Thursday, December 27, 2007

Congressional Black Cacus Calls For Pardon of Jena Six

15 Black Congressmen led by Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee of Houston are supporting the call.

A letter to Louisiana Govorner Kathleen Blanco reads "In our view, as citizens, parents, and Members of Congress, we believe Mychal Bell and the Jena 6 have paid a sufficient debt to society for any transgressions they may have committed...

We believe that they and their families have suffered enough, as has the state of Louisiana and the town of Jena."

According to the associated press:

"Ms. Blanco's press secretary, Marie Centanni, issued a statement Friday saying the state Pardon Board would have to make a recommendation for the governor to grant a pardon or commutation. And Ms. Blanco will be leaving office three days before the Pardon Board is next scheduled to meet, Jan. 17."

Yeah, nice of Gov. Blanco to drag her feet all this time knowing this, when she could have put this issue before the board earlier. So lets not pretend she's not happy that they don't meet until after she's out of office; because she simply wasn't going to doing anything about this issue if she didn't have to, as I've reported on her obstinacy in this regard previously.

I'll give her a bit of credit with helping to get D.A. Reed Walters to back of challenging the ruling that overturned Michael Bells conviction as an adult.

Blanco, a Democrat is being replaced by Republican Govenor-elect Bobby Jindal after she chose not to run for re-election.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Theres an obvious problem w/ race relations in this country. The greatest challenge is to cease the perpetuation in society....I don't mean what the court may wish to claim as its perceived view of public standards, but the communities jurist don't live in that are minority and/or socio-economically challenged. Like my neighborhood....cops tend to exaggerate perceptions that favor their cause to initiate contact; They provide neutural testimony to favor any change of testimony against minorities over a litigant that is caucasion; They spend an inordiante amount of time looking for minor infractions that are simply rectified during the normal coarse of city or state business; Sometimes when contact is initiated and heavy-handed investigative methods are employed rather than to act in good-faith and allow a law abiding citizen to continue unimpeeded, they simply revert to producing a summons for a minor unforeseen infraction. These acts are common knowledge in my community and deemed acceptable in court. In one instance, a cop issued me a summons for a minor infraction (in a manner mentioned above), after complying and signing the ticket, the officer refused (and physically blocked) my free movement out of my vehicle after I asked him to stand back so that I would not hit him w/ my car door while I was on private property. For some stange reason, in Roanoke, some police are so heavy-handed that they blind themselves of their respondsibility to protect and serve. There are some matters that have nothing to do w/ public saftey....so as long as I'm working, raising my kids and paying taxes I'm not an issue.

Anonymous said...

Theres an obvious problem w/ race relations in this country. The greatest challenge is to cease the perpetuation in society....I don't mean what the court may wish to claim as its perceived view of public standards, but the communities jurist don't live in that are minority and/or socio-economically challenged. Like my neighborhood....cops tend to exaggerate perceptions that favor their cause to initiate contact; They provide neutural testimony to favor any change of testimony against minorities over a litigant that is caucasion; They spend an inordiante amount of time looking for minor infractions that are simply rectified during the normal coarse of city or state business; Sometimes when contact is initiated and heavy-handed investigative methods are employed rather than to act in good-faith and allow a law abiding citizen to continue unimpeeded, they simply revert to producing a summons for a minor unforeseen infraction. These acts are common knowledge in my community and deemed acceptable in court. In one instance, a cop issued me a summons for a minor infraction (in a manner mentioned above), after complying and signing the ticket, the officer refused (and physically blocked) my free movement out of my vehicle after I asked him to stand back so that I would not hit him w/ my car door while I was on private property. For some stange reason, in Roanoke, some police are so heavy-handed that they blind themselves of their respondsibility to protect and serve. There are some matters that have nothing to do w/ public saftey....so as long as I'm working, raising my kids and paying taxes I'm not an issue.