I heard some of the testimony regarding the Jena 6 case that was give before the House Judiciary committee on Tuesday.  Rep. Sheila Jackson-Lee of Houston was pretty upset about the whole thing. Ryan Grim of The Politico was on hand for the hearing and reports on the tension filled session.  (See Grim's article Jena Six draws volatile mix).  He details Jackson Lee's emotional interrogation of witnesses from the Dept. of Justice. “I am almost in tears. Mychal Bell is now in jail. ... The tragedy of this case is that it called out for federal intervention for the protection of children,” (Lee) says. “Shame on you.” ...Jackson Lee grows louder, directing her anger now at (Donald) Washington, who she pointedly notes is the first black western district attorney. “I’m asking you to find a way to release Mychal Bell and the Jena Six,” Jackson Lee cries. “What are you doing now?!” Also, check out Howard Witt's article from the hearings (Justice Department May Probe Bias In Jena).  Witt's Chicago Tribune article also has video attached. Witt's article, Washington said for the first time that the hanging of nooses from a shade tree in Jena constituted a federal hate crime. ...

On Wednesday October 17, the University of Texas at Arlington Chapter of the NAACP will present a program regarding the national organizations STOP campaign.  According to the NAACP website, The STOP Campaign is an initiative of the NAACP Youth & College Division that seeks to “STOP” the demeaning images of African-Americans in the media, particularly with respect to the portrayal of African-American women.  There are six points to the campaign: STOP Defaming Our Women… by respecting all African-American Women and not describing them in profane and derogatory term STOP Degrading Our Community… by not supporting hurtful images that portray negative images of the African-American community STOP Denigrating Our History… by not supporting words and media that diminishes our proud history and insults our ancestors STOP Accepting Disrespect… by not patronizing companies and artists that put forth demeaning and disrespectful images in our community START Standing Up… by standing up against anyone who diminishes the capacity of young people START the Diversity… by supporting balance and diversity of content in the entertainment industry to create positive role models for young people and ...

"The new literacy is math and science."                        Tom Luce, CEO Nat'l Math and Science Initiative The Congressional Black Caucus held an informative outreach session this weekend which focused on Education, Technology, and Teacher Preparedness.  This CBC Institute program was hosted by Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson at the Yvonne A. Ewell Townview Center in Dallas on Saturday.  I attended the morning session which was titled Closing the Disparities Gap. Representatives on hand for the event included: Hon. Corrine Brown Hon. Sheila Jackson-Lee Hon. Barbara Lee Hon. Carolyn Cheeks-Kilpatrick Hon. Al Green Hon. James Clyburn Hon. Bennie Thompson Hon. Bobby Rush Hon. Diane Watson Rep. Johnson kicked off the session with some opening statements.  She talked about closing the gap that exists between "minority" and "majority" groups in so-called STEM courses - Science, Technology, English, and Math.  She also spoke of how American is losing ground to other countries in the area of science and technology.  "We want (foreign) talent to come here and learn, not come here and replace," Congresswoman Johnson said. Melendy Lovett, President of Education Technology at Texas Instrument, served as moderator for the session.  There were three speaker who spoke to those assemble ...

The Final Call has posted an exclusive interview with Megan Williams, who was tortured severely for a week in West Virginia.  In her own words, Ms. Williams gives an unfathomable account of the days she spent with Frankie and Bobby Brewster, Karen and Alisha Burton, Danny Combs, and George Messer. See a summary of the interview by clicking here . Click here for The Final Call's Exclusive Interview.  Here are some of The Final Call's account of Ms. Williams' ordeal.  “Bobby kicked me in my stomach a few times, kicked me in my back and my face and all I remember is that they hit me with several objects, a cedar stick, a fly swatter handle, a belt, a shoe; and you know the gloves with the lead in them? They were smacking me in the face with those. Both my eyes were black and every night, they made me sleep outside,” Megan told The Final Call. MW: All of them passed the knife around when they were stabbing me, all I remember is that when they were stabbing me, I passed out, and I guess that’s when they quit because I passed out, because I lost so ...

Again, many thanks to the Chicago Tribune's Howard Witt for his work and this interview.  The interview can be viewed in it's entirety at NowPublic.  DSB   Why do you think it took the national media almost 4 months  after your original article to cover what was happening in Jena. HW: It was the complexity of the story, as I mentioned above, which  eludes the grasp of reporters-especially TV reporters--in search of  simple sound-bites. And it was the sensitivity of anything having to  do with race in our society-many reporters shy from such  controversial stories. DSB:  What are your thoughts on the debate that has taken place  since the Jena Rally regarding how the popular media covers race  issues and people of color? HW: Well, to the extent that people are talking about this issue, I think that's important. But I have been disturbed-though not  surprised-by the backlash from many whites in Jena and elsewhere  across the country, who insist that somehow the whole story has not  been told and that the media has twisted the Jena story to make the white townsfolk look bad. I can't vouch for what other reporters  have done with this story, but for my part, I tried very hard ...

