The Jena 6 Case

In September of 2006, at Jena High School, in Jena, Louisiana, a predominately all white school, a black student asked the vice principal if it was okay for him to sit under the tree that was known to only be where the white kids congregated. The vice principal insisted that this was his school too and he could sit anywhere he’d like. The black students sat under the tree, the next day there were nooses hung from the tree; as an extreme level of offense that it was taken it also stirred up and even more segregated and tension filled emotions throughout the school. The school principal recommended expulsion for those involved with the hanging of the nooses, although the school district committee overruled that decision and gave the three white students three days of suspension, "Adolescents play pranks," the superintendent told the Chicago Tribune, "I don't think it was a threat against anybody."


The African-American community was hurt and upset. "Hanging those nooses was a hate crime, plain and simple," according to Tracy Bowens, a mother of students at Jena High. But blacks in this area of Louisiana have little political power. The ten-person, all-male government of the parish has one African-American member. The nine-member, all-male school board has one African-American member. (A person called the local school board trying to find out the racial makeup of the school board, and was told there was one "colored" member of the board). There is one black police officer in Jena and two black public school teachers.

Black students decided to resist and organized a sit-in under the "white tree" at the school to protest the light suspensions given to the noose-hanging white students.

The white district attorney then came to Jena High with law-enforcement officers to address a school assembly. According to testimony in a later motion in court, the DA reportedly threatened the black protesting students saying that if they didn't stop making a fuss about this "innocent prank", "I can be your best friend or your worst enemy. I can take away your lives with a stroke of my pen." The school was put on lockdown for the rest of the week.



A series of racial tension filled emotions ensued soon after, between black and white students in the small town. On November 30, 2007 someone torched a part of the high school and although the arson remains unsolved it is believed to be linked to the high school tension filled situation.

On Friday night, December 1, a black student who showed up at a white party was beaten by whites. On Saturday, December 2, a young white man pulled out a shotgun in a confrontation with young black men at the Gotta Go convenience store outside Jena before the men wrestled it away from him. The black men who took the shotgun away were later arrested; no charges were filed against the white man.

On Monday, December 4, at Jena High, a white student - who allegedly had been making racial taunts, including calling African-American students "niggers" while supporting the students who hung the nooses and who beat up the black student at the off-campus party - was knocked down, punched and kicked by black students. The white victim was taken to the hospital treated and released. He attended a social function that evening.



Mychal Bell, Robert Bailey, Theo Shaw, Carwin Jones, Bryant Purvis and an unidentified juvenile, all black teens, were arrested and charged with attempted murder. The weapons used; according to the charges were shoes. Their bails were set at between $70,000 and $138,000.

Last week, LaSalle Parish District Attorney J. Reed Walters reduced the charges against Jones and Shaw to second-degree aggravated battery.

Until recently Robert Bailey and Theo Shaw were in jail unable to post bail, they are now awaiting their cases to be tried; Theo Shaw said to be next in line.

The all-white jury which was finally chosen included two people friendly with the district attorney, a relative of one of the witnesses and several others who were friends of prosecution witnesses.

Bell's parents, Melissa Bell and Marcus Jones, were not even allowed to attend the trial despite their objections, because they were listed as potential witnesses. The white victim, though a witness, was allowed to stay in the courtroom. The parents, who had been widely quoted in the media as critics of the process, were also told they could no longer speak to the media as long as the trial was in session. Marcus Jones had told the media, "It's all about those nooses" and declared the charges racially motivated.

Mychal Bell was convicted and charged on all counts. On September 20, 2007 he will be sentenced, and could face up to 20 years, the other 5 could face up to 100 years. Smh


There is an uproar of injustice protesters for these young promising high school graduates. The NAACP, Al Sharpton, and Martin Luther King Jr. III are all in full swing and support for this injustice. Since when does a typical school fight, that we can see thousands video taped online with camera phones right now on the net, constitute prison time?

Mychal Bell’s charges are not only seen as injustice but the conviction was due to many often typical faulty traditions involving the black accused. The jury was all white; two of its members were related to prosecuting witnesses. Mychal’s public defender didn’t call any witnesses, including a coach that wrote a statement ready to testify for the defense. It is also said that the public defender was working with the D.A. The defense attorney wanted Mychal to cop a plea of which he refused.


Mychal Bell’s father had 8 offering scholarships from several different colleges for his now convicted son who’s behind bars. Bryant Purvis is in Texas in school, hoping that this will all be behind him soon and that justice does prevail.

There is a defense fund that is needed for support for the other 5 who are accused and a petition that is going around as well..here’s where to start!

