The following letter was written in response to the Jenna Six case that occurred in 2007. It is written and addressed to the residing judge of the case and is therefore written accordingly in a very formal and professional manner:
Honorable Pete. V. Domenici:
This letter is being written concerning the "Jena Six" case in Jena, Louisiana. Many Americans feel that segregation and civil rights protests among African Americans and Whites is a thing of the past; unfortunately, this is not so. In Jena, Louisiana after asking their high school principal permission, two African American students sat under the "white" tree in the center of campus. White students then responded by hanging nooses from the tree, which can clearly be consider as a hate crime: any intimidation action to a group/class of people. For this blatant display of racism the White students underwent minor punishment of one month alternative school supervision and two weeks in school suspension for an action that was clearly illegal and morally corrupt. Why was no legal action taken against these students? When the African American students protested the lack of substantial punishment the District Attorney Reed Walters threatened the students with the remark [he could] "take their lives away with the stroke of a pen." There is undoubtedly an unreasonable amount of racial tension in Jena, racial tension that should not be tolerated in a "free" country.
Subsequent to the District Attorneys statement, a white student voiced his support of the nooses, taunting several African American students by calling them "niggers." The African American students that were relentlessly tormented fought back, beating those students displaying violent racial remarks. These six African American students, ranging from ages 14 to 18 were charged with second degree attempted murder and conspiracy. Mychal Bell, the first convinced faces up to 22 years in prison for a school fight.
The truly troubling events in this case were obviously the questionable proceedings of the trial. For example, the boys were convicted by an entirely white jury. Jena six is a racial/civil rights case, an all white jury is in no way diverse enough to make a fair ruling. To amplify this already unethical and quite malodorous situation, light has been shed on the fact that one of the jurors was in fact a close friend of the "victims" father. This is a distinct conflict of interest. Finally, the boys Mychale Bell 16, Robery Bailey Jr. 17, Carwin Jones 18, Bryant Purois 17, and Theo Shaw 17 were all charged as adults. Jesse Ray Beard, 14 at the time, was the only one charged as a minor. All Americans have the right to a fair trial. It is noticeably apparent that these boys did not receive one.
Segregation in American has been settled long ago with the blood of many Americans. Americana's freedom came at a great price ans should therefore be enforced across the land. It is essential that not one city, state, or region be overlooked or pardoned from the laws of equal opportunity and freedom. With out our nation working as one, answering to constitution based laws in their entirety, the land of the free may crumble. We must ensure this war within our borders is well settled before we can attempt to fix societies across oceans.
Thousands of American protesters, myself included, object to the proceedings of this trial and feel justice was not served. We plead with you to hear and consider our cause by supporting a close review of events by the Civil Rights Division of the United States Justice Department.
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