A TEACHERS’ CAMPAIGN AGAINST RACISM AND IN DEFENSE OF 'JENA 6'

WHEREAS, the American Federation of Teachers executive council in October 2007 passed a resolution, Denouncing Racism Surrounding Events in Jena, La., which stated, in part, that "the AFT has long been committed to the principle of true equality for all people, without regard to race, religion, color, gender, sexual orientation, or national origin," and that "racism and racial discrimination threaten humanity by preventing fulfillment of basic human rights"; and

WHEREAS, the AFT has begun collecting signatures on a petition to the U.S. Department of Justice calling on the department to "investigate this situation and take appropriate legal action to prevent its repetition anywhere in our nation and to remove all rules, policies and procedures that encourage, protect, sanction and/or ignore racial prejudice"; and

WHEREAS, the events at Jena High School, according to the account on the NAACP Web site (www.naacp.org/youth/college/jena6), began with a challenge by black students to a segregated "white tree" in the playground.  A black student asked permission from school administrators to sit under the shade of a tree commonly reserved for the enjoyment of white students.  School officials advised the black students to sit wherever they wanted, and they did.  Three racist students responded by hanging nooses from the tree, receiving only mild in-school discipline for what should be considered a hate crime, after the school principal’s decision to suspend the three students was overruled by the superintendent.  Black students decided to resist and organized a sit-in under the tree to protest the fact that the white students who hung nooses were given only what amounted to a slap on the wrist.  Racial tensions remained high throughout the fall, and on December 4, 2007, after a white student had been delivering racist taunts to black students and supporting the students who hung the nooses, a fight broke out.  The result was no punishment for white students, but severe and criminal charges against six black students--expulsion from school and heavy criminal charges (originally attempted murder), even though the injuries in question (to one white student, Jason Barker) were slight; and

WHEREAS, NAACP chairman Julian Bond called the noose-hanging and the heavy charges against the Jena 6 "an American outrage that demonstrates the continuing shame of racial division in our country.  Join us in making it one of the last"; and

WHEREAS, a large anti-racist protest rally of at least 20,000 was held in Jena on September 20, 2007, a rally many commentators likened to "a new civil rights movement"; and

WHEREAS, although one defendant, Mychal Bell, accepted a plea agreement, reportedly under pressure, charges of second-degree battery are still pending against the four defendants (the sixth being in juvenile court), so that a defense campaign is still needed; and

WHEREAS, unionized teachers in the American Federation of Teachers should build on the resolution passed by the AFT in October 2007 and set an example of organized workers’ opposition to racism, linking the egregious example of the Jena 6 to other racist injustices committed against black youth and other young people of color in the education system (such as discriminatory abuse of standardized tests), and in the criminal justice system (where young black men make up 50 percent of the prison population but only 6 percent of the general population); and

WHEREAS, following the appearance of nooses in Jena, nooses began to appear elsewhere in the country, almost always directed against African Americans, always signifying a threat, and—disturbingly—often in the context of schools or colleges; and

WHEREAS, Judge J.P. Maufray, Jr. of the 28^th Judicial District Court, who has presided over the Jena 6 cases so far, has not denied making prejudicial remarks about the defendants’ guilt and has used derogatory language describing the Jena 6:

RESOLVED, that there is no place for racism in our schools, workplaces or communities; and

RESOLVED, that the American Federation of Teachers call on the Louisiana governor and attorney general to drop all charges against the Jena 6; and

RESOLVED, that the American Federation of Teachers consider organizing a Jena 6 defense campaign, in which our local unions undertake such activities as publicizing the case, raising funds for the NAACP Jena 6 Defense Fund, collecting signatures on the NAACP petition to the Louisiana governor and attorney general, and unite faculty, staff, other workers and students in vigorous opposition to racism in Jena and in all of our schools and colleges; and

RESOLVED, that the American Federation of Teachers call for Judge Maufray’s removal from the Jena 6 case.