JOIN THE SAMUEL DEWITT PROCTOR CONFERENCE, FATHER MICHAEL PFLEGER AND THE FAITH COMMUNITY OF SAINT SABINA FOR THE MIDWEST RALLY FOR JENA SIX
Seventeen-year-old Mychal Bell’s conviction as an adult to commit aggravated second-degree battery was thrown out of the 28th Judicial Court but the fight for justice for the Jena Six is not over. “It must be clear that while the reversal was necessary, it is simply not enough,” said Father Michael Pfleger, pastor of the 2,500-member community of St. Sabina. “We will keep the pressure on until all the charges are dropped against all six defendants. These young men need our prayers but they also need to know this will never happen again. And we must also address the fact that white students have never been charged.
On Wednesday, September 19th, 2007 Father Pfleger, aided by national and local religious and political leaders will lead a rally in support of the Jena Six, to protest the injustices toward young African Americans and to address the on-going struggle young Black men still face in 2007. Dr. Iva E. Carruthers, general secretary of SDPC and co-sponsor of the event, is also asking that families, students, churches and anyone who cares about justice take a moment at 7 PM (CST), the time of the rally, to say a prayer and light a candle of solidarity and hope for the young men.
“Racism is an insipid disease,” said Carruthers. “We cannot forget that despite this turn around on Bell’s charges as an adult, he has still been unjustly incarcerated since December and has not been released. These young men should be in school and looking forward to life’s possibilities, not fighting for their lives in court. The Proctor Conference will continue to work with our churches and partners across the nation to protect the rights of these young men and others like them. It is the sacred duty our community has to our children.”
In the last two years, several injustices have been committed against Black youth such as 17 year old Genarlow Wilson who is incarcerated in Georgia for having consensual sex with a 15-year-old and the 5-year-old, Ja’esha Scott, kindergarten student, handcuffed and arrested in Florida for having a temper tantrum in school. Bell and five of his Black high school student classmates, ranging in age from 15 to 17, are facing a lifetime in prison for what was tantamount to a race-based schoolyard fight. The five other students awaiting a juvenile court trial along with Bell in are Carwin Jones, Robert Bailey, Jr., Bryant Purvis, Theo Shaw and Jesse Ray Beard.
The Chicago rally is hosted by Pfleger and The Community of St. Sabina, Carruthers and the Chicago-based Samuel DeWitt Proctor Conference, Inc., the nation’s fastest growing ecumenical social justice organization and by the Gathering, an intergenerational civil rights network founded by famed singer and civil rights activist, Harry Belafonte.
The Chicago movement is supporting the day of protest activities in Jena, Louisiana on Thursday, September 20, 2007.
On Sunday, September 16, 2007 thousands of churches across the nation from Friendship West Baptist Church in Dallas, Texas to St. Sabina Catholic Church on Chicago’s South Side, to Hartford Memorial Baptist Church in Detroit, Michigan read a Proctor Conference-sponsored Jena Six litany and prayed collectively for the young boys’ release, vowing to continue to fight for their freedom until justice is done
What: Candlelight Vigil for the Jena Six
When: September 19th, 2007 at 7 PM.
Where: The Daley Plaza.
