30 August, 2007 Jena Six Since some people couldn't find my links helpful, I've decided to give a spot on my blog to the Jena Six, starting with this YouTube! video
The Jena Six
I was listening to the Steve Harvey Morning Show when they brought up the Jena Six. I had not heard of them. I thought initially it was a new music group.
As Tommy read the e-mail, I was displeased to learn that the Jena Six is six black teens being charged with outrageous accusations in Jena, Louisiana.
Here’s a brief history of the case:
Last updated July 18, 2007 5:02 p.m. PT It's still about race in Jena, La. AMY GOODMAN SYNDICATED COLUMNIST Last week in Detroit, the NAACP held a mock funeral for the N-word. But a chilling case in Louisiana shows us how far we have to go to bury racism. This story begins in the small, central Louisiana town of Jena. Last September, a black high school student requested the school's permission to sit beneath a broad, leafy tree in the hot schoolyard. Until then, only white students sat there. The next morning, three nooses were hanging from the tree. The black students responded en masse. Justin Purvis, the kid who first sat under the tree, told filmmaker Jacquie Soohen: 'They said, 'Y'all want to go stand under the tree?' We said, 'Yeah.' They said, 'If you go, I'll go. If you go, I'll go.' One person went, the next person went, everybody else just went.' Then the police and the district attorney showed up. Substitute teacher Michelle Rogers recounts: 'District Attorney Reed Walters proceeded to tell those kids that 'I could end your lives with the stroke of a pen.' ' It wouldn't happen for a few more months, but that is exactly what the district attorney is trying to do. Jena, a community of 4,000, is about 85 percent white. While the black community gathered at a church to respond, others didn't see the significance. Soohen interviewed Jena town librarian Barbara Murphy, who reflected: 'The nooses? I don't even know why they were there, what they were supposed to mean. There's pranks all the time, of one type or another, going on. And it just didn't seem to be racist to me.' Tensions rose. Robert Bailey, a black student, was beaten up at a white party. Then, a few nights later, Robert and two others were threatened by a white man with a sawed-off shotgun, at a convenience store. They wrestled the gun away and fled. Robert's mother, Caseptla Bailey, said: 'I know they were in fear of their lives. They were afraid that this man was going to shoot them, you know, especially in the back, running away from the scene.' The next day, Dec. 4, 2006, a fight broke out at the school. A white student was injured, taken to the hospital and released. Robert Bailey and five other black students were charged ... with second-degree attempted murder. They each faced 100 years in prison. The black community was reeling. Independent journalist Jordan Flaherty was the first to break the story nationally. He explained: 'I'm sure it was a serious fight, and I'm sure it deserved real discipline within the school system, but he (the white student) was out later that day. He was smiling. He was with friends ... it was a serious school problem that came on the heels of a long series of other events ... as soon as black students were involved, that's when the hammer came down.' The African American community began to call them the Jena Six. The first to be tried was Mychal Bell, 17 years old and a talented football player, looking forward to a university scholarship. Bell was offered a plea deal, but refused. His father, Marcus Jones, took a few minutes off from work to talk to me: 'Here in LaSalle Parish, whenever a black man is offered a plea bargain, he is innocent. That's a dead giveaway here in the South.' Right before the trial, the charges of attempted second-degree murder were lowered to aggravated battery, which under Louisiana law requires a dangerous weapon. The weapon? Tennis shoes. Mychal Bell was convicted by an all-white jury. His court-appointed defense attorney called no witnesses. Bell will be sentenced on July 31, facing a possible 22 years. The remaining five teens, several of whom were jailed for months, unable to make bail, still face attempted second-degree murder charges and a hundred years each in prison. Flaherty, who grew up in New Orleans, sums up the case of the Jena Six: 'I don't think there is anyone around that would doubt that if this had been a fight between black students or a fight of white students beating up a black student, you would never be seeing this. It's completely about race. It's completely about two systems of justice.' Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco gained national prominence during Hurricane Katrina. There's another hurricane that's devastating the lives of her constituents: racism. The families of the Jena Six are asking her to intervene. The district attorney says he can end the boys' lives with his pen. But Blanco's pen is mightier. She should wield it, now, for justice for the Jena Six. Amy Goodman is the host of 'Democracy Now!,' a daily international TV/radio news hour.
