…because Robert Bailey needs more benjamins to lick on

Since I’m still a member of the Jena 6 blog activism community, it’s only right that I show you what one of the accused teenagers has been doing with part of his legal defense donations. The gentleman in the GooTube video above is Robert Bailey Jr., one of the Jena 6 students. Someone please tell this knucklehead that David Bowie wants his $10,000 back.

Now excuse me while I go beat up some random white boy.

Update: It was only a matter of time before some type of explanation surfaced. Rumor now has it that these pictures were taken prior to the Jena 6 episode. Still, that doesn’t justify putting $100 dollar bills in your mouth. You don’t know where that money’s been.

The House committee on the Judiciary is holding hearings on the Jena Six case as we speak. Flip to CSPAN 3 now for the live coverage. Jena’s NAACP chief Brian Moran and Perm-Haired Al are among the witnesses. The DA who threatened to take the students’ lives away “with the stroke of a pen” refused to show up for the hearings. What a coward.

Watch it online: Jena 6 Congressional Hearings Live

Mychal Bell, one of the accused teens involved in the Jena 6 incident, has been released from jail.

Bell, 17, one of six black teenagers charged with the beating of a white classmate at Jena High School last December, was freed after a local judge abruptly set a bond of $45,000, which a local bail bonding firm quickly posted on Bell’s behalf.

The youth’s release capped a day of mounting political and judicial pressures in a case that has drawn condemnation from scores of national civil rights leaders concerned about perceived inequalities in the town’s justice system. [Full Story]

I guess the protest paid off.

Pic jacked from Boo Goo Doo Boom

**Rev. Jesse Jackson backpedaled on his criticism of Barack Obama, whom he criticized earlier for “acting like he’s white” on the Jena 6 issue. If Jesse had done his homework he would’ve realized that Obama had already addressed the Jena 6 case. Anyhow, Jackson now says that “acting white” doesn’t exactly represent his feelings about Obama. [Tribune]

**Yup, in my black tee. [Writers Block]

**Thousands rally in Louisiana to support Jena 6. [ABC]

**Return of the Jim Crow. [Fobb Deep]

**NYOIL - Free Jena 6 [Boo Goo Doo Boom]

One of the five students set to stand trial in the Jena 6 case can now breathe easy.
(more…)

Ever since I first blogged about the Jena 6 incident two months ago I’ve kept my ears to the streets to see if any rapper would lend his weight to the issue. But no. Rappers are too busy engaging in faux feuds to bother with something as grievous as Jena 6. When it comes time to sell CDs, silly rappers devise the illest publicity strategies, hire the most aggressive street teams, and do just about anything to make that paper for their corporate pimps. But when some of those kids that they’d normally sell CDs to need them to lend their resources to a worthy cause, same rappers simply turn their backs. Sure, Mos Def mentioned it briefly on Bill Maher’s show(see above video) and some bloggers have been pounding on the issue for a minute, but whatever happened to all the rappers who claim to be the Black CNN? Whatever happened to being the Voice of the streets, the so-called purveyors of harsh realities? Here’s a harsh reality check: some 17-year old kid is about to spend 22 years in prison for exercising his right to sit under a tree.

Make no mistakes, I’m not delusional at all. I’m aware that no one’s about to stop buying rap records just because Rizoh said so. Hell, even if ‘Pac came back from Cuba and said “boycott hip-hop,” not many will be willing to heed his call. In fact, one million+ rap CDs are about to exchange hands as we speak.

Regardless, I’m on a personal mission to shun all hip-hop CDs (yeah, I belong to that small population of CD buyers, the hundreds of press copies that land in my mailbox every week notwithstanding). Bottom line: I won’t buy another rap CD until I see more rappers take an active stand on the Jena 6 issue.

While Al Sharpton was busy burying the N-word, six teenagers in Louisiana were facing various murder charges over a school fight.

Six African-American kids at Jena High School, Louisiana were arrested last year after an altercation between white students and black students. A white student suffered a concussion and multiple bruises from the fight. According to various sources, the six black kids were consequently charged with second-degree attempted murder. Kinda harsh for a school fight, in my non-lawyerly opinion. Here’s the ridiculous part though: one of them has already been convicted and will probably face up to 22 years in prison.

The whole saga stemmed from a tree in the schoolyard where only white students sat. Next thing you know, three nooses are hanging from that tree on some prank sh*t. A couple days after the nooses were hung, I gather, the entire black student community held an impromptu protest, crowding underneath the tree during lunch hour. The DA dismissed the nooses as “youthful stunt.”

It’s “prank” when white students are involved, but it’s “crime” when black kids are involved?

I don’t care what race you are, this issue deserves attention from the hip-hop community. Too bad, Russell is busy with yoga lessons. And Al has his perm and Beyonce to worry about.

Imagine if Malcolm and Martin had blogs back then…