Jena 6

[DevotedToAMC]

Injustice in Jena, Louisiana as Nooses Hang from the White Tree

By Bill Quigley

Published on: July 10, 2007

In a small still mostly segregated section of rural Louisiana, an all white jury heard a series of white witnesses called by a white prosecutor testify in a courtroom overseen by a white judge in a trial of a fight at the local high school where a white student who had been making racial taunts was hit by black students. The fight was the culmination of a series of racial incidents starting when whites responded to black students sitting under the “white tree” at their school by hanging three nooses from the tree. The white jury and white prosecutor and all white supporters of the white victim were all on one side of the courtroom. The black defendant, 17-year-old Mychal Bell, and his supporters were on the other. The jury quickly convicted Mychal Bell of two felonies - aggravated battery and conspiracy to commit aggravated battery. Bell, who was a 16-year-old sophomore football star at the time he was arrested, faces up to 22 years in prison. Five other black youths await similar trials on attempted second-degree murder and conspiracy charges.

Yes, you read that correctly. The rest of the story, which is being reported across the world in papers in China, France and England, is just as chilling.

The trouble started under “the white tree” in front of Jena High School. The “white tree” is where the white students, 80% of the student body, would always sit during school breaks.

In September 2006, a black student at Jena high school asked permission from school administrators to sit under the “white tree.” School officials advised them to sit wherever they wanted. They did.

The next day, three nooses, in the school colors, were hanging from the “white tree.” The message was clear. “Those nooses meant the KKK, they meant ‘Niggers, we’re going to kill you, we’re going to hang you till you die,’” Casteptla Bailey, mom of one of the students, told the London Observer.

The Jena high school principal found that three white students were responsible and recommended expulsion. The white superintendent of schools over-ruled the principal and gave the students a three day suspension saying that the nooses were just a youthful stunt. “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, 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 phone caller to the local school board trying to find out the racial makeup of the school board was told there was one “colored” member of the board). There is one black police officer in Jena and two black public school teachers.

Jena, with a population of less than 3000, is the largest town in the parish (county) seat of LaSalle Parish, Louisiana. There are about 350 African Americans in the town. LaSalle has a population of just over 14,000 people - 12% African-American.

This is solid Bush and David Duke Country - GWB won LaSalle Parish 4 to 1 in the last two elections; Duke carried a majority of the white vote when he ran for Governor of Louisiana. Families earn about 60% of the national average. The Census Bureau reports that less than 10% of the businesses in LaSalle Parish are black owned.

Jena is the site of the infamous Juvenile Correctional Center for Youth that was forced to close its doors in 2000, only two years after opening, due to widespread brutality and racism including the choking of juveniles by guards after the youth met with a lawyer. The U.S. Department of Justice sued the private prison amid complaints that guards paid inmates to fight each other and laughed when teens tried to commit suicide.

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.

Racial tensions remained high throughout the fall.

On the night of Thursday November 30, 2006, a still unsolved fire burned down the main academic building of Jena High School.

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.

Six black Jena students were arrested and charged with attempted second-degree murder. All six were expelled from school.

The six charged were: 17-year-old Robert Bailey Junior whose bail was set at $138,000; 17-year-old Theo Shaw - bail $130,000; 18-year-old Carwin Jones – bail $100,000; 17-year-old Bryant Purvis – bail $70,000; 16 year old Mychal Bell, a sophomore in high school who was charged as an adult and for whom bail was set at $90,000; and a still unidentified minor.

Many of the young men, who came to be known as the Jena 6, stayed in jail for months. Few families could afford bond or private attorneys.

Mychal Bell remained in jail from December 2006 until his trial because his family was unable to post the $90,000 bond. Theo Shaw has also remained in jail. Several of the other defendants remained in jail for months until their families could raise sufficient money to put up bonds.

The Chicago Tribune wrote a powerful story headlined “Racial Demons Rear Heads.” The London Observer wrote: “Jena is gaining national notoriety as an example of the new ‘stealth’ racism, showing how lightly sleep the demons of racial prejudice in America’s Deep South, even in the year that a black man, Barak Obama, is a serious candidate for the White House.” The British Broadcasting Company aired a TV special report “Race Hate in Louisiana 2007.”

The Jena 6 and their families were put under substantial pressure to plead guilty. Mychal Bell was reported to have been leaning towards pleading guilty right up until his trial when he decided he would not plead guilty to a felony.

When it finally came, the trial of Mychal Bell was swift. Bell was represented by an appointed public defender.

On the morning of the trial, the DA reduced the charges from attempted second degree murder to second degree aggravated battery and conspiracy. Aggravated battery in Louisiana law demands the attack be with a dangerous weapon. The dangerous weapon? The prosecutor was allowed to argue to the jury that the tennis shoes worn by Bell could be considered a dangerous weapon used by “the gang of black boys” who beat the white victim.