(quoted from http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/324177_amygoodman19.html)
Southern Discomfort By ALICE WOODWARD On a late summer day in 2006, in Jena, Louisiana, a Black high school student asked permission to sit beneath the 'white tree' in front of the town's high school. It was unspoken law that this shady area was for whites only during school breaks. But a student asked, and the vice principal said nothing was stopping them. So Black students sat underneath the tree, challenging the established authority of segregation and racism. The next day, hanging from the tree, were three ropes, in school colors, each tied to make a noose. The events set in motion by those nooses led to a schoolyard fight. And that fight led to the conviction, on June 28, 2007, of a Black student at Jena High School for charges that can bring up to 22 years in prison. Mychal Bell, a 16-year-old sophomore football star at the time he was arrested, was convicted by an all-white jury, without a single witness being called on his behalf. And five more Black students in Jena still face serious charges stemming from the fight. * * * Caseptla Bailey, a Black community leader and mother of one of the Black students, told the London Observer, 'To us those nooses meant the KKK, they meant, 'Niggers, we're going to kill you, we're going to hang you till you die.'' The attack was brushed off as a 'youthful stunt.' The three white students responsible, given only three days of in-school suspension. In response to the incident, several Black students, among them star players on the football team, staged a sit-in under the tree. The principal reacted by bringing in the white district attorney, Reed Walters, and 10 local police officers to an all-school assembly. Marcus Jones, Mychal Bell's father, described the assembly to Revolution: 'Now remember, with everything that goes on at Jena High School, everybody's separated. The only time when Black and white kids are together is in the classroom and when they playing sports together. During lunch time, Blacks sit on one side, whites sit on the other side of the cafeteria. During canteen time, Blacks sit on one side of the campus, whites sit on the other side of the campus. 'At any activity done in the auditorium-anything-Blacks sit on one side, whites on the other side, okay? The DA tells the principal to call the students in the auditorium. They get in there. The DA tells the Black students, he's looking directly at the Black students-remember, whites on one side, Blacks on the other side-he's looking directly at the Black students. He told them to keep their mouths shut about the boys hanging their nooses up. If he hears anything else about it, he can make their lives go away with the stroke of his pen.' DA Walters concluded that the students should 'work it out on their own.' Police officers roamed the halls of the school that week, and tensions simmered throughout the fall semester. In November, as football season came to a close, the main school building was mysteriously burned to the ground. This traumatic event seemed to bring to the surface the boiling racial tensions in Jena. On a Friday night, Robert Bailey, a 17-year-old Black student and football player, was invited to a dance at a hall considered to be 'white.' When he walked in, without warning he was punched in the face, knocked on the ground and attacked by a group of white youth. Only one of the white youth was arrested-he was ultimately given probation and asked to apologize. The night after that, a 22-year-old white man, along with two friends, pulled a gun on Bailey and two of his friends at a local gas station. The Black youths wrestled the gun from him to prevent him from using it. They were arrested and charged with theft, and the white man went free. The following Monday students returned to school. In the midst of a confrontation between a white student, Justin Barker, and a Black student, Robert Bailey-where Bailey was taunted for having been beaten up that weekend-a chaotic fray ensued. Barker was allegedly knocked down, punched, and kicked by a number of Black students. He was taken to the hospital for a few hours and was seen out socializing later that evening. Six Black students-Robert Bailey Junior, Theo Shaw, Carwin Jones, Bryant Purvis, Mychal Bell, and a still unidentified minor, allegedly the attackers of Justin Barker-were arrested, charged with attempted second degree manslaughter, and expelled from school.
White Supremacy Then and Now This did not all happen in the 'Red Summer' of 1919 when Jim Crow segregation thrived, and Blacks in major cities faced race riots that raged throughout the country. This did not occur in the 1950s after Brown vs. Board of Education was decided in 1954 and young children faced angry white mobs to make history in desegregating public schools. This did not happen in the summer of 1955 when, in Money, Mississippi, a vibrant Black youth by the name of Emmett Till was brutally murdered for whistling at a white woman. This did not occur in 1960, when on February 1 four Black college students sat in at a 'white only' lunch counter, demanding service and launching the civil rights movement to another level. This did not happen during the period 1865 to 1965 during which 3,446 Black people were lynched in the United States. This is now. When three white students in Jena committed this hate crime, hanging three nooses from the 'white tree,' they evoked the ugly history of slavery, segregation, lynching, and police brutality to threaten the lives of Black students at their school. The 'white tree' stands in Jena, Louisiana. The Jena 6, as the Black students have come to be called, are in prison and on trial for defending themselves against white supremacist attacks. The Jena 6 were arrested in December 2006. The outrageously high bail ranged from $70,000-$138,000, leaving most of them stuck in jail for months. The first student to go to trial this June was Mychal Bell, who waited behind bars, unable to post bail. Like a scene from the Jim Crow South, he was judged by an all-white jury, in a courtroom run by a white judge. Whites sat with Justin Barker and his white lawyer on one side. Blacks sat with defendant Mychal Bell, who was represented by a court-appointed attorney. The prosecutor called 16 witnesses, mostly white students. The court-appointed defense attorney called none. Accounts of the incident, who was involved, and who did what, vary highly, including whether Mychal Bell was the one who first punched Justin Barker. Barker's attorney argued that Bell's tennis shoes on his feet were a 'dangerous weapon.' The trial was so outrageous that when a Louisiana TV station polled viewers, 62% said that Mychal Bell was not getting a fair trial. Mychal Bell was convicted of two felonies: aggravated second-degree battery and conspiracy to commit aggravated second-degree battery. He faces up to 22 years in prison. The remaining five defendants await their trials.
