I told ya’ll to stop sending your money to the Jena Six fund—any of the funds that are set up for them around the nation. I warned you all that until they can give us some answers AND AN APOLOGY regarding why two of the Jena Six were photographed on their MySpace pages profiling and acting like they had hit the lottery with HUNDREDS of dollars donated by hard working, well meaning citizens, to keep your wallets CLOSED.
Now check this out:
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″ teenagers 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.
I still would like to see Mychal Bell released from jail. I would like to see any money donated to the Jena Six fund go directly to lawyers and/or put away for them to go either to college or trade school. However, to just give them money is crazy. And it needs to STOP IMMEDIATELY.
Regarding that organization, Color of Change, don’t send them any money either. Something must be wrong with them if they are insisting on collecting money after being insulted and told to stop collecting it. And quite frankly, the legal bills are taken care of, so what is their purpose at this point in insisting on collecting money for this group of ungrateful, backwards idiots? I really resent them posing in sunglasses and wads of money at the expense of the general public.
Get smart, people. Close your wallets and bank accounts.
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I’ve been reading on other blogs that reportedly one of these boys’ mother is the President of the Local Jena 6 Chapter and she is in control over one of the accounts. Another mother apprently has an NFL player brother who supposedly bought her the new luxury car she has been accused of riding around in. If that is true, I am curious to know why this woman didn’t convince her NFL relative to pay the money for the lawyer instead of buying her a new flossin mobile? It sounds like these backwards folks have their priorities screwed up big time.
Leave it to our folks…
I hope that isn’t true about the NFL relative and the new car. It would be crazy if someone saw fit to purchase or contribute to a new luxury vehicle, but not have seen fit to contribute to the defense fund.
[...] Hat tip: hicktownpress.com [...]
Why don’t blacks BOYCOTT irresponsible, absentee parenting, endorsement of thug behavior, disrespect for education, disrespect for black women, self-hate, poor or no fatherhood, acceptance of cradle to jail passage? I’ve never given a dime to any boycott Sharpton leads. There is no accountability for the money or the bad behavior on the part of the black participant.
Warning: If you have black sons make sure access to a good atty. There is insurance out there now to legal services.
BTW Lynn I love your blog.
I’ve also been reading on other blogs that Tina Jones (mother of Bryant Purvis) is allegedly the head of the local chapter of the NAACP and is in charge of an account for $250,000. There have been rumors that none of the other families have seen any of this money that Jones controls in the account.
As for the myspace pics, I have never known a Parks Dept. to pay that much money to the point where you can have at least a grand cash hanging out of your mouth. Heck in NYC, they don’t even make $15 an hour. I have to agree with Lynn, close your wallets on this one people. We’ve been hoodwinked and bamboozled.
Energize, I totally feel your point, but we can’t blame this whole financial fiasco on Rev. Sharpton. He organized the march of bodies, but the Color of Change, NAACP and others accepted the money. So far though, Color of Change is the only one who has been forthcoming with the accounting. Michael Baisden now got in on the act with his own fundraiser, pledging to raise $1 million after he badmouthed Color of Change and accused them of being “shady”, only to promote his own cause to which he still has not given an account as to how much has been raised.
@divawidfevah: You are correct Mr. Sharpton is not responsible for others foolish and greedy decisions. but, as a leader and reverend, he is well aware of the passage: Luke 12:48 “But he who did not know, yet committed things deserving of stripes, shall be beaten with few. For everyone to whom much is given, from him much will be required; and to whom much has been committed, of him they will ask the more.”
His face is the first one seen. I would think by now, as an expert organizer of boycotts, he would choose carefully what he boycotts and decide how any monies will be handled, unless exposure and profit are the only motives? You named 3 organizations accepting money and there lies one of the problems..When people do stuff like this it destroys credibility.
So many people collected money for this cause that it is beyond the reach of Rev. Sharpton and many other prominent activists that were at the forefront of this cause. Some people even had links on their myspace pages claiming to be raising money for the Jena 6 funds, so there is really no way to pinpoint who was raising money and there is no law that said there must be one specific charity or organization in charge, hence the drama.
We are seeing reports where Bryant Purvis mother, is one of the individuals who maintains and controls an account where donations were submitted. And now, it is clear that Michael Baisden used his nationally syndicated radio show slander one group in an effort to promote his own fundraiser where he is now seeking to raise $1 million dollars. He basically said without offering any proof, “Guys Color of Change is Shady, so you should send the money to MY fund that’s raising a million dollars.” Meanwhile the organization that he bashed is the only one to date to provide full disclosure of where the disbursements went and Baisden has yet to say how we can be sure that he will act responsibly with regard to the money he raises.
I have yet to hear Rev. Sharpton endorse Baisden’s Jena 6 fund, but it is people like Baisden that we need to keep an eye on. Anyone who would badmouth another group without presenting any facts, in order to promote their own agenda is in my book the ’shady’ one.
@Energize,
Welcome to Hicktown! Hopefully you will become a regular visitor, contributor and resident!
Lynn
@Diva
Diva, you said, As for the myspace pics, I have never known a Parks Dept. to pay that much money to the point where you can have at least a grand cash hanging out of your mouth.
You know what? Parks Depts generally pay about a minimum wage for short term, summer jobs. For the teenager’s mother to lie like that—knowing that she was lying, says to me that she is supporting her son in his misuse of funds being sent to the JenaSix fund.
This is the deal. Black Americans in particular really felt bad for those young men because they had a clear and legitimate gripe. Nooses are no joke. The young men were mistreated.
What developed was a situation that was ripe for scam artists to take advantage of while we were all emotional. So scam artists started to collect money, supposedly on behalf of JenaSix, but many of them pocketed that money.
The JenaSix themselves are for the most part not accustomed to seeing all that money, so when they got their hands on the money, they acted the way any backwards welfare recipient would react—with ignorance.
But not at my expense. And so I repeat to everyone. KEEP YOUR WALLET CLOSED! DO NOT SEND ANOTHER PENNY TO JENA SIX UNTIL WE FIND OUT WHAT IS GOING ON.
Maybe the lawyers are already paid and don’t need any more money anyway. Is the goal to make the JenaSix rich or is the goal to pay for their lawyers?
[...] I also blogged about Jena Six Fund HERE and HERE [...]
[...] has been covering the Jena Six story for the past year. I’ve supported and criticized the boys and their [...]