Howard Witt, Chicago Tribune, November 11, 2007
Just weeks after some 20,000 demonstrators protested what they decried as unequal justice aimed at six black teenagers in the Louisiana town of Jena, controversy is growing over the accounting and disbursing of at least $500,000 donated to pay for the teenagers’ legal defense.
Parents of the “Jena 6” teens have refused to publicly account for how they are spending a large portion of the cash, estimated at up to $250,000, that resides in a bank account they control.
Michael Baisden, a nationally syndicated black radio host who is leading a major fundraising drive on behalf of the Jena 6, has declined to reveal how much he has collected. Attorneys for the first defendant to go to trial, Mychal Bell, say they have yet to receive any money from him.
Meanwhile, photos and videos are circulating across the Internet that raise questions about how the donated money is being spent. One photo shows Robert Bailey, one of the Jena 6 defendants, smiling and posing with $100 bills stuffed in his mouth. Another shows defendants Carwin Jones and Bryant Purvis modeling like rap stars at the Black Entertainment Television Hip-Hop music awards last month in Atlanta.
The teenagers’ parents have strongly denied that they have misused any of the donated money. Bailey’s mother, for example, insisted that the $100 bills shown in the photograph were cash her son had earned as a park maintenance worker.
{snip}
Civil rights groups report that donations to the Jena 6 defendants had slowed to a trickle in recent weeks as the story fell out of the headlines.
A spokesman for the NAACP, which collected nearly $20,000, including a $10,000 check from rock star David Bowie, said it is winding down its Jena 6 fund and preparing to distribute the remaining cash to the attorneys for the six youths after deducting some of its expenses.
The case, now a national civil rights touchstone, grew out of a September 2006 incident at the high school in Jena when three white students hung nooses from a tree in the school’s courtyard in a warning directed at black students not to try to sit in its shade. School officials dismissed the nooses as a prank, angering black students and their families who regarded the incident as a hate crime.
A series of fights between black and white youths ensued, culminating in a Dec. 4 attack in which the six black students are alleged to have beaten a white student, knocking him briefly unconscious. Although the white student was not hospitalized, the prosecutor initially charged the six teenagers with attempted murder, while declining to charge white youths who had earlier attacked blacks with similarly serious crimes.
The prosecutor, Reed Walters, later reduced the charges against the black teenagers to aggravated second-degree battery and conspiracy. But civil rights groups have denounced the prosecutions as excessive and say they reflect racial injustice in the mostly white town.
Exactly how much money has been collected for the Jena 6 defendants is impossible to know, because many donors did not go through Color of Change, the NAACP or other mainstream groups and instead contributed directly to the defendants’ families. Many Internet operators raised money by selling T-shirts or otherwise invoking the Jena 6 cause, but much of that money disappeared without a trace.
Tensions over the money have begun to surface among the Jena 6 families, most of whom are impoverished. Marcus Jones broke with the other families, for example, in criticizing Color of Change.
The largest remaining Jena 6 account, said by some activists close to the families to contain up to $250,000, is under the control of Tina Jones, mother of defendant Purvis.
{snip}
Robert Bailey and money he earned as a park meintenance worker. |
Original article
Email
Howard Witt
at hwitt@tribune.com.
(Posted on November 13, 2007)
Comments
Covered on AmRen and other places two months ago — now MSM are telling even more of the truths the knew then, but waited until now to tell. However, while they knew the truth and covered it up, they whooped up black anger, rage, paranoia and hate, and white people will die because of it.
Posted by St. Louis CofCC Blogmeister at 6:05 PM on November 13
“Bailey’s mother, for example, insisted that the $100 bills shown in the photograph were cash her son had earned as a park maintenance worker.”
I’m obviously in the wrong field if he makes that kind of money picking up trash.
I think Ms Bailey deserves an honorary advanced degree in Parenting so she can get steady work negotiating government spending.
Posted by Jeremy Douglas at 6:09 PM on November 13
I don’t care what happened to the money because I didn’t donate to them. But I’m not surprised at what has happened here, at all.
Posted by at 6:30 PM on November 13
If money is missing, perhaps the possibility that Robert Bailey ate some of it should be investigated.