Support The Jena 6
The Jena Six Defense Committee
PO Box 2798
Jena, LA 71342

What happened to the white guys? The white victim of the beating was later arrested for bringing a hunting rifle loaded with 13 bullets onto the high school campus and released on $5000 bond. The white man who beat up the black youth at the off-campus party was arrested and charged with simple battery. The white students who hung up the nooses in the "white tree" were never charged.

The tree has since been cut down!

NBC NeWs

Tumi's Murder

Her Myspace page, Tumi’s Myspace last logged on the day she was murdered. Beautiful and promising Boitumelo "Tumi" McCallum was found murdered due to strangulation, in her mother’s apartment in Greenwich Village in New York. Her ex-boyfriend, who she still remained involved with, admitted to murdering her after being chased down by police and corned at a supermarket. Michael Cordero 23, was found by some relatives with his wrists slit, attempting suicide. When he was taken to the hospital it was there that he admitted to killing Tumi. Michael said that he didn’t want to live because he killed the love of his life.

Details and Timeline:

August 1st, 2007- Tumi throws a party in her apartment, of which she does not invite Michael Cordero

August 2nd, 2007 – Michael goes to visit Tumi at her apartment. They layed in the bed, watch a movie he brought. Michael had an attitude and Tumi asked him what was the matter and Michael accused Tumi of sleeping with another man while at the party. She never admitted to any of the accusations but he feels as though he knew her and she did. When Tumi, kept asking him about his mood he claims he “snapped and lost it.” He began beating her in the face and strangling her, she was still alive so he wrapped a towel around her face and continued the strangulation. He was seen in the kitchen by a neighbor washing his hands; it was then assumed that was after he killed her. He wrapped her body up in a sheet and left her on the floor in between the bed and the wall. He left the television on in her room, closed and locked her door from the inside.

August 5th, 2007 – A couple subletting another room in the apartment reported a foul smell coming from her room and called the superintendent. The police was called because her door was locked, they arrived around 10p.m. When the police arrived they found her room littered with condoms and beer bottles.

August 6th, 2007 - Michael is arrested for the admitted murder of Tumi. The last time he logs in to Myspace, and claims the emotion “restless.”

Paul Rocco, 27 an ex boyfriend of Tumi's said she spent the night with Tumi and left just hours before she was killed. They did not sleep together, but just cuddled all night. He feels that maybe Tumi and Michael's argument might have had something to do with him being the last to be with her alive. Nonetheless, he hopes Michael rots in hell!




Tumi, was the daughter of two college professors. She was a sophomore at Mills College in Oakland, California. She was in NY for the summer working with children teaching them art. Her mother, Teboho Moja was in South Africa at the time of Tumi’s death and is one of South Africa's leading anti-apartheid activists. Her father, Robert McCallum, an art education professor at NYU, just recently newly married just days before Tumi’s murder.




Tumi was a very sweet and loving young woman, only 20 years old at the time of her death. She came from a different place than Michael. Who was somewhat of a rebel. She came from a good educated background, while Michael had been in trouble with the law and had no real goals. Opposites definitely attracted in their situation. They both met while in high school, although Michael later switched to a different high school, they remained back and forth with their rocky relationship. It was said by many of Tumi’s friends that he was physically abusive and extremely jealous and obsessive. They sometimes would see bruises on Tumi. They would advise Tumi, that she should leave him alone but she never did completely. According to Michael’s sister’s boyfriend, Michael and Tumi both felt they would always be forever.




Tumi’s mother said that they always kept in touch even thousands of miles away, through text messaging. She said she would always text her “goodnight, sweetie pie” and for some reason six months ago she started calling “her angel.” Indeed she is!

Mills College has set a memorial scholarship fund in the name of Tumi. Click the link for more details of interest. Mills College Memorial Scholarship Fund

August 10th, 2007 - Assistant District Attorney Martha Bashford arraigned Cordero on second-degree murder and three counts of petit larceny. The have a detailed written and videotaped confession but Michael’s attorney Eric Sears says that he will likely challenge those confessions because of Cordero's medical condition after the suicide attempt.

August 16th, 2007 - Funeral in South Africa for Tumi. "I'm hoping that in the midst of this tragedy, the family will be able to say, 'We were blessed with this lovely daughter,'" Franklin McCallum(Tumi's father) said. "Although we lost her in the prime of her life, we're grateful we had her."Her ashes will remain in South Africa, where she was born and spent the first years of her life in Johannesburg's famed Soweto township.
"It's obviously very difficult, but we are forging on," said Khabelo Moja, Boitumelo McCallum's brother. "We're doing all right, as well as can be under the circumstances."

Where Michael Cordero is located
Bellevue Hospital Prison Ward
Address:1st Avenue and 27th Street,New York, N.Y.10016