As reported by the Chicago Tribune. It appears that Radio personality 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 and where the money is.
The report by Chicago Tribune senior correspondent indicates 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.
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.
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3 comments:
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-jena_bdnov11,1,5899685.story
Howard Witt of the Chicago Tribune wrote a rather damning article on Jena 6 fundraising, demoting ColorOfChange to just another fundraiser and giving all Jena6 fundraisers a big black eye. I'd say this story has an 80% of going national by Tuesday.
I think the inevitable flip-flop of media support just occurred, just as it did in the Duke case. I suggest that best interests would be served if Jena supporters assume that the media did flip and start preparing for some major damage control.
Mychal Bell's juvie record could be publicized as early as the middle of next week. How are his supporters going to explain the reportedly permanent injury he caused to his girlfriend's eye?
How will Jena6 supporters defend the eye-witness accounts of the convenience store robbery? "The witnesses are racist, too" just ain't going to cut it.
Right now, the word "DUKE DUKE DUKE" should be ringing in every supporter's ears, because the potential here for a major PR backfire is huge.
I have had mixed feelings about the entire Jena episode from the beginning and I still have issues with a lot of it, stories like this do not make it any better. It is so sad that our people always seem to tarnish our own image. No matter how much good we do all the bad seems to get publicized...
Trifling, Sad, and Ridiculous...
Blessings.
I always knew this guy is a creep, and I don't know why this ignorant fool is on the radio.
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