Award winning journalist Howard Witt announced that he has left the Chicago Tribune.  Witt came to national prominence for his reporting of race related stories in Paris, Texas and Jena, Louisiana in 2007. The Pulitzer Prize nominated Witt says that he is moving in a new direction.  "After a quarter-century run at the Chicago Tribune as a reporter, correspondent and editor," Witt says, "I recently left the paper to take up a new challenge as the Senior Managing Editor at Stars and Stripes, the editorially-independent newspaper serving America’s military men and women and their families overseas." I have developed a good working relationship with Mr. Witt over the years after he became one of the first newspaper reporters to bring national attention to African-American activism online.  My family and I even met Howard out for dinner last fall.   His reporting of ShaQuanda Cotton and the Jena 6 made the entire media industry reevaluate the way they were covering people of color.  He maintained a relationship with the black blogosphere after those stories, a lesson that black media members and outlets could learn from. I'm sure Howard will do well in his future endeavors.  I pray that all goes well for he and his family in ...

I wanted to share the contents of an email sent out by Color of Change Director of Grassroots Mobilization, James Rucker, to their massive member list regarding the plea of "No Contest" by the defendants in the "Jena 6" case late last week. Color of Change was at the forefront of the internet movement to secure justice for the young men back in 2007. I've had a chance to correspond with James and meet some of the Color of Change staff.  They are utilizing 21st century tools to combat injustices that have persisted for generations.  It's cool to see that they haven't just rested on their involvement in Hurricane Katrina justice and with the Jena 6, but continue to stay engaged, even taking the fight to Fox News.  They remain relevant and functional as many such organizations have the tendency to fall off into the abyss of irrelevancy.  Kudos to C of C. Dear Shawn, Friday, nearly two years after more than 320,000 of you stood up to protect them from Jim Crow justice, the Jena 6--Jesse Ray Beard, Carwin Jones, Robert Bailey, Theo Shaw, Bryant Purvis and Mychal Bell--are all now free to move ahead with their lives. We ...

I received a text message out of Louisiana today late this afternoon: Mychal Bell arrested for shoplifting and assault for hitting a security guard with his elbow trying to get away. A quick check of the net proved my source was right on it.  According to the News-Star out of Monroe, Louisiana, Bell is free on bond after being arrested on Christmas Eve.  He's charged with shoplifting, resisting arrest and simple battery, related to an incident at Dillard’s in Pecanland Mall in Monroe.  This comes less than less than a month after he completed a sentence for his role in a fight with classmate, Justin Barker, at Jena High School in 2006. Here's more from the Star-News article: Police said Bell and an unidentified male were spotted Wednesday by store security after they placed $370 worth of merchandise in a Dillard’s shopping bag. After the two separated, Bell left the store, was followed by a security officer, and began running through the parking lot. Bell was booked into Richwood Correctional Center and released on $1,300 bond. He will be arraigned at a later date. Each of the charges carries a possible penalty of up to six months in jail. Louis Scott who has represented Bell in ...

Everything changed after this post.  Everything changed after the Day of Blogging for Justice.  It's hard to believe, but when we blogged about the Jena Six at the end of August 2007, the national media still had not picked up on the story.   On September 4th I wrote: One of the main goals of the Day of Blogging for Justice creators was increased media coverage regarding the Jena 6.  Today I saw a piece on Headline News where they spoke to parents on both sides of the issue.  There is no doubt the Day of Blogging for justice made a tangible difference.  Just two weeks later I appeared in a Howard Witt Chicago Tribune piece and that was most of the nation's first exposure to Dallas South.  I then appeared on NBC Nightly News and Dallas South instantly went from a local Dallas issue blog to a site that people from around the country were interested in. How I blog has remains the same, but what I blog about has been different. Consequently the Jena story is not over.  The motion to remove J.P. Muffray from the bench has been tabled.  Hopefully someone less biased can take over the case and ...

Today a visiting judge was supposed to decide whether or not Jena 6 Judge J.P. Mauffray had been biased in his treatment of the fiver remaining defendants.  That judge has postponed the hearing until at least July. Howard Witt of the Chicago Tribune reports:  Attorneys for the five remaining defendants facing trial in the racially divisive Jena 6 incident in Louisiana presented evidence Friday of what they said was bias on the part of the judge presiding over the cases and sought his removal. After more than four hours of testimony, a visiting judge appointed by the state Supreme Court to hear the recusal motion against LaSalle Parish District Judge J.P. Mauffray asked for more evidence and postponed a ruling until at least July. Defense attorneys have long asserted that the white-dominated justice system in the small central Louisiana town was biased against their African-American clients: six high school students who were initially charged with attempted murder in the December 2006 beating of a white classmate. According to those present during Friday's hearing, defense attorneys testified that Mauffray had made prejudicial comments to them about their clients on multiple occasions. David Utter, an attorney for defendant Jesse Ray Beard, said Mauffray had labeled the Jena ...

