Hendrix continued: “I don’t blame the people of Jena. I blame the Bush administration. They created the climate for incidents like the one that happened here. We’ve got to work against this injustice that is cropping up all across the land.”
Hendrix said he attends a vigil against the Iraq war every Sunday outside the Art Institute in Chicago. “This Iraq war is an unjust war. Bush and Cheney had this was planned before they got into office. How many American soldiers have died in Iraq? How many Iraqis have died?”
Linda Smith, a young white woman, told the World she is an electrician at the Northrop Grumman Ingalls shipyard in Mississippi. She marched with two African American friends. “I was outraged by how these young people are being treated,” she told the World. “They could be my own kids.”
Two other white women, Chastity Foster and Bridget Patrick, the latter holding her little girl Audie, drove down from nearby Monroe. “We came here to show our support for the Jena Six,” Foster told the World. “I’ve seen people get three days in jail for fighting. Mychal Bell has been in jail for 10 months. If the Jena Six are all convicted and sentenced they could get 9,125 days in jail. That’s ridiculous. These are young men who have their whole lives ahead of them.”
She pointed out that hanging nooses from trees and using the “n” word has frightening meaning for African Americans, bringing back fresh memories of KKK lynchings. “There’s a whole history behind that,” she said. “There should be a law against using that word.”
Larry Daniels, a steelworker, drove in from Columbia, S.C., along with five busloads of protesters. He was holding a sign, “United we stand, divided we fall.” He told the World, “I feel that if we all come together, we can make something happen for equal rights. If we are divided, we can’t win anything. We need a piece of the action. This whole country was built on slavery. We need to get something back. We’re here to demand our freedom.”
Later, we were invited to the home of Robert Bailey, one of the Jena Six. The defendants and their families have been instructed by their attorney not to grant media interviews. Yet Bailey and fellow defendant Theo Shaw, both handsome, young men, were there greeting a steady stream of well-wishers who arrived at the modest double-wide mobile home on a tree-lined street. An aunt asked me not to use her name, but she told the World, “It gives us such a good feeling that so many have come here to show support for our young men. I’m proud of my nephew. We are all standing behind them.”
After nooses were found hanging from the limb that morning, Bailey immediately organized a silent vigil, standing under the tree to protest this racist hate crime. It was a courageous act reminiscent of the Black youth who sat in at lunch counters throughout the South in the 1960s to protest segregation.
Instead of honoring his patriotism, authorities threw the book at Bailey and his fellow defendants. The outpouring in Jena, and sympathy protests by thousands more in towns and cities across the nation, Sept. 20, shows these neo-segregationists have reaped the whirlwind.
From People's Weekly World (www.pww.org) greenerpastures21212 @yahoo.com
Hendrix said he attends a vigil against the Iraq war every Sunday outside the Art Institute in Chicago. “This Iraq war is an unjust war. Bush and Cheney had this was planned before they got into office. How many American soldiers have died in Iraq? How many Iraqis have died?”
Linda Smith, a young white woman, told the World she is an electrician at the Northrop Grumman Ingalls shipyard in Mississippi. She marched with two African American friends. “I was outraged by how these young people are being treated,” she told the World. “They could be my own kids.”
Two other white women, Chastity Foster and Bridget Patrick, the latter holding her little girl Audie, drove down from nearby Monroe. “We came here to show our support for the Jena Six,” Foster told the World. “I’ve seen people get three days in jail for fighting. Mychal Bell has been in jail for 10 months. If the Jena Six are all convicted and sentenced they could get 9,125 days in jail. That’s ridiculous. These are young men who have their whole lives ahead of them.”
Larry Daniels, a steelworker, drove in from Columbia, S.C., along with five busloads of protesters. He was holding a sign, “United we stand, divided we fall.” He told the World, “I feel that if we all come together, we can make something happen for equal rights. If we are divided, we can’t win anything. We need a piece of the action. This whole country was built on slavery. We need to get something back. We’re here to demand our freedom.”
Later, we were invited to the home of Robert Bailey, one of the Jena Six. The defendants and their families have been instructed by their attorney not to grant media interviews. Yet Bailey and fellow defendant Theo Shaw, both handsome, young men, were there greeting a steady stream of well-wishers who arrived at the modest double-wide mobile home on a tree-lined street. An aunt asked me not to use her name, but she told the World, “It gives us such a good feeling that so many have come here to show support for our young men. I’m proud of my nephew. We are all standing behind them.”
After nooses were found hanging from the limb that morning, Bailey immediately organized a silent vigil, standing under the tree to protest this racist hate crime. It was a courageous act reminiscent of the Black youth who sat in at lunch counters throughout the South in the 1960s to protest segregation.
Instead of honoring his patriotism, authorities threw the book at Bailey and his fellow defendants. The outpouring in Jena, and sympathy protests by thousands more in towns and cities across the nation, Sept. 20, shows these neo-segregationists have reaped the whirlwind.
From People's Weekly World (www.pww.org) greenerpastures21212 @yahoo.com
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