Posted by Michael C. Scott at 6:32 PM on November 13
The story is no more than a pack of lies.
After reading numerous falsifications as to what happened, I couldn’t go any further.
If this Witt isn’t the biggest liar at the leftist Chicago Rag, then he’s the sloppiest researcher I’ve ever seen. It’s one or the other, and either one makes a news story completely useless.
Posted by Robert Kelly at 6:34 PM on November 13
At least Robert Bailey is cleaning up the trash in parks that I’m sure he and a lot of his buddies put there in the first place.
And a quarter of a million dollars in the personal account of an ‘impovershed’ black woman - great idea!!! This incident was instructive not only for illustrating the total corruption of the press but also for showing the absolute gullibility and stupidity of liberal sympathizers.
Now that I am aware of how easily dumb white liberals and black can be played I will print up and sell t-shirts myself when something like this occurs and keep half the profit for myself and donate the other half to Amren.
Posted by Civilized Neighbor at 6:48 PM on November 13
The teenagers’ parents have strongly denied that they have misused any of the donated money. Bailey’s mother, for example, insisted that the $100 bills shown in the photograph were cash her son had earned as a park maintenance worker.
If there is anyone out there who actually believes that, I have an oceanfront condo in Saskatchewan you might be interested in.
Posted by Old Victorian at 6:49 PM on November 13
This sounds similar to the hundreds of billions of dollars lost in aid to African countries over the years, vanished due to graft and corruption with virtually none of it being used as intended. Never give money to Africans, it’s like flushing it down the toilet.
Posted by Cliff Yablonski at 7:12 PM on November 13
Howard Witts is sorely lacking his wits.
Beyond that money stashed into an account with the families in control was just brilliant.
There won’t be a penny left to pay for any “legal defense.” Too funny…
Taxpayers will foot the entire bill for their “legal defense.” Not funny at all.
Posted by Voir Dire at 7:19 PM on November 13
Well said Robert Kelly. In the UK the BBC’s flagship current affairs program is called Panorama and it devoted an half hour to Obama and the Jena 6. A few years ago i would have swallowed the lying nonsense whole. Anyway, Heres a extract from the transcript at http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/panorama/7050596.stm:
Obama is dreaming of an America that doesn’t exist, not in Jena, anyway. This is rural Louisiana. You’d be forgiven here for wondering which century it is. In this school yard one day several black children dared sit under what was known as ‘the white tree’. It was where the white children always sat. The next morning nooses were hanging from its branches. The tree has now been cut down. In the south where hundreds of blacks were once lynched, nooses are a deeply provocative racist symbol. Now six black youths stand accused of badly beating a white boy in the racial tensions that followed. Together they face decades in jail. The white children who hung the nooses were not expelled…
Posted by simon k at 7:28 PM on November 13
Notice they have said that there were ‘white kids who attacked black kids’ in this article.
Is this bias or is it truth? I have heard nothing of whites “attacking” blacks.
????????…..while declining to charge white youths who had earlier attacked blacks with similarly serious crimes.?????????
(hanging rope in a tree?) Not a felony
Thsi is the MSM at its worst, a propaganda machine for the multi-cult cult of lies, crimes, and political propaganda for minorities.
Posted by BadMonkey at 7:34 PM on November 13
This reminds me of an incident which occurred a few years ago in a small town in the Midwest. One of the sons of a large and prominent black family was in business, and this business (whatever it was) required him to make a trip to Africa. While there, he suddenly died. Then his family put the word out, via enthusiastic cooperation by the local newspaper, that they “didn’t have the money” to bring his body back to America for burial, and that if they didn’t come up with several thousand dollars by a given date, he would be buried in Africa, far from his kith and kin. Of course, dozens of stupid White people came rushing forward with donations to the family. There was never any investigation by the newspaper or anyone else as to the truth of the family’s claims; nor any accounting whatsoever for the money.
Let me add that I was not one of those people who donated, and because of the similarity of the situations, I can’t feel too sorry for those who gave to the “Jena 6.” P.T. Barnum would have loved to see them a-comin’.
Posted by Wayne Engle at 7:48 PM on November 13
The cost of bling is expensive for sure.
Posted by at 7:51 PM on November 13
What accounting? Only loan sharks and do any accounting in Da’ Hood. And being law abiding fellows, the Jena 6 surely are not involved in such activities.
