Well, well, what exactly has happened to all the money donated for the defense of the Jena 6?
From The Chicago Tribune:
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" teens 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....
Only one group has done it right, Color for Change:
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 grass-roots group, which has nearly 400,000 members, has posted images of canceled checks and other signed documents on its Web site showing that all but $1,230 was paid out in October in roughly equal amounts to attorneys for the Jena youths.
Color for Change has acted properly as it has disclosed everything to the public. However, that was not good enough for the parents and "competitors":
Yet that transparency did not halt acrimony over the fundraising from breaking into public view on Baisden's popular radio show last week, when Baisden invited Bell's father, Marcus Jones, to accuse Color of Change founder James Rucker of misapplying the 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 nationwide.....
Hmmm...the group raises funds for the lawyers defending the Jena 6, actually pays them with all of the money raised, discloses the disbursements along with supporting documentation to the public while the father of Mychel Bell and someone claiming to raise money for the Jena 6 calls them shady and says money should be given to them instead. What does this sound like to you?
Related Youtube clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fC-EJ0gv9Xo
other posts on Jena 6:
http://kingfish1935.blogspot.com/2007/10/is-this-real-story-of-jena-6.html
http://kingfish1935.blogspot.com/2007/10/is-this-real-story-of-jena-6.html
1 comment:
I'm SO starting a fundraiser...who wants to contribute towards my student loans!!! Heck, keep 'em coming, maybe we can make a dent in my wife's student loans while we're at it!
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