‘Jena Six’ Mom is Arrested
The mother of Mychal Bell, one of the so-called “Jena Six” youths, was arrested Monday on charges of failure to pay child support. The 39-year-old Melissa Bell was being held at the Caldwell Parish Detention Center as of Monday night, The Associated Press reports. Mychal Bell is one of six Black youths who were charged with attempted murder in 2006 following a schoolyard fight with a White student in Jena, La. Their seemingly harsh prosecution sparked cries of racism, and thousands of protestors, headed by the Rev. Al Sharpton, headed to Jena to show support for the six youths. Mychal Bell is the only one of the Jena Six youths, whose case is resolved. Late last year, Bell shot himself with a gun and told authorities that it was a suicide attempt after being caught shop lifting. He said at the time that he thought about all of the people he had disappointed by his actions.

Gay Marriage Recognized in D.C.
Same-sex couples are one step closer to having their unions recognized in the nation’s capital. The Washington City Council voted unanimously in favor of recognizing marriages in other states.  The 12-0 vote came the same day that Vermont became the fourth state to legalize same-sex marriage, joining Connecticut, Massachusetts and Iowa. Click for more.

Detroit’s Ex-mayor is Freed
Detroit’s disgraced ex-mayor, Kwame Kilpatrick, will leave jail today after 99 days behind bars for lying to a jury about his relationship with former chief of staff Christine Beatty. The Motor City’s 38-year-old Hip-Hop Mayor left Detroit’s downtown jail just after midnight en route home. He must meet with probation officers tomorrow before heading off to a job interview, reportedly a high-paying gig in Texas. According to The Dallas Morning News, Kilpatrick met with Dallas Mayor Tom Leppert before he went to jail.

Media Want Jena-Six Youth Hearing Records
Media groups want access to the sealed records of Mychal Bell, the Black youth who was convicted for his role in beating a White classmate in the tiny Louisiana town of Jena. He and five other young Black males were charged with attempted murder in the incident, but the charges were reduced amid an outcry from Black leaders, civil rights advocates, students and others, who in 2007 marched 20,000 strong on the community of a couple thousand residents.  Bell later pleaded guilty to a juvenile charge of second-degree battery. Read the rest here.

‘Jena Six’ Teen Explains His Suicide Rationale
Last month, when “Jena Six” teen Mychal Bell took his Christmas money and bought a .22-caliber gun to kill himself, he says he couldn’t face the world after running into trouble again. After all, he had the support of tens – maybe hundreds – of thousands of Americans who thought he had been wronged by a racist Louisiana judicial system. Read more here.

Obama Honors Black WWII Flyers
President-elect Barack Obama is making it clear that he appreciates the sacrifices that the Tuskegee Airmen – America’s first Black military pilots – made to this country. He has invited the 330 living World War II pilots to attend his inauguration, and many of them are accepting. “My career in public service was made possible by the path heroes like the Tuskegee Airmen trail-blazed,” Obama said then in a statement. Sixty years ago, the esteemed unit of the U.S. Air Force took part in the fly-past at the inauguration of President Truman. D.C. was still segregated at the time, and many the airmen were subjected to the indignities of Jim Crow, despite their heroics and sacrifice. But today, they will receive a hero’s welcome. Obama has reserved a high-profile place for them on the Capitol lawn to witness up close a day that many of them never thought they’d see.

 Depressed about yet another negative media blitz, one of the teens convicted in the infamous “Jena Six” case shot himself just days after being arrested on a shoplifting charge in Louisiana, police said. Mychal Bell, 18, shot himself in the chest with a .22-caliber firearm and was rushed to the hospital Monday. “I think he was upset over the incident … and didn’t want to be in the news again,” said Monroe Police Sgt. Cassandra Wooten. Bell was first cast into the national spotlight in 2006 when he was one of six Black teenagers facing attempted murder charges after an altercation with a White classmate in Jena, La. The charges for all of the teens were eventually reduced, but the initially harsh prosecution triggered cries of racism and sparked a mass march of 20,000 activists on the tiny, mostly White Louisiana community. Bell’s latest brush with the law occurred on Christmas Eve, when he was arrested and booked on charges of shoplifting, resisting arrest and simple assault, police said. Police say Bell tried to steal some shirts and jeans from a Dillard’s department store and that he ran when a security guard and off-duty police officer tried to detain him. They found him hiding under a car, and when they approached him, he “swung his arms wildly” and struck the security guard with a glancing blow, according to a police report. He was freed on $1,300 bond.