From Color of Change.org - I will be updating you on the developments this Friday. Jena 6 Judge Put on Trial Lawyers Cite Clear Pattern of Bias, Demand Removal of Judge Mauffray Jena, LA--Citing powerful evidence of Judge J.P. Mauffray Jr.'s bias against them, five of the African-American youth known as the Jena 6 are back in court next week seeking to remove Mauffray from their cases. Legal documents filed in the proceedings reveal Judge Mauffray's personal vendetta against the Jena 6. Among other incidents, Mauffray characterized the young men as violent trouble-makers and confessed his intent to incarcerate one of the youth—regardless of the strength of the evidence. Given Mauffray's documented inability to preside over a fair trial for these youth, their legal teams have requested that a new judge be appointed to handle all Jena 6 related proceedings. "Judge Mauffray is the man at the center of Jena's broken justice system and now he is forced to justify his bias in a court of law with the entire nation watching," said James Rucker, Executive Director of ColorOfChange.org, the 400,000 member group that has advocated on behalf ...

Color of Change Press Release  Lawyers File Motion to Recuse Judge and DA—Putting State on Trial—Claiming Clear Pattern of Race Bias  JENA, LA— Lawyers for the youngest of the Jena 6, Jesse Ray Beard, filed a motion today to remove Judge J.P. Mauffray Jr. and District Attorney Reed Walters from any future involvement in juvenile court matters involving Beard. Mauffray and Walters served as the trial judge and prosecutor, respectively, in the Jena 6 cases and Beard's attorneys argue that their prejudice during and after the proceedings has betrayed an unfair bias against Beard. Millions of Americans remember District Attorney Reed Walters as the man who refused to prosecute white students who hung nooses at Jena High School and then threatened black students at a school assembly saying that he "could end their lives with a stroke of his pen." Walters charged Jesse Ray Beard, and five other African-American students with attempted second-degree murder for allegedly beating Justin Barker, a white student, in a schoolyard fight following the incident. Attorneys for Beard argue that this and other facts paint a clear picture of the District Attorney's bias. "Millions ...

Dallas South and others are featured in an extensive article in the Philadelphia Tribune Magazine titled Blogger Nation. It is the cover story of their April edition. Click the link to see the Philly Tribune article BLOGGER NATION. The article that is put together by Heather Faison doesn't break any new ground for visitors to this site, as many of you were part of the history that was made. However folks who aren't into the whole "internet thing" may find it interesting just how much internet activism is credited with some of last years efforts. What About Our Daughters, Jack and Jill Politics, as well as Electronic Village and his Black Blog Rankings are Afrospear blogs mentioned in the article. Heather does a great job recapping some of the milestones achieved in the internet movement last year. My quotes all seem to be critical of the NAACP, but what I said is what I said. Also, the Afrospear was created before the Shaquanda Cotton case, but many of us who are now member were not aware of it until after. That case IS what brought us all together, there's no questions. Click on the link above, it's a really ...

It is my pleasure to congratulate Howard Witt for being a finalist for a 2008 Pulitzer Prize in Journalism.  Howard, Southwest Bureau Chief of the Chicago Tribune, was a finalist in the category of National Reporting for his examination of racial issues in America.  I count Mr. Witt as a friend of Dallas South.  Howard ran a quote from me in a September issues of the Chicago Tribune, and I gained a whole new audience as a result. I've made sure to keep up with what he's been up to since he has been way ahead of the curve as it relates to covering race in America.  I'm going to repost an interview I conducted with Howard back in October for those of you who may not have been part of the Dallas South family back then.  Congrats again to Howard and many happy returns. 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 ...

Howard Witt, forever on the case, let's us know that one of the Jena 6 defendants has found himself in hot water after an incident at a Dallas area high school. Bryant Purvis, now 19, was arrested Wednesday in Carrollton and charged with misdemeanor assault. These are young men and they need guidance. Drive-by activism just won't do. I don't have to go into who, what, and why of the Jena 6 on this site, but needless to say this is an unfortunate chapter in the saga. There have been a number of of unfortunate incidents regarding this story since September. Here are some of the highlights from Mr. Witt's story. Purvis' attorney, Darrell Hickman, characterized the assault as a "minor shoving incident" and said it involved a student whom Purvis believed had vandalized his car a few days before. A police affidavit accompanying an arrest warrant alleged that Purvis choked the student and pushed his head into a bench, injuring the victim's eye. The Texas arrest "doesn't help his case in Jena, that's obvious," Hickman said. "From what [Purvis] told me, I can understand him losing his temper. We all lose our temper every now and then. But we're in ...