Revolution#116, January 20, 2008
January 21st: Oppose the Lynch Mob Racists!
No to Nooses! Free the Jena Six!
We Want a Better World!
White Supremacists plan to march in Jena on Martin Luther King Day in 2008. On Martin Luther King Day of all days, the one day that is supposed to be about the struggle of Black people, they are coming to march with Nooses! This is a call to people everywhere: On Monday January 21st, get to Jena! OPPOSE THE LYNCH MOB RACISTS!
Displaying nooses is a hateful and terrorizing message. These racists want to take us back to the days of lynch mobs murdering Black people in this country. Nooses are INTOLERABLE. Bring a sign, hang a poster, make a banner, get to Jena, SAY NO TO NOOSES!
The Jena High students said no to nooses hung at their school when they protested by standing underneath the “white only tree.” Then on September 20th, 2007 tens of thousands of people stood up, marching in Jena and around the country. People said “Enough is Enough” to the injustice in punishing Black youth who take a stand against racism. The white supremacists call Black youth criminals and thugs, they say, “Jail the Jena Six.” Let’s say it loud again in Jena: FREE THE JENA SIX!
It is in response to September 20th and what that day achieved that white supremacists are lashing out, with a message that takes us back to the horrors of lynch mobs and segregation. When racism rears its ugly head, it is up to people everywhere, white and Black, people of all nationalities, to take a stand. If you are against injustice and inequality, if you want racism to end...it’s up to you to voice it! If we don’t speak up and stand up, this horrific message will go unopposed. If not us who? If not now when?
Protest in Jena on January 21st. Join people everywhere in politically opposing white supremacy and drowning out their message of hate with the message that WE WANT A BETTER WORLD.
January 21st Committee
Contact the committee. Email: january21injenacomm@yahoo.com Phone: 318-787-1190
Spread the word! Get out this call far and wide, support and build for January 21st!
Initial signatories:
A group of 14 Jena residents Black and white, young and old, including two parents of the Jena Six
Addis Bey Ababa, People’s Hurricane Relief Fund organizer, Atlanta
Animas SDS (the Fort Lewis College [Durango CO] autonomous chapter of Students for a Democratic Society
Medea Benjamin, Cofounder CODEPINK* and Global Exchange*
Black Men 7, Eunice, Louisiana
Herb Boyd, The Black World Today, NY, NY
Reverend Raymond Brown, Community Activist, New Orleans
Marcus Coleman, President-National Action Network, Atlanta chapter* and 37 members and supporters attending the 1st NAN Atlanta meeting of 2008
C3 (Community, Concern, Compassion)/Hands Off Iberville, New Orleans
60 residents of Cabrini Green, Chicago
Carl Dix, Revolutionary Communist Party
Education Not Incarceration (San Francisco Chapter)
Miky Espinal, NY organizer for Health & Hospital Workers Union 1199*
Peggy Hendrix, member of Georgians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty
Idress Stelley Foundation
International Socialist Organization, Madison Campus Branch
Thomas Kleven, Professor of Law, Thurgood Marshall School of Law*
Mayday New Orleans
Michael Novick, Anti-Racist Action, Los Angeles
NU Coalition to Free the Jena 6, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL.
Don Paul, writer, musician, Housing is a Human Right, New Orleans
People Against Racist Terror
Don Rojas, The Black World Today, NY, NY
San Francisco Bayview Free The Jena Six Task Force
San Francisco Village Voice Community Radio, 105.5 FM
San Francisco Bayview Campaign to End the Death Penalty
Sankofa Community Empowerment
Sess 4-5, Nuthin But Fire Records, New Orleans
Adam Shapiro, “Current Events” on WRFG 89.3 FM Atlanta
Cindy Sheehan, Candidate for Congress, California's 8th district, mother of KIA soldier Casey Sheehan
Benetta Standly, Georgia Statewide Organizer, ACLU*
Student Organizers from University of California, PA and Howard University
Debra Sweet, Director, The World Can't Wait – Drive Out the Bush Regime
Everett Taasevigen
“Mzee” Leonard Tate, Millions More Movement Atlanta Chapter
Ms. Beauty Turner, National award-winning Journalist/Activist/Groundbreaking researcher, Founder of Poor People Millennium Movement
McNair Wagner, member Georgia Students for Sustainability
Cornel West
William Winters, Baton Rouge Activist
Alice Woodward and Hank Brown, Jena, LA correspondents for Revolution
*For identification purposes only
Join us! This call is still in progress and we invite organizations, student groups, Jena residents and others to endorse.
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