures. See we are quick to judge a white man for racism but we forget that we amongst ourselves discriminate others of the same race. In order for the change to take place we must change the community around us, but remember that the change starts within ourselves. I agree with y'all when y'all stated that everybody involved should be arrested that is correct. Offensive or self-defensive both groups were pretty much involved and carrying on. We have to stop looking at these issues on a racist view. In a larger sense, the way we are treating this matter we are telling these white kids and other races that it is okay to go out there and threaten or beat another child because they are of different race. We need to treat the matter with precaution and punish those who deserve to be punished based on the law. See America and all of its founded documents promise freedom for all and tell you that all men are created equal but on the other hand does it follow these principles? that's a no. We often face the subject that kids nowadays don't want to stand up for the pledge of allegiance. But do the pledge actually supports what it stands for "One Nation under God, indivisible for liberty and justice for all." So what is the concern we are facing. The lack of justice for our people. Abraham Lincoln stated in the Gettysburg Address that "a government of the people, for the people, by the people shall not perish on the earth." But is this governemnt really representing it's people. Put all of that into perspective when we are facing problems like this in our communities. Racism needs to be seen in a larger sense stop downsizing the real issues of this matter. Give the issue the attention that it needs so we can change. Will racism ever end? NO. But we can avoid it throughout life. As a teenager I never seen slavery through my own eyes but I can imagine the pain my ancestors suffered. i thank those who paved the way because they truly did make a difference and now we have somewhat something called liberty.
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By: Beatrice on 11/07/2007 8:41PM
I can't believe a teacher, let alone more than one, thought this would actually be a good idea. Especially with kindergarteners and first graders. It's too much when you're that young. I know that I would be the first parent in that school office giving them a piece of my mind if they had used my child in the demonstration without my permission. You can't just put people's kids in a noose. They should have just had the march and left it at that.
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