Jena 6 Are Free!

Finally, true justice for the Jena 6! It's been a long time since our first jena 6 - day of blogging for justice. But, it was was all worth it, the momentum had built for many years. Now, as reported by blogger, Electronic Village: Jena 6 are Free.

Bloggers like Francis L. Holland, Sylvia, Yobachi, Shawn Williams, Bronze Trinity, Pam, Brandon, DP, Vanessa, thin Black Duke, AverageBro, Reidblog and so many afro spear bloggers, should be celebrating a long journey to free these brothers. Let's not forget Howard Witt over at the Chicago Tribune who has written extensively on the Jena 6.

No black-and-white answers
Plea deal arranged for teen in Jena 6
News media win suit to open Jena 6 case
Judge says he'll open Jena trial to public
Questions about Jena case funds
Tribune, other media firms file motion to end Jena trial secrecy
House panel demands answers in Jena case
Jena 6 teen's return to jail draws queries
Jena 6 defendant out of jail
White supremacist backlash builds over Jena case
Jena 6 teen is denied release
Protesters pack racially tense town

For marchers, destination Jena
Blogs help drive Jena protest
Appeals court overturns 'Jena 6' conviction
Part of 'Jena 6' conviction dropped; charges reduced
Louisiana teen guilty in school beating case
Charge reduced in 'Jena 6' case
Racial demons rear heads

Let us not forget the many Bloggers who helped drive Jena protest. Hey, and how about the groups The Color of Change, and The Friends of Justice. Congratulations! There were also newspapers like the Chicago Sun Times who covered the issue too.

JENA, La. —- Five members of the Jena Six pleaded no contest Friday to misdemeanor simple battery and won’t serve jail time, ending a case that thrust a small Louisiana town into the national spotlight and sparked a massive civil rights demonstration.

The five, standing quietly surrounded by their lawyers, were sentenced to seven days unsupervised probation and fined $500. It was a far less severe end to their cases than seemed possible when the six students were initially charged with attempted murder in the 2006 attack on Justin Barker, a white classmate. They became known as the “Jena Six,” after the central Louisiana town where the beating happened.

As part of the deal, one of the attorneys read a statement from the five defendants —- all of whom are black —- in which they said they knew of nothing Barker had done to provoke the attack.

“To be clear, not one of us heard Justin use any slur or say anything that justified Mychal Bell attacking Justin nor did any of us see Justin do anything that would cause Mychal to react,” the statement said.

By pleading no contest, the five do not admit guilt but acknowledge prosecutors had enough evidence for a conviction.

Charges against Carwin Jones, Jesse Ray Beard, Robert Bailey Jr., Bryant Purvis and Theo Shaw had previously been reduced from attempted murder to aggravated second-degree battery.

The only member of the group to serve jail time was Bell, who pleaded guilty in December 2007 to second-degree battery and was sentenced to 18 months. More HERE

AAPP It's not over yet folks. As many of us have pointed out on many ocassions, black folks are getting tasered to death in America.