Posted by PBL at 8:37 PM on November 13
Notice the report that the white boy (Barker) knocked out briefly and was not hospitalized. I recall different reports and some horrific photos right here on Amren.
Posted by Whiteplight at 8:47 PM on November 13
The Jena 6 Joke has proven only one thing: Beat the s*** out of Whitey and get paid.
Posted by at 9:06 PM on November 13
The Jenacide 6 comitted a hate crime against a non-black person and got away with it solely because we let them. The Jenacide 6 were supported by neo-Mugabe type racist african civil rights shysters.
Posted by Elrey Jones at 9:39 PM on November 13
They don’t know where the money went? Odd, I saw a number of those boys family members driving around in VERY expensive brand new cars. Maybe that’s where the cash went. Not to mention all the new stuff they’ve all bought. Somehow I doubt the contributors expected their money to go to buy them rides and TVs.
Posted by ILiveInTheArea at 11:12 PM on November 13
“Simon K” obviously never read any of the facts involved in the story.
The “Jena 6” are typical teenage black thugs. No more, no less. They and their “angry” mothers need to be locked up, period.
Why anyone is surprised these people are running hog wild with the money sent in to help with the defense fund is beyond me. Look at what happened with the “debit” cards given to the blacks after Katrina. The money was spent on liquor, strip clubs, expensive tennis shoes, anything but the essentials.
Posted by They're all nuts at 11:59 PM on November 13
Civilized Neighbor, you’re a bit slow on the shirt angle. I saw my first “Free Vick” t-shirt several weeks ago and until then was unaware that the rights of no animal were as important as the ability of a black man to make a “living.” It said so right on the shirt.
Posted by Robert Binion at 5:07 AM on November 14
If money is missing, perhaps the possibility that Robert Bailey ate some of it should be investigated.
Posted by Michael C. Scott at 6:32 PM on November 13
Michael C. Scott - thank you for a good laugh. I have been a big fan of your posts for the last 3 years.
For my part, I hope these thugs and their mamas blow all the money on designer clothes, tacky jewelry and fancy cars before the trial and can’t pay their attorneys.
I will enjoy watching the parents go back to the “black community” begging for more money. Maybe BET can start a reality show called, “Beg and Splurge with the Jena Scourge”.
Posted by Jill at 5:25 AM on November 14
This is the letter I sent to the author (not that it will ever be read or posted anywhere but here):
Dear Mr. Witt,
I noticed that, when you recount the hanging of the noose on the tree, you state, as a matter of fact, that the white teens did what they were accused of doing and that their motive was that it was to be a warning to black students. It has become very clear since then that the noose incident was not directed against black students and that blacks had been using that tree along with everybody else. You should have known this by now.
In contrast, when you recount the crimes of the “jena six” you insert the word “allegedly”, thus giving them the benefit of the doubt. On top of that, you make it sound like their attack on the white youth was no big deal. I’m certain that, had such a brutal attack happened to one of your loved ones, your attitude wouldn’t be so cavalier.
So it seems that, in the eyes of the media (you), blacks are innocent until proven guilty but whites are guilty even if the evidence points to their innocence. What ever happened to balanced journalism? It is precisely this kind of anti-white bias that has caused the mainstream media to lose credibility in the eyes of so many people.
Posted by jewamongyou at 9:29 AM on November 14
OMG. Does any clear thinking person believe, even for one second, that this thug spent his free time working park maintenance, let alone, earned all those $100 bills? Pleeeeezzzzzzzzz
I agree with the poster above, I’m in the wrong kind of work. Where do I go to apply?
Posted by Gayle Sollenberger at 9:38 AM on November 14
Posted by simon k at 7:28 PM on November 13
I hate when ignorant liberal trolls such as yourself come on here and speak as if what you say hasn’t already been refuted about 11 times. the teenagers didn’t put it there to replicate lynching, the principal who is black, realized this. the boy they BEAT , almost to death, hadn’t anything to do with the incident, which happened months before hand and is there any doubt in your mind these criminals used their “defense funds” for thier own gain? do you REALLY think those hundred upon hundreds of dollars all over him are form his “park maintenance job”, don’t be such a fool. It’s funny really, these guys have been the bad guys from the start, idiotic bleeding hearts give them their money, and then wonder where its mysteriously disappearing to, never mind their parents magically have expensive new cars or the pictures of them flaunting money, its not their fault right? they are “victims”. you keep thinking that, go head, send more of your money their way, donate entire paychecks, PLEASE do. sheep.
