Letter to Obama
United African Movement
____________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________
Alton H. Maddox, jr. Tel.: (718) 834-9034
Chairman Fax : (718) 834-1275
16 Court Street
Suite 1901
Brooklyn, NY 11241
October 17, 2007
Sen. Barack Obama
U.S. Senate
713 HSOB
Washington, DC 20510
Re: “Jena 6”
Dear Sen. Obama:
Jena 6 is a throwback to the Cruikshank Massacre. This was a racial pogrom which happened in Louisiana in 1873. Scores of Blacks were slaughtered for exercising First Amendment rights. The scene of the crime was the courthouse. Blacks wanted to be a part of the political process.
This case gave the U.S. Supreme Court the opportunity to rule that injuries Blacks suffered from exercising federal rights could only be redressed in state courts. In other words, the Supreme Court announced that the Confederate States of America had won the Civil War.
Mychal Bell is a member of the Jena 6. In June 2007, he was tried in a kangaroo court before a vindictive judge, an unethical prosecutor and an all-white jury. No Blacks were in the jury pool. This smacked of jury intimidation. There should have been a federal investigation.
More than one hundred years ago, state-sponsored, terrorist tactics were employed to keep juries lily-white in Louisiana. All-white juries are a key component of white supremacy. History is repeating itself and Black people can only enjoy a political presence in government. Politically, we are voiceless.
Obviously, Bell is exposed to double jeopardy. The first case went before an intermediate appellate court which found that Bell had been prosecuted in an adult court which lacked jurisdiction over his person. Bell was a minor and the appropriate charges would not give rise to an adult prosecution. This ruling was a day late and a dime short. Bell had already been subject to jeopardy.
Any recommendation that Bell could be belatedly prosecuted in juvenile court could only aggravate the constitutional taint. This is a classic example of double jeopardy. Bell is now going to be prosecuted for the same offense again in a different court.
Nonetheless, the juvenile court in LaSalle Parish has arrogated to itself the exercise of jurisdiction. A second prosecution will only subject Bell to irreparable harm and Louisiana is bent on violating Bell’s constitutional rights. Without immediate federal intervention, Bell will be lynched, judicially, under color of law.
The appropriate remedy in this case is federal injunctive relief. The leading Supreme Court case is Dombrowski v. Pfister which also arose in Louisiana. The Louisiana governor and others were enjoined from prosecuting Dombrowski for violating the state subversion statutes. For exercising his First Amendment rights, Louisiana subjected Dombrowski to harassment, arrests and illegal seizure of documents.
In the past, your office has had a history of ignoring the plight of Blacks victimized by hate crimes. When whites asked you to take some action against Durham District Attorney Michael Nifong, for example, you unhesitatingly demanded that Nifong be disbarred.
On the other hand, when Blacks asked you to take similar action against former New York State Attorney General Robert Abrams for engaging in far more egregious misconduct in the case of Tawana Brawley than that exemplified by Nifong, you feigned lack of authority.
I have enclosed copies of petitions signed at a Wednesday evening meeting of United African Movement in Brooklyn calling for the Lawyers Disciplinary Committee in Louisiana to conduct a disciplinary investigation into naked threats made by LaSalle Parish District Attorney J. Reed Walters to Black students at Jena High School in September 2006. He was enforcing Louisiana’s defunct slave code in violation of the Thirteenth Amendment.
Subsequently, Walters made good on his earlier promise to destroy six Black high school students by the stroke of his pen. They were accused of hitting a white student. Prosecutorial threats made against any person are a violation of the Code of Professional Responsibility and ABA Standards. You should demand that the federal government take remedial action.
Very truly yours,
AHM:sr
Cc: Hon. John Conyers
Chairman
House Judiciary Committee
____________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________
Alton H. Maddox, jr. Tel.: (718) 834-9034
Chairman Fax : (718) 834-1275
16 Court Street
Suite 1901
Brooklyn, NY 11241
October 17, 2007
Sen. Barack Obama
U.S. Senate
713 HSOB
Washington, DC 20510
Re: “Jena 6”
Dear Sen. Obama:
Jena 6 is a throwback to the Cruikshank Massacre. This was a racial pogrom which happened in Louisiana in 1873. Scores of Blacks were slaughtered for exercising First Amendment rights. The scene of the crime was the courthouse. Blacks wanted to be a part of the political process.
This case gave the U.S. Supreme Court the opportunity to rule that injuries Blacks suffered from exercising federal rights could only be redressed in state courts. In other words, the Supreme Court announced that the Confederate States of America had won the Civil War.
Mychal Bell is a member of the Jena 6. In June 2007, he was tried in a kangaroo court before a vindictive judge, an unethical prosecutor and an all-white jury. No Blacks were in the jury pool. This smacked of jury intimidation. There should have been a federal investigation.
More than one hundred years ago, state-sponsored, terrorist tactics were employed to keep juries lily-white in Louisiana. All-white juries are a key component of white supremacy. History is repeating itself and Black people can only enjoy a political presence in government. Politically, we are voiceless.
Obviously, Bell is exposed to double jeopardy. The first case went before an intermediate appellate court which found that Bell had been prosecuted in an adult court which lacked jurisdiction over his person. Bell was a minor and the appropriate charges would not give rise to an adult prosecution. This ruling was a day late and a dime short. Bell had already been subject to jeopardy.
Any recommendation that Bell could be belatedly prosecuted in juvenile court could only aggravate the constitutional taint. This is a classic example of double jeopardy. Bell is now going to be prosecuted for the same offense again in a different court.
Nonetheless, the juvenile court in LaSalle Parish has arrogated to itself the exercise of jurisdiction. A second prosecution will only subject Bell to irreparable harm and Louisiana is bent on violating Bell’s constitutional rights. Without immediate federal intervention, Bell will be lynched, judicially, under color of law.
The appropriate remedy in this case is federal injunctive relief. The leading Supreme Court case is Dombrowski v. Pfister which also arose in Louisiana. The Louisiana governor and others were enjoined from prosecuting Dombrowski for violating the state subversion statutes. For exercising his First Amendment rights, Louisiana subjected Dombrowski to harassment, arrests and illegal seizure of documents.
In the past, your office has had a history of ignoring the plight of Blacks victimized by hate crimes. When whites asked you to take some action against Durham District Attorney Michael Nifong, for example, you unhesitatingly demanded that Nifong be disbarred.
On the other hand, when Blacks asked you to take similar action against former New York State Attorney General Robert Abrams for engaging in far more egregious misconduct in the case of Tawana Brawley than that exemplified by Nifong, you feigned lack of authority.
I have enclosed copies of petitions signed at a Wednesday evening meeting of United African Movement in Brooklyn calling for the Lawyers Disciplinary Committee in Louisiana to conduct a disciplinary investigation into naked threats made by LaSalle Parish District Attorney J. Reed Walters to Black students at Jena High School in September 2006. He was enforcing Louisiana’s defunct slave code in violation of the Thirteenth Amendment.
Subsequently, Walters made good on his earlier promise to destroy six Black high school students by the stroke of his pen. They were accused of hitting a white student. Prosecutorial threats made against any person are a violation of the Code of Professional Responsibility and ABA Standards. You should demand that the federal government take remedial action.
Very truly yours,
AHM:sr
Cc: Hon. John Conyers
Chairman
House Judiciary Committee
posted by Attorney Alton Maddox at 12:29 PM
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