Revolution #111, December 9, 2007
“Jim Crow Got Him Locked Up”
At the November 16 march around the so-called “Department of Justice” in D.C., CNN anchor Don Lemon interviewed Marcus Jones, who is the father of Mychal Bell -- one of the Jena 6. Lemon attacked Marcus Jones with the charge that his son was “no angel,” and Marcus Jones corrected him on who put the Jena 6 in jail, and for what.
LEMON: I’ve got to ask you this because people say you know what, Mychal and—the start of the march, people saying, you know, we can’t condone what’s wrong. Obviously, Mychal did something wrong. And are you saying—how are you saying he should be treated in the justice system? He’s done something wrong. Obviously, the Justice Department you feel has not treated him properly. But then, he’s no angel in all of that. That’s what folks are saying.
JONES: It’s the illegal prosecution and the charges that have been brung up on Mychal. I mean, people have their own judgment, they can read what they want to read on the Internet or whatever, it is illegal prosecution, illegal judgment that is going on with my son now. My son don’t have his self locked up. Jim Crow got him locked up. And that’s what I’m here for, the march against the Justice Department for them to end Jim Crow.
LEMON: All right, let’s talk about—more about your son. He’s a young man, obviously, you’re a young father. People talk about cleaning up their own backyard. How much—we’re going to keep walking slowly when they go. How much do you think men should be involved, especially African-American men, in their own sons’ lives. Don’t you think that would make a huge difference?
JONES: No, I mean, just being involved like I am now, I haven’t failed my son in no kind of way in the present or in the past.
LEMON: Yes, that’s it?
JONES: That’s it.
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