From
Diverse Online (More
that we may not have heard from Poynter’s Al Thompkins or the
mainstream media about this coverage. Please delete if you’re not
interested. Peace, E-K.) Current News
Democratic
lawmakers denounced federal authorities Tuesday for not intervening in the
highly publicized case of six Black high school students charged with the
beating of a White student, citing racist noose-hanging incidents far beyond
the attack in the small The
House Judiciary Committee held a hearing with federal officials and community
activists examining the case of the teenagers known as the Jena Six. The
incident happened after nooses, a symbol of the lynching violence of the
segregation era, were hung from a tree on a high school campus. Democratic
lawmakers, many of them Black, blasted federal authorities for staying out of
the local prosecutor’s case against the six, particularly that of
Mychal Bell, who is currently in jail after a judge decided he violated the
terms of his probation for a previous conviction. “Shame
on you,” Democratic Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee said to Justice Department
officials, directing most of her fury at Donald Washington, the “As
a parent, I’m on the verge of tears,” Jackson Lee said. “Why
didn’t you intervene?” she asked repeatedly, raising her voice
and jabbing her finger in the air as some in the audience began to applaud. Committee
chairman John Conyers, a Democrat, called for quiet before “I
was also offended, I too am an African-American,” Following
that exchange, Conyers pointed out he had invited the local district attorney,
Reed Walters, to testify, but he declined. At that, some in the audience
yelled out, “subpoena him!” Since
the The
Department of Justice has created a task force to handle noose-hanging
investigations in five states. It investigated the Black
lawmakers and activists said more forceful action by the Bush administration
was needed to squelch what they claim is a sharp rise in racism in the The
Rev. Al Sharpton, a New York-based civil rights activist, said that decision
shows unfairness in a criminal justice system that declined to charge White
students for a hate crime because they are minors, but initially chose to
charge the six teens in the beating case as adults. “These
nooses were hung over a year ago sir. So I know that the wheels of justice
turn slow, but they seem to be at a standstill,” said Sharpton.
“That’s why we’re seeing nooses all over The
senior Republican on the panel, Lamar Smith of Several
other Republicans on the panel questioned whether the White beating victim,
Justin Barker, had been forgotten in all the uproar, but Rev. Brian Moran,
president of the More
than 20,000 demonstrators gathered recently in Last
week, a judge sentenced Racial
tensions began rising in --Associated Press There are currently 0 comments on this story.
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