Posted by Stuck in No Mans Land at 11:34 AM on November 14
“Odd, I saw a number of those boys family members driving around in VERY expensive brand new cars.”
That’s the way they are here. Drive a Lexus (with 22in. rims) and live in a shack. They really have their priorities in order don’t they?
Posted by Willis at 1:26 PM on November 14
“A spokesman for the NAACP said it is winding down its Jena 6 fund and preparing to distribute the remaining cash to the attorneys for the six youths after deducting some of its expenses.”
Dear Mr. & Mrs. Attorneys, prepare for a “shock”…
Posted by La Rossa at 1:48 PM on November 14
This kind of scam began after Katrina. Billions disappeared there. When a gallon of public money flows in, three quarts usually find a way to flow out.
Posted by Gary at 4:00 PM on November 14
I hate to sound mean, but charity has become a lifestyle instead of the very last option. I feel that welfare should be strictly supplemental, not an income. People need to be forced to become responsible. It`s the same with alchoholics and drug users who always beg me for money. I dont give them anything either because it is perpetuating a destructive element onto our society. Hopefully now that we are 9 Trillion dollars in debt, many of these social programs will be cut or given to people who actually need them. I do like reading about Cities and Counties doing something about making people get a job and suing Wal Mart and Tyson Chicken, etc who hire illeagel aliens and pay so little and have pamphlets at the stores on how to get onto public assistance. I hope future politicians with the right morals and ethics will get our debt paid off by doing the right thing and making everyone pay their fair share of taxes.
Posted by at 4:49 PM on November 14
This Witt just appeared on the O’Reilly Factor tonight, and, yes, he is every bit as bigoted as his story indicates.
I wrote him an email at the above address, but I regret wasting my time now, because his above distortions I’m now convinced were designed to be exactly that: Distortions!
The one person who could very well be swayed by an email, plus facts on the case is Bill O’Reilly. He didn’t challenge Witt’s outrageous distortions, because he’s been deluged with false facts by Jesse and Al, but with enough viewer pressure he could very well make an investigation into the matter, and if he’s satisfied it is as the Jena News Reporter says, then he’ll air it on his program.
I’ve written him, detailing the info in Jared Taylor’s article, as well as the Jena reporter, but one lone voice isn’t going to sway him. He’ll need several dozen emails to begin an investigation.
I also pointed out the outrage of these miscreants getting rich off the attempted murder of a white kid, plus I emphasized that the nooses had zilch to do with the incident and that these 6 black miscreants were motivated by nothing other than racial hate.
People who sent money to these disgusting black retards should burn in the hottest corner of Hell.
Posted by Robert Kelly at 8:47 PM on November 14
To Howard Witt:
Thank you for your reply.
The internet, Mr. Witt, is literally hot with the facts in this case. This incident is being discussed on at least a dozen forums I know of, and people are heated over the lies told and because the truth has been twisted so badly and because the spotlight is disingenuously focused on 6 black criminals who are getting rewarded with hundreds of thousands of dollars for
nearly killing a white kid.
People are getting upset and disgusted with these constant black whinings over alleged discriminatory acts, when they use this tactic many times over to make excuses for vicious black atrocities.
This is nothing more, nothing less, than an overt, vicious act of violence that could have resulted in a murder had the 6 blacks not been diverted from their heinous crime by other people. The boy was lying on the ground unconscious, knocked out by a sucker blow, yet they continued to stomp and
kick his lifeless body and would have continued to do so had they not been interrupted, some say by one of the coaches or teachers. (I have the original witness statements right here on my computer, in their own handwriting.) The boy had blood coming from his ears, nose and mouth. I’ve seen his emergency room photos, and he’s a mess. He went to a school activity later that night because it was something he had been looking
forward to, and he received what he went for, then left. That’s hardly going out and enjoying himself, as some ruthless blacks and leftist, radical whites want us to believe.