Standing Up to Racism Few people in the United States have heard of the case of the Jena 6. But the trial was covered by the French newspaper Le Monde, and the BBC aired a documentary on the case. The London Observer reported on the Jena 6 story. Family, friends, and supporters of the young men are protesting and struggling to free the Jena 6. The Black community in Jena and people from across Louisiana and Texas have come together to support the Jena 6 and fight the injustice of their trials. People have put their lives on hold, and churches have opened their doors. The Jena 6 and their supporters are defiant and continue to be under attack. Marcus Jones described the most recent event: 'Thursday night we had an NAACP meeting here at the church. The next day, in the morning, the pastor goes to his church and somebody just clean ran through his church yard, knocked his sign down, ran over back and forth on it with they truck, and just took off, you know. People report it to the police (laughs). What good they gonna do here, I don't know.' The majority of Jena's estimated 385 Black people live in an area of town known as Ward 10. Many homes there are trailers or wooden shacks. Rubbish lies in the streets. Only two Black families live in the all white middle class suburban area of Jena. An article in the Observer recounts how one of them bought a house: 'A teacher from Jena High had enough money to buy his way in. But when he arrived local estate agents refused to show him a 'white' property even though several were advertised in the local paper ('they're all under contract,' the agents lied). The teacher eventually went to see one white owner and offered him cash. 'The guy preferred green [dollars] to Black, so I got the property,' laughed the teacher, 'but since we moved in three years ago we haven't been invited by a single neighbor.'' The 'white tree' stands in Jena, Louisiana today while entire neighborhoods and precious lives in the 9th ward of New Orleans are left wasting away, even as the more profitable and less Black areas of the city are rebuilt. It stands while a father, a mother, a fiancée, a child, and many friends are still feeling the devastating loss of Sean Bell who was murdered by the NYPD. It stands while the Rutgers University basketball team gets subjected to racist and sexist verbal assault from a national talk show host. While the N word is spouted with rage by a comedian. In a world such as this, there's nothing left to do but pull this tree up by its roots and get rid of it for good. Alice Woodward writes for Revolution. For more on the Jena 6 visit Friends of Justice at http://friendsofjustice.wordpress.com/ On youtube.com, search for 'Jena Six, A photo story.'
(quoted from http://www.counterpunch.org/woodward07102007.html)
Wikipedia References
Jena Six refers to a group of six African-American teenagers who are charged with attempted second-degree murder after a fight with a white teenager in Jena, Louisiana. Critics including Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton have claimed that their arrests were racially motivated.
The 'white tree' At Jena High School, students of different races customarily seldom sat together. Black students traditionally sat on bleachers near the auditorium, while white students sat under a large shade tree, referred to as the 'white tree,' in the center of the school courtyard.[1]
During a school assembly on August 31, 2006, a black male freshman student asked permission from the principal to sit in the shade of the 'white tree.'[2] According to the recounting of events given by U.S. Attorney Donald Washington, the question was posed in a 'jocular fashion.'[3] The principal told the students they could 'sit wherever they wanted.'[2] The following morning, three nooses were discovered hanging from the tree. Anthony Jackson, one of two black teachers at the high school, recalled, 'I jokingly said to another teacher, 'One's for you, one's for me. Who's the other one for?'' Jena's principal learned that three white students were responsible and recommended expulsion. The board of education overruled his recommendation, to which Superintendent Roy Breithaupt agreed. The punishment was reduced to three days of in-school suspension.[1][4] The school superintendent was quoted as saying, 'Adolescents play pranks. I don't think it was a threat to anybody.'[citation needed] Black residents of Jena claim that this decision stoked racial tensions that led to subsequent events.[4] The school district and parents who were aware of the incident did not report it to the police or any legal authority, though such incidents may be prosecuted as federal hate crimes by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.[3]
District Attorney Reed Walters and the 'pen statement' Accounts differ as to what happened afterward. According to some accounts, on September 5, a number of black students organized a peaceful sit-in under the white tree in response to the commuted punishment of the perpetrators. The protest was then dispersed by police.[5][6] U.S. Attorney Washington, speaking in July 2007, he could find no confirmation of this protest occurring. He could confirm that police were called to the school several times in the days after the noose incident in response to a rash of interracial fights between students.[3]
The principal called an impromptu assembly on September 6, in which students segregated themselves into white and black sections. The Jena Police Department asked LaSalle Parish District Attorney Reed Walters to attend and speak at the assembly. Walters was unhappy with the request because he was busy preparing for a case and, upon arrival, felt that the students were not paying proper attention to him.[3] Walters is alleged to have threatened the protesters if they didn't stop fussing over an 'innocent prank' and to have stated, 'See this pen? I can end your lives with the stroke of a pen.' Black students state that Walters looked specifically at members of the black audience as he said this. Walters and school board member Billy Fowler, also present, deny that the comments were specifically directed at black students.[1] Nevertheless, police began patrolling the halls of Jena High on September 7 and the day after, the school was declared to be in total lockdown.[citation needed]
On September 10, several dozen black students attempted to address the school board concerning the recent events but were refused because the board was of the opinion that 'the noose issue' had been adequately resolved.[7] Racial tensions and fights continued through the fall but were held in check by the ongoing football season. The high school team was doing unusually well, in large part due to efforts of several star black players, and students were unwilling to do anything to upset the season.[1]
