Corzine Statement on Jena Six

Statement

CORZINE STATEMENT ON JENA SIX

Deputy Chief of Staff Jeannine LaRue today represented Governor Jon S. Corzine at the New Jersey NAACP's annual convention in Atlantic City. Deputy Chief LaRue delivered greetings from the Governor, who is recuperating from surgery at Drumthwacket, and made the following statement on his behalf:

"The underlying truth in the case of the Jena Six is unavoidable. That is, there is a significant segment of our nation's population, who as a result of history and their race, do not have confidence that the nation's criminal justice system will be impartially applied. This circumstance should be unacceptable to all who believe justice is to be blind.

"While there are no excuses for violence, the ambivalent response of Jena authorities to one of nation's most troubling legacies of racial hatred is inexcusable. The subsequent harsh treatment of the six youngAfrican-American students raises serious questions about the potential of bias in our criminal justice system. Similar concerns exist throughout the nation, including here in New Jersey, and require all of us to redouble our efforts to address any disparities.

"I would urge the Civil Rights division in the U.S. Department of Justice to review this case, first and foremost because the lives and futures of six young men are at stake. But also because, as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. soeloquently argued, ‘a threat to justice anywhere, is a threat to justice everywhere.'"

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