To even throw in an incident of noose hanging is preposterous, as if these 6 black criminals cared about them. They were always able to sit under the tree. To say otherwise is pure poppycock. I’m from Florida, and nooses had no meaning for me, until I read all the exaggerations connected to this
story. I’d have to research the matter to see if blacks really were lynched in the past in any great number before I could make a determination of the matter. But I’m going to guess right now that those incidents have been blown completely out of proportion as well.
But, whatever the case, hanging nooses in a tree has no justification whatsoever to the fact that 6 black criminals who were known trouble-makers beat, stomped, maimed and nearly killed a young boy in an unprovoked attack that was a cowardly 6 to 1 assault.
I realize that you and others want people to believe that the cowardly, criminal attack took place as a result of escalating tensions in a snow ball effect that was started through hanging nooses for which you deem to be a far, far greater crime than an unjustified mob attack on a lone white kid. The crime here is the attack itself, not hanging nooses for whatever reason
you might want to believe they were hung for. It’s preposterous to condone the assault and concentrate so heavily on pieces of rope in a tree that have no meaning to privileged teenage blacks in this day and age.
As Bill O’Reilly told race-baiter Sharpton of Tawna Brawly fame on his show tonight, in journalism a question is raised, inviting people to come forward with information. That’s going to happen, and slowly but surely we’re going to reveal this entire incident as nothing more than an absolute fraud perpetrated on the American public, probably for the purpose of deflecting attention from this black racist incident of ANOTHER black on white attack, because such attacks are becoming so numerous. Or, perhaps, part of the reason is for Jesse and Al to revive their waning moments in the spotlight by twisting the story to fit their needs.
Or, very likely, this incident is twisted because one of Jesse’s pet projects is to halt the expulsion of blacks from schools over serious violent incidents, because it’s another important factor in black male failure in the schools. In other words, he wants to intimidate educators so badly they will excuse atrocious black behavior, and leave these miscreants
in school. So few of them graduate, and, as John Edwards whined:(Paraphrasing) “The entire black male population is going to become extinct if we don’t do something about their plight.” Of course “their plight” is nothing more than an inability to learn, because of low I.Q., and a reluctance to apply themselves and behave. They ARE in danger of becoming
extinct, but they have nobody to blame but their own wretched selves.
CNN, especially, has distorted the facts completely.
But why are you doing the same as they are, because you know as well as I that a lot of what you wrote is untrue? This beating was a beating separate and apart from any nooses. You referred to the beating in a chronology that made it appear as if all the incidents “ensued” from the nooses, when in fact the noose incident was three months prior to the beating and these blacks, especially the arch criminal Mychael Bell, were known trouble makers.
And the black kid on You Tube earned several hundred dollars working, eh? Even Bill O’Reilly wouldn’t swallow that and he’s trying to stay neutral until all the facts are in.
I’m going to spend some time tomorrow, laying out line item facts of this entire incident, then I’m going to phone the reporter at the Jena Newspaper after sending him your article and your response to my email, get his reaction, then I’m going to send it via overnight mail to Bill O’Reilly.
I’m sick and tired of black on white violence being either ignored or excused, and, in this case, it is completely skewed to favor the criminals in the case. It’s absolutely astounding.
Quite frankly, Mr. Witt, I wish you were not the type to try to put a favorable spin on black criminality, using an incident—-prank or not—-that pales in comparison to justify black criminality, because you seem like a decent person.
How would you feel if the boy attacked were your son, and every left wing yellow journalistic rag in the country excused his assault by making it appear as if a piece of rope in a tree was a greater crime than a near fatal assault?
Robert Kelly
Ocala, Florida
Posted by Robert Kelly at 12:12 AM on November 15
Mr. Kelly:
I think one must understand that the words ‘could’ and ‘would’ in English generally leave way to much to chance. For instance:
“This is nothing more, nothing less, than an overt, vicious act of violence that could have resulted in a murder”
Maybe, but then again, if I were born with breasts I ‘could’ have been Miss America. Instead I had to settle with being an all-district linebacker in high school.