Events prior to the Jena Six assault On 30 November 2006, the main building of the high school was set on fire. The building was gutted and had to be later demolished. Blacks and whites accused each other of the arson.[1][8]
On Friday, December 1, there was a private party, attended mostly by whites, at the Fair Barn. Five black youths, including 16-year-old Robert Bailey, attempted to enter the party at about 11pm. According to U.S. Attorney Washington, they were told by a woman that they were not allowed inside without an invitation. The five youths persisted, stating that some friends were already in attendance at the party. A white man, who was not a student,[3] then jumped in front of the woman and instigated a fight. After the fight was broken up, the woman told both the white man and five black youths to leave the party. Once outside, the black students were involved in another fight with a group of white men, who also were not students.[3] Police were then called to investigate. Several months later, Justin Sloan, a white male, was charged with simple battery for his role in the fight and was put on probation. Bailey later stated that one of the white men had broken a beer bottle over his head,[4] but there are no records of medical treatment being given.[3]
The following day, an incident apparently stemming from this fight occured at a local convenience store. A student who had attended the party encountered Bailey and several friends. An argument ensued, after which the white student ran to his pickup truck and produced a pistol-grip shotgun. Bailey ran after the white student and wrestled him for control of the gun. Bailey's friends intervened in the scuffle and took the gun away. Bailey refused to return it and ultimately took it home with him. Local police reported that the accounts of the white student and black students contradicted each other and formed a report based on testimony taken from eyewitnesses. This resulted in Bailey being charged with three counts: theft of a firearm, second-degree robbery and disturbing the peace. The white student who had produced the weapon was not charged.[1][3]
Jena Six assault The following Monday, December 4, a white student named Justin Barker, aged 17, loudly discussed - 'bragged,' as characterized by National Public Radio - how Bailey had been beaten up by a white man that Friday night. When Barker walked out of the school gymnasium into the courtyard later that day, he was assaulted by Bailey and five other black students, and was temporarily knocked unconscious. The concussion he suffered has been described in the media as resulting either from a punch to the face or from hitting his head on concrete when thrown to the ground. While on the ground, Barker was kicked repeatedly. Barker was examined by a doctor at the local hospital.[2][1] After two hours of treatment and observation for his concussion and an eye that had swollen shut, Barker was discharged in time to go to the school Ring Ceremony that evening.[4] In the meantime the six black students, eventually dubbed the 'Jena Six', were arrested.
Trial, prosecution, and legal proceedings The six students were initially charged with aggravated assault. However, District Attorney Walters increased the charges to attempted second-degree murder, provoking protests from black residents that the charges, which could result in the defendants being imprisoned past age 50, were disproportional to the crime.[4]
On June 26, 2007, the first day of trial for defendant Mychal Bell, Walters suddenly agreed to reduce the charges for Bell to aggravated second-degree battery and conspiracy to commit aggravated second-degree battery.[9] A charge of aggravated battery requires the use of a 'deadly weapon'. Walters thus argued that the tennis shoes that Bell was wearing and used to kick Barker were deadly weapons, an argument with which the all-white jury agreed. Bell was found guilty and will face the possibility of up to 22 years in prison when he is sentenced on September 20, 2007.
The case is currently in dispute as the court-appointed public defender did not call a single witness in his attempt to defend Bell.[10]
As of June 26, 2007 there is no word as to whether the charges of the other five defendants will be reduced.
In late July, U.S. Attorney Donald Washington noted the lack of connection between the noose incident and the beating at Jena High school, noting that the more than 40 statements all failed to mention the noose incident.[3]
Bell's new defense attorneys, Louis Scott and Carol Powell-Lexing, plan to request that a new trial be held on the grounds that Bell should not have been tried as an adult and that the trial should have been held in another parish.[11]
Public Outcry In the wake of these events, numerous groups in support of the 'Jena Six' and against the way the cases were and are being handled have appeared on social networking site Facebook[12], as well as an online petition circulating [1] boasting over 96,000 signatures as of August, 2007[13]
References ^ a b c d e f g 'Beating Charges Split La. Town Along Racial Lines' by Wade Goodwyn, All Things Considered for National Public Radio, 30 July 2007 ^ a b c 'Stealth racism' stalks deep South by Tom Mangold, BBC News, 16 August 2007 ^ a b c d e f g h i 'Official sought to clear up 'Jena Six' 'misinformation'' by Abbey Brown, The Town Talk (Alexandria-Pineville, Louisiana), 31 July 2007 ^ a b c d e La. Town Fells 'White Tree,' but Tension Runs Deep by Darryl Fears, The Washington Post, 4 August 2007 ^ The Case of the Jena Six. Retrieved on 2007-08-21. ^ Bill Quigley. Injustice in Jena as Nooses Hang from the 'White Tree'. Retrieved on 2007-08-21. ^ Kam Williams. Tragedy: Jena's 'White's Only' Tree. Retrieved on 2007-08-21. ^ 'Photo gallery of demolition', The Jena Times, undated ^ 'Charges Reduced for Student in La. Fight' by Mary Foster, Associated Press via The Guardian, 27 June 2007 ^ Witt, Howard. 'Louisiana teen guilty in school beating case; Witnesses provide conflicting testimony', Chicago Tribune, 2007-06-29. Retrieved on 2006-07-16. ^ Mary Foster. King calls for support for `Jena Six’. Retrieved on 2007-08-19. ^ Facebook. Facebook groups for 'Jena 6'. Retrieved on 2007-08-28. ^ Thomas McNamara. Jena 6 Online Petition. Retrieved on 2007-08-28..
(quoted from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jena_Six)
Injustice in Jena as Nooses Hang From the 'White Tree'
By Bill Quigley
t r u t h o u t | Report 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 jena6defense@gmail.com; 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 is a human-rights lawyer and law professor at Loyola University in New Orleans. You can reach him at Quigley@loyno.edu. Audrey Stewart contributed to this article. -------
I honestly have no more to add to this. The articles speak for themselves.
