Questions about Jena case funds

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.

Michael Baisden, a nationally syndicated black radio host who is leading a major fundraising drive on behalf of the Jena 6, has declined to reveal how much he has collected. Attorneys for the first defendant to go to trial, Mychal Bell, say they have yet to receive any money from him.

Meanwhile, photos and videos are circulating across the Internet that raise questions about how the donated funds are being spent. One photo shows Robert Bailey, one of the Jena 6 defendants, smiling and posing with $100 bills stuffed in his mouth. Another shows defendants Carwin Jones and Bryant Purvis modeling like rap stars on a red carpet at the Black Entertainment Television Hip Hop music awards in Atlanta last month.

The teenagers’ parents have strongly denied that they have misused any of the donated money. Bailey’s mother, for example, insisted that the $100 bills shown in the photograph were cash her son had earned on his job as a park maintenance worker.

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Only one national civil rights group, Color of Change, has fully disclosed how the $212,000 it collected for the Jena 6 via a massive Internet campaign has been distributed. The grassroots group, which has nearly 400,000 members, has posted images of cancelled checks and other signed documents on its website showing that all but $1,230 was paid out in October in roughly equal amounts to attorneys for the Jena youths.

Yet that transparency did not halt acrimony over the fundraising from breaking into public view on Baisden’s popular radio show this week, when Baisden invited Bell’s father, Marcus Jones, to accuse Color of Change founder James Rucker of misapplying the donated funds.

Jones offered no evidence for his assertion. But Baisden told his listeners that Rucker “sounds shady to me,” before promoting his own fundraiser, scheduled for this weekend, which aims to collect at least $1 million for the Jena 6 and other black defendants across the country.

On the eve of the Sept. 20 civil rights march, Baisden advertised a book-signing and solicited cash donations for the Jena 6 families at a rally in Alexandria, La., but his business manager, Pamela Exum, declined to specify how much was collected or how the money was distributed.

Color of Change officials call Baisden’s broadcast comments slanderous and say they are contemplating legal action.

“We are trying to clear our good name,” said Mervyn Marcano, the group’s spokesman. “It’s distressing that right now the conversation around the Jena 6 is on a ‘Jenagate’ that doesn’t exist, not the actual issues of how justice is administered in that town.”

On Friday, after several prominent African American bloggers criticized Baisden for his comments, the radio host issued a statement apologizing to Color of Change “for not seeking more reliable sources.”

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Exactly how much money has been collected for the Jena 6 defendants is impossible to know, because many donors did not go through Color of Change, the NAACP or other mainstream groups and instead contributed directly to the individual defendants’ families. Many impromptu Internet operators also raised money by selling t-shirts or otherwise invoking the Jena 6 cause, but much of that money disappeared without a trace.

Tensions over the funds have begun to surface between the Jena 6 families, most of whom are impoverished. Jones broke with the other families, for example, in criticizing Color of Change, a group he has shunned for months over disagreements with Rucker over his son’s legal team.

The largest remaining Jena 6 account, said by some civil rights activists close to the families to contain up to $250,000, is under the control of Tina Jones, mother of defendant Bryant Purvis. (more…)

In an earlier news conference, Caseptla Bailey (mother of Robert L. Bailey–one of the 6) was quoted saying the following:

“My son, Robert L. Bailey, was employed after being incarcerated,” Caseptla Bailey said. “That is something he decided to do on Myspace. He is a kid. Robert was able to save money, and he also has relatives that have sent him money. That’s something that kids do within the hip-hop community; that’s something that’s portrayed in the media, on BET. He is still a kid, he’s gonna make mistakes. I’m not going to defend a mistake he made.” (source)

Based on the picture, those are some very rich relatives he has. Dang, the most I ever got was maybe a $5.

Anyway, the whole situation is silly and not even worth the time trying to make some point about it. Give it about a year or so and someone will find a case for the Rancho Cucamonga 7.

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Hat tip: hicktownpress.com