Posted by at 12:38 PM on November 15
O’Reilly harps so much on being fair and balanced, I’m wondering why he didn’t have Craig Franklin on, the Jena Times editor, because his article explaining about what Jared Taylor wrote had more credibility than anything out there on the incident, and surely since it is his town he would know more about the actual facts than Howard the Twitt.
Does anybody besides me believe we ought to deluge Fox with requests to air Craig Franklin’s side of the issue?
Posted by Robert Kelly at 2:19 PM on November 15
I think one must understand that the words ‘could’ and ‘would’ in English generally leave way to much to chance. For instance:
RK: “This is nothing more, nothing less, than an overt, vicious act of violence that could have resulted in a murder”
Anon: “Maybe, but then again, if I were born with breasts I ‘could’ have been Miss America. Instead I had to settle with being an all-district linebacker in high school.”
Posted by at 12:38 PM on November 15
RK: What’s your point? “Could have” is correct. It is what I intended precisely because I didn’t know for certain. “Could have” refers to the possibility of something. “Would have” implies a certainty, and writing that this boy “would have” been killed would be incorrect because it was not a certainty, although highly probable, since the blacks were trying their best to murder him.
What you write is so silly it has to come from a black person.
Posted by Robert Kelly at 4:38 PM on November 15
I contacted Craig Franklin about going on Fox and learned that he has already contacted them, giving his contact info, as being the reporter of this incident at ground zero. He hasn’t heard from them as yet.
I just wrote the network another email urging them to have him on.
Can someone else help out also?
Posted by Robert Kelly at 5:11 PM on November 15
this is why I never donate…I haven’t for years for the simple reason is…you help these so called…poor folks and soon as they are able to pick up a gun they will shot you..this goes for overseas beggers as well. Bye the bye….where can I get a job working for the park service and make that kind of money????
Posted by lydia at 5:30 PM on November 15
“This Witt just appeared on the O’Reilly Factor tonight, and, yes, he is every bit as bigoted as his story indicates.”
I saw that also, and I agree. He came across as very biased, closing his eyes and slowly shaking his head when O’Reilly mentioned that there were family members driving luxury cars. I know for certain that the above article has several outright lies in it.
By Anonymous:
“I think one must understand that the words ‘could’ and ‘would’ in English generally leave way to (sic) much to chance. For instance:”
(Referring to quote from above): “This is nothing more, nothing less, than an overt, vicious act of violence that could have resulted in a murder.”
“Maybe, but then again, if I were born with breasts I ‘could’ have been Miss America. Instead I had to settle with being an all-district linebacker in high school.”
Posted by at 12:38 PM on November 15
“Leaves to much to chance?”
First of all, it should be “too much,” not “to much.” Going on to college would have been a good idea, instead of just high school. And secondly, the entire post is foolish. Why would a person say “would,” when he means “could?” HA! LOL
You’re a really funny guy. Too much football, not enough study.
And thirdly, are we supposed to be impressed you played football? I mean we don’t even know who you are since you don’t identify yourself.
How childish.
Posted by crossbow at 6:03 PM on November 15
To all those that sent money to the “Jena 6”, prove there is a sucker born every minute.
Posted by at 8:22 PM on November 15
I’m sure impressed that our anonymous poster played football. I wish I could have played football. Playing football would have been even better than saving the world by just charging in and well… saving it. If I were really cool someday, I might have an autographed Magic Johnson football bat. I think a Danny Glover catcher’s raquet would be a close second. Didn’t he save us all from the nazis after Hitler escaped to South Africa?
Posted by Michael C. Scott at 3:01 PM on November 16
There were 9 Scottsboro boys. The communist party had 12 “Mothers” going around the country raising money for their son’s legal defense funds.
Most of the money raised for the Scottsboro defense went to support the CPUSA. And all 12 “Mothers” got some of the money as well.
The first of these legal defense funds was created by the CPUSA for Sacco Vanzetti. That money went to the CPUSA.
These legal defense funds have a long history. And being based in New York, Sharpton has been well advised by old CPUSA ADL type lefties such as the spawn of satan commie William Knustler his associate in the Twanna Brawley case.
Many think that Sharpton is a clever hustler who manipulates the Democrat party. Myself I think that Sharpton is a creation and stalking horse of the Democrat party and the ADL SPLC types.
Posted by at 3:43 PM on November 19