There is an online petition to free the Jena Six at http://www.petitiononline.com/aZ51CqmR/petition.html
I have signed it and passed it on to everyone in my contact list that I thought might agree.
It’s time for people to grow up and realize that we are ALL God’s children.
Yes, I do realize that there are some incinsistencies in the news articles, but you get the idea. There is injustice in the Deep South. It's racial. And it needs to stop.
And you will excuse me, I need to go take my lethal weapons and put them in the closet ;)
20 May, 2007 Daffodil Prinicple Several times my daughter had telephoned to say, 'Mother, you must come to see the daffodils before they are over.' I wanted to go, but it was a two-hour drive from Laguna to Lake Arrowhead 'I will come next Tuesday', I promised a little reluctantly on her third call. Next Tuesday dawned cold and rainy. Still, I had promised, and reluctantly I drove there. When I finally walked into Carolyn's house I was welcomed by the joyful sounds of happy children. I delightedly hugged and greeted my grandchildren. 'Forget the daffodils, Carolyn! The road is invisible in these clouds and fog, and there is nothing in the world except you and these children that I want to see badly enough to drive another inch!'
My daughter smiled calmly and said, 'We drive in this all the time, Mother.' 'Well, you won't get me back on the road until it clears, and then I'm heading for home!' I assured her. 'But first we're going to see the daffodils. It's just a few blocks,' Carolyn said. 'I'll drive. I'm used to this.' 'Carolyn,' I said sternly, 'please turn around.' 'It's all right, Mother, I promise. You will never forgive yourself if you miss this experience.' After about twenty minutes, we turned onto a small gravel road and I saw a small church. On the far side of the church, I saw a hand lettered sign with an arrow that read, 'Daffodil Garden.' We got out of the car, each took a child's hand, and I followed Carolyn down the path. Then, as we turned a corner, I looked up and gasped. Before me lay the most glorious sight. It looked as though someone had taken a great vat of gold and poured it over the mountain peak and its surrounding slopes. The flowers were planted in majestic, swirling patterns, great ribbons and swaths of deep orange, creamy white, lemon yellow, salmon pink, and saffron and butter yellow. Each different-colored variety was planted in large groups so that it swirled and flowed like its own river with its own unique hue. There were five acres of flowers. 'Who did this?' I asked Carolyn. 'Just one woman,' Carolyn answered. 'She lives on the property. That's her home.' Carolyn pointed to a well-kept A-frame house, small and modestly sitting in the midst of all that glory. We walked up to the house. On the patio, we saw a poster. 'Answers to the Questions I Know You Are Asking', was the headline. The first answer was a simple one. '50,000 bulbs,' it read. The second answer was, 'One at a time, by one woman. Two hands, two feet, and one brain.' The third answer was, 'Began in 1958.' For me, that moment was a life-changing experience. I thought of this woman whom I had never met, who, more than forty years before, had begun, one bulb at a time, to bring her vision of beauty and joy to an obscure mountaintop. Planting one bulb at a time, year after year, this unknown woman had forever changed the world in which she lived. One day at a time, she had created something of extraordinary magnificence, beauty, and inspiration. The principle her daffodil garden taught is one of the greatest principles of celebration. That is, learning to move toward our goals and desires one step at a time--often just one baby-step at time--and learning to love the doing, learning to use the accumulation of time. When we multiply tiny pieces of time with small increments of daily effort, we too will find we can accomplish magnificent things. We can change the world ...
'It makes me sad in a way,' I admitted to Carolyn. 'What might I have accomplished if I had thought of a wonderful goal thirty-five or forty years ago and had worked away at it 'one bulb at a time' through all those years? Just think what I might have been able to achieve!' My daughter summed up the message of the day in her usual direct way. 'Start tomorrow,' she said. She was right. It's so pointless to think of the lost hours of yesterdays. The way to make learning a lesson of celebration instead of a cause for regret is to only ask, 'How can I put this to use today?' Use the Daffodil Principle. Stop waiting.....
Until your car or home is paid off Until you get a new car or home Until your kids leave the house Until you go back to school Until you finish school Until you clean the house Until you organize the garage Until you clean off your desk Until you lose 10 lbs. Until you gain 10 lbs. Until you get married Until you get a divorce Until you have kids Until the kids go to school Until you retire Until summer Until spring Until winter Until fall Until you die...
There is no better time than right now to be happy. Happiness is a journey, not a destination. So work like you don't need money. Love like you've never been hurt, and, Dance like no one's watching. If you want to brighten someone's day, pass this on to someone special. I just did! Wishing you a beautiful, daffodil day
This is probably the most hosting I have done in a while, but it's worth the time. We live in one of the wealthiest countries and act like 2 year olds. Just think about it before you flame me.
A very attractive blonde woman from Texas arrived at a casino and bt twenty thousand dollars ($20,000) on a single roll of the dice. She said, 'I hope y'all don't mind, but I feel much luckier when I'm completely nude.'
With that, she stripped from the neck down, rolled the dice and yelled, 'Come on, baby, Mama needs new clothes!'