                              It's easy to see a picture of a noose, even an actual noose, and realize that their presence is appalling.   But I don't think most Americans grasp the true magnitude of this reborn intimidation tactic. Let me make a plea right not the anyone reading this post visit Without Sanctuary.  The website has a collection of pictures, mostly postcards, displaying the brutal savagery of America's not so distant past.  I was fortunate enough to have a 2002 visit to Atlanta coincide with a Without Sanctuary exhibit at the King Center. (none of the pictures displayed in this post were downloaded from Without Sanctuary)  Let's examine what all that goes on in a lynching like the one to the left.  First, there's an incident that occurs, and a mob is gathered.  A (99.9% of the time) black man is taken from his family without due process or any semblance of law and strung up from a tree. In this picture, it looks like the folks -even the kids- took the time to dress up a bit.  Maybe they knew they were going to be ...

JENA, La. (AP) ? A teenager at the center of a civil rights controversy is back in jail after a judge sentenced him on charges that were pending before the attack that put him in the national spotlight, his attorney said Thursday. Mychal Bell, who along with five other black teenagers had been accused of beating a white classmate, went to juvenile court Thursday expecting another routine hearing, said Carol Powell Lexing, one of Bell's attorneys. Instead, after a six-hour hearing, state District Judge J.P. Mauffrey Jr. sentenced him to 18 months on two counts of simple battery and two counts of criminal destruction of property, Lexing said. He had been hit with those charges before the Dec. 4 attack on classmate Justin Barker. "He's locked up again," Marcus Jones said of his 17-year-old son. "No bail has been set or nothing. He's a young man who's been thrown in jail again and again, and he just has to take it." After the attack on Barker, Bell was originally charged with attempted murder, but the charges were reduced and he was convicted of battery. An appeals court threw that conviction out, saying Bell should not ...

It's ironic that on a night back in September when I originally sent Mr. Witt an e-mail requesting an interview, he replied that he wanted to interview me for a story that he was doing about the Jena rally.  It's been an interesting road in the 4 weeks since then that neither of us could have predicted.  I pray that the work that Howard Witt has done this year is recognized. Here's part two of his Dallas South Interview. Dallas South Blog:  Do you see any similarities between the Shaquanda Cotton case and the Mychal Bell/Jena 6 case? Howard Witt: Yes, there are many. The similarities start with the way the criminal justice system functions in these small towns, where nearly all of the power (police, prosecutors, judges and school officials)  resides in white hands. This leads to the perception-based on lots of evidence-that black youths like Shaquanda Cotton or the Jena 6 teenagers are being treated more harshly than their white peers in  school and in the courts. The stories are also similar in their complexity: Often we are  talking about kids who do not have unblemished records themselves  and therefore ...

Last March, Howard Witt wrote an article in the Chicago Tribune about the sentencing of a 14 year-old girl in my hometown of Paris, Texas.  In the 6-plus months that have followed, the landscape of the internet, the civil rights movement, and the media has greatly changed. Some, including yours truly, attribute the outcry in the ShaQuanda Cotton and Jena 6 cases directly to the work of Mr. Witt.  I'd add to that the newfound interest the media has with Black Bloggers.  Howard Witt granted an outstanding interview to Dallas South where he talks about his career, the media, and his work over the past few months. Dallas South Blog: First, tell me a little about how your career has led you to become Southwest Bureau Chief of the Chicago Tribune. Howard Witt: I've been with the Tribune since graduating from the University of Michigan in 1982, with the exception of a couple of years (1999-2001) in New York and Washington. At the Tribune I've done many different things: I've been a national correspondent based in the Midwest and Los Angeles; a foreign correspondent based in Canada, South Africa and Russia; the National/Foreign editor; the editor in ...

Dallas, Texas - ( Monday, October 1, 2007)   The Congressional Black Caucus Political Leadership and Education Institute (CBC Institute), along with Congresswoman Eddie Bernice Johnson and Congressman Al Green, is sponsoring an Education, Technology and Teacher Preparedness Outreach Conference in Dallas, Texas on October 12-14, 2007.  Speakers include Tom Luce, former Assistant Secretary of the U.S. Department of Education and founder of the National Math and Science Initiative; and Gerald McElvy, president of the ExxonMobil Foundation.   As part of the conference, the CBC Institute will hold a series of public policy forums open to the public; and fact finding activities.                            Other US House Leadership Team Members who have confirmed plans to attend include:   Honorable James Clyburn, US House Majority Whip          Honorable John Conyers, Chair, Judiciary Committee          Honorable Bennie G. Thompson, Chair, Homeland Security           Honorable Carolyn Kilpatrick, Chair, Congressional Black Caucus           Honorable Eddie Bernice Johnson          Honorable Al Green      On Saturday, a Community Forum and Town Hall Meeting will be held ...