Jena 6, help to pay water bills

This week on Friday there was a protest in support of the six black students who are being accused of assaulting a white student in Jena, Louisiana. About 200 people gathered outside of the Patrick V. McNamara Federal Building wearing black as part of the national campaign to promote equal treatment in this trial which has aroused the nation of the continuing racial disparity that goes on. “Injustice to one is injustice to all. Until all of us are free, none of us are free,” said activist Helen Moore of Detroit. She continued on to say, “we came here not wanting to come here, so we demand justice…we are African people and we are at war.” People all over the nation are joining together to show that this a problem which affects the country as a whole, from Jena to Detroit to L.A., and will not be tolerated in silence.

The incident in question actually begun last fall when several black students sat under an oak tree that is typically reserved for white students. The next day there were three nooses hanging from the tree branches and since then racial conflicts have been rampant. One of these conflicts involved a white student getting severely beaten by six black students, who were accused of attempted murder, and are now known nationwide as the Jena 6. The first student to face trial was convicted, by an all-white jury, of aggravated second-degree battery and is awaiting his sentence, which could be 22 years in prison, while the white students who admitted hanging up the nooses faced no more than a few days of suspension. Robert Bailey Jr., one of the Jena 6, was punched and beaten with beer bottles when entering a predominantly white part of town. The white student was charged with battery and given probation. Bailey encountered one of his attackers a different day and they pulled a gun on him. Bailey managed to strip the gun away but was charged with theft of a firearm soon after. The incidents have been non-stop and most seem to end with a sever punishment for the black students while the whites walk away basically scot free. The other 5 await their trials anxiously in hopes that a less-biased judicial system will show itself. A detailed report of the incidents can be found at http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20218937/site/newsweek/page/0/.

Detroit is going to implement a plan to help those in poverty pay their water bills to avoid being shut-off, more than a year after the Detroit City Council pushed for the plan’s creation. The city will pay 25 percent of the unpaid bill at first, and then as long as the applicant continues to pay their discounted monthly bills, the city will pay off the majority of the unpaid bills over the following year. Estimated assistance is $1,500 per customer with the limit being $2,000. The Detroit Water and Sewage Dept. has committed to running the program for one year, but has yet to determine how many people will qualify for help; however, there are 8 to 10,000 people who have had or may soon may have their water shut off. There have been a few delays in getting the program started, but now everything seems to be on track and ready to go. Hopefully everything will run smoothly.

I am going to focus on racial issues that occur in the city as well as political issues affecting the people, such as housing, healthcare, taxes or anything else that may arise.