As the dice came to a stop she jumped up and down and squealed... 'YES! YES! I WON, I WON!'
She hugged each of the dealers and then picked up her winnings and her clothes and quickly departed. The dealers stared at each other dumbfounded.
Finally, one of them asked, 'What did she roll?' The other answered, 'I don't know - I thought you were watching.'
Moral - Not all Texans are stupid and not all blondes are dumb, but all men are men.
A husband wrote the following letter for his wife and left it on the dining room table:
To My Dear Wife,
You will surely understand that I have certain needs that you, being 54 years old, can no longer satisfy. I am very happy with you and I value you as a good wife. Therefore, after reading this letter, I hope that you will not wrongly interpret the fact that I will be spending the evening with my 18 year old secretary at the Comfort Inn Hotel.
Please don't be upset - I shall be home before midnight.
When the man came home late that night, he found the following letter on the dining room table:
'My Dear Husband,
I received your letter and thank you for your honesty about my being 54 years old. I would like to take this opportunity to remind you that you are also 54 years old. As you know, I am a math teacher at our local college.
I would like to inform you that while you read this, I will be at the Hotel Fiesta with Michael, one of my students, who is also the assistant tennis coach. He is young, virile, and like your secretary, is 18 years old. As a successful businessman who has an excellent knowledge of Math, you will understand that we are in the same situation, although with one small difference:
18 goes into 54 a lot more times than 54 goes into 18!!!
Therefore, I will not be home until sometime tomorrow.'
Only a Southerner knows the difference between a hissie fit and a conniption fit, and that you don't 'HAVE' them, you 'PITCH' them. _____
Only a Southerner knows how many fish, collard greens, turnip greens, peas, beans, etc., make up 'a mess.' _____
Only a Southerner can show or point out to you the general direction of 'yonder.' _____
Only a Southerner knows exactly how long 'directly' is, ... as in: 'Going to town, be back directly.' _____
Even Southern babies know that 'Gimme some sugar' is not a request for the white, granular sweet substance that sits in a pretty little bowl in the middle of the table. _____
All Southerners know exactly when 'by and by' is. They might not use the term, but they know the concept well. _____
Only a Southerner knows instinctively that the best gesture of solace for a neighbor who's got trouble is a plate of hot fried chicken and a big bowl of cold potato salad. If the neighbor's trouble is a real crisis, they also know to add a large banana puddin! _____
Only Southerners grow up knowing the difference between 'right near' and 'a right far piece.' They also know that 'just down the road' can be 1 mile or 20. _____
Only a Southerner, both knows and understands, the difference between a redneck, a good ol' boy, and po' white trash. _____
No true Southerner would ever assume that the car with the flashing turn signal is actually going to make a turn. _____
A Southerner knows that 'fixin' can be used as a noun, a verb, or an adverb. _____
Only Southerners make friends while standing in lines, ... and when we're 'in line,' . we talk to everybody! _____
Put 100 Southerners in a room and half of them will discover they're related, even if only by marriage. _____
In the South, y'all is singular, .... all y'all is plural. _____
Southerners know grits come from corn and how to eat them. _____
Every Southerner knows tomatoes with eggs, bacon, grits, and coffee are perfectly wonderful; that red eye gravy is also a breakfast food; and that fried green tomatoes are not a breakfast food. _____
When you hear someone say, 'Well, I caught myself lookin',' you know you are in the presence of a genuine Southerner! _____
Only true Southerners say 'sweet tea' and 'sweet milk.' Sweet tea indicates the need for sugar and lots of it -- we do not like our tea unsweetened. 'Sweet milk' means you don't want buttermilk. _____
And a true Southerner knows you don't scream obscenities at little old ladies who drive 30 MPH on the freeway. You just say,'Bless her heart' ... and go your own way. _____
To those of you who are still a little embarrassed by your Southerness: Take two tent revivals and a dose of sausage gravy and call me in the morning. Bless your heart! _____
And to those of you who are still having a hard time understanding all this Southern stuff, ... bless your hearts, I hear they are fixin' to have classes on Southernness as a second language! _____
And for those that are not from the South but have lived here for a long time, all y'all need a sign to hang on y'alls front porch that reads 'I ain't from the South, but I got here as fast as I could.' ____
Ok, I wasn't going to post this origianlly, but I fell that I must now. This first e-mail was sent to me by a member from Squizzle.
Thoughts on Immigration from a Teacher's Husband
Passing on as received.
Subject: Something You Won't Read About In the Papers During the Immigration Debate
As you all listen to the news about the student protests over illegal immigration there are some things that you should be aware of. My wife is in charge of the English-as-a-second-language department at large southern California high school which is designated a Title 1 school, meaning that its students average lower socioeconomic and income levels.
Most of the schools you are hearing about South Gate High, Bell Gardens, Huntington Park, etc., where these students are protesting are also Title 1 schools. My wife tells me that 100% of the students in her school and other Title 1 schools are on the free breakfast, free lunch program.
When I say free breakfast I'm not talking a glass of milk and roll... but a full breakfast and cereal bar with fruits and juices that would make a Marriott proud. The waste of this food is monumental, with trays and trays of it being dumped in the trash uneaten. She estimates that well over 50% of these students are obese or at least moderately overweight. About 75% or more DO have cell phones.
The school also provides day care centers for the unwed teenage pregnant girls (some as young as 13) so they can attend class without the inconvenience of having to arrange for baby-sitters or having family watch their kids.
She was ordered to spend $700,000 on her department or risk losing funding for the upcoming year even though there was little need for anything; her budget was already substantial. She ended up buying new computers for their computer learning center. Half of which, one month later, have been carved with graffiti by the appreciative students who obviously feel humbled and grateful to have a free education in America.
She has had to intervene several times for young and substitute teachers whose classes consist of many illegal immigrant students here in the country less then 3 months who raised so much hell with the female teachers, calling them 'Putas'--whores--and throwing things that the teachers were in tears.
Free medical, free education, free food, day care etc.. etc.. etc.. Is it any wonder they feel entitled to not only be in this country but to demand rights, privileges and entitlements?
To my bleeding-heart liberal friends who want to point out how much these illegal immigrants contribute to our society because they LIKE their gardener and housekeeper and they like to pay less for tomatoes: spend some time in the real world of illegal immigration and see the TRUE costs. Higher insurance, Medical facilities closing, higher medical , more crime , lower standards of education in our schools , overcrowding, new diseases etc.. etc.. etc.. For me--- I'll pay more for tomatoes.
We need to wake up. The guest worker program will be a disaster because we won't have the guts to enforce it. Does anyone in their right mind really think they will leave and return voluntarily?
There are many hardworking Hispanic/American citizens that contribute to our country and many that I consider my true friends. We should encourage and accept those Hispanics who have done it the right and legal way. It does, however, have everything to do with culture. A third-world culture that does not value education, that accepts children getting pregnant and dropping out of school by 15 and that refuses to assimilate... and an American culture that has become so weak and politically correct that we don't have the will to do anything about it.
If this makes your blood boil, as it did mine, forward this to everyone you know.
Sure thought provoking.
I forwarded the e-mail to a few of my friends, and one of them was kind enough to send me this response:
Im really shocked and amazed that you would agree with such racist, bigotted, rhetoric. Until a person has lived like some of the people that you and your friends are talking about, or at least seen the conditions in which they live, they can't really make a fair judgement. I also think that it is wrong to group everyone who is here illegally in the same category. Not all illegals are drug dealers, or gang bangers. Do any of the characterizations mentioned in this email remind you of things that people say about another race of people? So just remember, there is good and bad in every race, and socioeconomic group. And there is good and bad in immigrants, whether they be here legally or illegally. Your friend failed to mention the people from Canada or Europe that are here illegally. I read a story in the Free Press a few weeks ago written by a lady from Ireland who had been here illegally for years and nothing was said or done to her. She even admitted that because her skin was light, she was accepted. She also told of the networks that exsist to help people like her (from Canada and Europe) stay here illegally forever and never get caught. Now I ask you, what's the difference in her being here illegally and someone from a Hispanic country being here illegally?
Most humans tend to fear things that don't understand, I guess this is true in this case. The people that are being in this story are misunderstood, and seemingly being grouped together because of their ethnicity. Instead of perpetuating hatred and rascism, we as children of God should be showing love toward others. We can't allow the actions of a few who are involved in criminal activity cause us to think the entire race of people are like that. And please tell me,what illnesses are they supposedly bringing with them? The same ones that killed off most of the native Americans? Hum? Wonder where they came from. I was also offended by the writer's statement about his 'true Hispanic friends who did it right'. That statement sounds just like the one people use when they are trying to convince another that they are not racist, you know, 'one of my best friends is .....' Im sure that you get what I am saying. And I wonder if the writer would want to work for less than minimum wage, risk life and limb, or face any of the other ordeals that many people who are here illegally and some who are here legally have to face simply because of their navtive language or the color of their skin.
So please do me a favor, please don't send me any more emails of this nature. I will not be a party to hatred and racism. Maybe you should take a look at who lives in your house with you and see how you would feel if someone made the same statements about your family that have been made about these people. Im sure it will be an eye opening experience. See as much as you hate to admit or want to accept it, it is a fact that your children will be classified by our society, as a minority and will have to face people like the one who wrote the original piece and the ones who sent it to you and forwarded it to others.
THOUGHT PROVOKING ISN'T IT?
Now for my thoughts.
I do not feel it is right for ANYONE from ANY COUNTRY to enter this country to live illegally. If you can get your butt all the way here, then you can get it to INS to legalize yourself.
I do not feel it is right for children of illegal immigrants to be taking funding that should go towards the education of the children of legal citizens.
I do not feel it is right for illegal immigrants to be taking our jobs. We as Americans need to grow up in that respect and take whatever jobs are available, even if it means pulling tobacco or scrubbing toilets.
I do not feel it is right for an illegal alien to get their $125 prescriptions for a mere $6 as a result of a government program, when I have to pay a $35 co-pay, plus insurance premiums.
I do not feel that it is right for illegal aliens to get free healthcare through an ER and not have to worry about it showing up on a credit report later as an unpaid account.
I can go on and on, but I'm not. I accept people for who they are, but I also feel that everyone has a responsibility to uphold the law. I did not feel the original e-mail was racist or trying to fuel hatred. I felt that it was one person's observation of what is truly going on in the school system while Congress turns a blind eye.
And as far as the dig about my family. Yes, my husband is black. He was also born in America to parents who were born in America, who each had parents who were born in America. ffs
Mother's Day is May 14. Many people do the quick thing and just run to Hallmark and grab a card and then to the florist for some flowers and call it a day. But do you know what the first Mother's Day gift was? It was a mattress. That's right. A mattress. The son knew his mother needed one and he bought it for her. No flowers. No mushy 'I love you, Mom' card.He gave her what she needed most at the time.
How many of us actually spend enough time with our mothers to even know if they need a new mattress, or new anything? How many even know where our mother went today? And do you know if you will even have your mother tomorrow?
***Edit***
I made a mistake. That wasn't the first Mother's Day gift. I read that in a newspaper and found out that is actually false. My apologies. Follow this link to read the history of how Mother's Day started in the United States:
After 21 years of marriage, My wife wanted me to take another woman out to dinner and a movie. She said, 'I love you, but I know this other woman loves you and would love to spend some time with you.'
The other woman that my wife wanted me to visit was my MOTHER, who has been a widow for 19 years, but the demands of my work and my three children had made it possible to visit her only occasionally.
That night I called to invite her to go out for dinner and a movie. 'What's wrong, are you well,' she asked? My mother is the type of woman who suspects that a late night call or a surprise invitation is a sign of bad news.
'I thought that it would be pleasant to spend some time with you, 'I responded. 'Just the two of us.' She thought about it for a moment, and then said, 'I would like that very much.'
That Friday after work, as I drove over to pick her up I was a bit nervous. When I arrived at her house, I noticed that she, too, seemed to be nervous about our date. She waited in the door with her coat on.
She had curled her hair and was wearing the dress that she had worn to celebrate her last we dding anniversary.
She smiled from a face that was as radiant as an angel's. 'I told my friends that I was going to go out with my son, and they were impressed,' she said, as she got into the car. 'They can't wait to hear about our meeting.'
We went to a restaurant that, although not elegant, was very nice and cozy. My mother took my arm as if she were the First Lady.
After we sat down, I had to read the menu. Her eyes could only read large print. Half way through the entries, I lifted my eyes and saw Mom sitting there staring at me. A nostalgic smile was on her lip s.
'It was I who used to have to read the menu when you were small,'she said .
'Then it's time that you relax and let me return the favor,' I responded.
During the dinner, we had an agreeable conversation nothing extraordinary but catching up on recent events of each other's life. We talked so much that we missed the movie.
As we arrived at her house later, she said, 'I'll go out with you again, but only if you let me invite you.' I agreed.
'How was your dinner date?' asked my wife when I got home . 'Very nice. Much more so than I could have imagined,' I answered.
A few days later, my mother died of a massive heart attack. It happened so suddenly that I didn't have a chance to do anything for her.
Some time later, I received an envelope with a copy of a restaurant receipt from the same place mother and I had dined. An attached note said: 'I paid this bill in advance. I wasn't sure that I could be there; but nevertheless, I paid for two plates - one for you and the other for your wife. You will never know what that night meant for me. I love you, son.'
At that mo ment, I understood the importance of saying in time: 'I LOVE YOU' and to give our loved ones the time that they deserve.
Nothing in life is more important than your family. Give them the time they deserve, because these things cannot be put off till 'some other time.'
Somebody said it takes about six weeks to get back to normal after you've had a baby .... somebody doesn't know that once you're a mother, 'normal' is history.
Somebody said you learn how to be a mother by instinct ... somebody never took a three-year-old shopping.
Somebody said being a mother is boring ... somebody never rode in a car driven by a teenager with a driver's permit.
Somebody said if you're a 'good' mother, your child will 'turn out good'.... somebody thinks a child comes with directions and a guarantee.
Somebody said 'good' mothers never raise their voices.... somebody never came out the back door just in time to see her child hit a golf ball through the neighbor's kitchen window.
Somebody said you don't need an education to be a mother . somebody never helped a fourth grader with his math.
Somebody said you can't love the second child as much as you love the first .... somebody doesn't have two children.
Somebody said a mother can find all the answers to her child-rearing questions in the books.... somebody never had a child stuff beans up his nose or in his ears.
Somebody said the hardest part of being a mother is labor and delivery.... somebody never watched her 'baby' get on the bus for the first day of kindergarten .. or on a plane headed for military 'boot camp.'
Somebody said a mother can do her job with her eyes closed and one hand tied behind her back ... somebody never organized seven giggling Brownies to sell cookies.
Somebody said a mother can stop worrying after her child gets married.... somebody doesn't know that marriage adds a new son or daughter-in-law to a mother's heartstrings.
Somebody said a mother's job is done when her last child leaves home.... somebody never had grandchildren.
Somebody said your mother knows you love her, so you don't need to tell her.... somebody isn't a mother.
Pass this along to all the 'mothers' in your life, and to everyone who ever had a mother.
This isn't just about being a mother, it's about appreciating the people in your life while you have them.... no matter who that person is.
My husband and I are huge Tekken fans. We really got into the game series when Tekken 3 came out and have been addicted since. We found this on youtube and hope you enjoy it. I posted each segment in order so all you have to do is click on the next one.
**There is a scene that shows Anna Williams naked in the shower. Lep said it was ok. If seeing her will offend you, however, just move on to the next blog. Thanks!!**