Most shocking of all, when the pool of potential jurors was summoned, fifty people appeared – every single one white.

The LaSalle Parish clerk defended the all white group to the Alexandria Louisiana Town Talk newspaper saying that the jury pool was selected by computer. “The venire [panel of prospective jurors] is color blind. The idea is for the list to truly reflect the racial makeup of the community, but the system does not take race into factor.” Officials said they had summoned 150 people, but these were the only people who showed up.

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.

Other supporters who planned a demonstration in support of Bell were ordered by the court not to do so near the courthouse or anywhere the judge would see them.

The prosecutor called 17 witnesses - eleven white students, three white teachers, and two white nurses. Some said they saw Bell kick the victim, others said they did not see him do anything. The white victim testified that he did not know if Bell hit him or not.

The Chicago Tribune reported the public defender did not challenge the all-white jury pool, put on no evidence and called no witnesses. The public defender told the Alexandria Town talk after resting his case without calling any witnesses that he knew he would be second-guessed by many but was confident that the jury would return a verdict of not guilty. “I don’t believe race is an issue in this trial…I think I have a fair and impartial jury…”

The jury deliberated for less than three hours and found Mychal Bell guilty on the maximum possible charges of aggravated second degree battery and conspiracy. He faces up to a maximum of 22 years in prison.

The public defender told the press afterwards, “I feel I put on the best defense that I could.” Responding to criticism of not putting on any witnesses, the attorney said “why open the door for further accusations? I did the best I could for my client, Mychal Bell.”

At a rally in front of the courthouse the next day, Alan Bean, a Texas minister and leader of the Friends of Justice, said “I have seen a lot of trials in my time. And I have never seen a more distressing miscarriage of justice than what happened in LaSalle Parish yesterday.” Khadijah Rashad of Lafayette Louisiana described the trial as a “modern day lynching.”

Tory Pegram with the Louisiana ACLU has been working with the parents for months. “People know if they don't demand equal treatment now, they will never get it. People's jobs and livelihoods have been threatened for attending Jena 6 Defense meetings, but people are willing to risk that. One person told me: ‘We have to convince more people to come rally with us.....What's the worst that could happen? They fire us from our jobs? We have the worst jobs in the town anyway. They burn a cross on our lawns or burn down my house? All of that has happened to us before. We have to keep speaking out to make sure it doesn't happen to us again, or our children will never be safe.’"

Whites in the community were adamant that there is no racism. "We don't have a problem,” according to one. Other locals told the media "We all get along," and "most blacks are happy with the way things are." One person even said "We don't have many problems with our blacks."

Melvin Worthington, the lone African American school board member in LaSalle Parish said it all could have been avoided. “There’s no doubt about it,” he told the Chicago Tribune, “whites and blacks are treated differently here. The white kids should have gotten more punishment for hanging those nooses. If they had, all the stuff that followed could have been avoided.”

Hebert McCoy, a relative of one of the youths who has been trying to raise money for bail and lawyers, challenged people everywhere at the end of the rally when he said “You better get out of your houses. You better come out and defend your children…because they are incarcerating them by the thousands. Jena’s not the beginning, but Jena has crossed the line. Justice is not right when you put on the wrong charges and then convict. I believe in justice. I believe in the point of law. I believe in accepting the punishment if I’m guilty. If I’m guilty, convict me and punishment, but if I’m innocent, no justice…” and the crowd joined with him and shouted “no peace!”

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 people in Jena are fighting for justice and they need legal and financial help. Since the arrests, a group of family members have been holding well-attended meetings, and have created a defense fund – the Jena 6 Defense Committee. They have received support from the NAACP, the Louisiana ACLU and Friends of Justice. People interested in supporting can contact: the Jena 6 Defense Committee, PO Box 2798, Jena, LA 71342 jena6defense(at)gmail.com; Friends of Justice, 507 North Donley Avenue, Tulia, TX 79088 www.fojtulia.org; or the ACLU of Louisiana, PO Box 56157, New Orleans, LA 70156 www.laaclu.org or 417.350.0536.

What is next? The rest of the Jena 6 await similar trials. Theodore Shaw is due to go on trial shortly. Mychal Bell is scheduled to be sentenced July 31. If he gets the maximum sentence he will not be out of prison until he is nearly 40. Meanwhile, the “white tree” outside Jena High sits quietly in the hot sun.

[Danni]

Rather sad that no one has commented on it considering it's Jim Crow all over again.

Tomorrow, there will be a rally in Jena to protest the actions of the school administration, the DA, and the judge. If you wish to support the cause I highly suggest visiting this site to submit letters to Gov. Blanco or even donate: http://www.colorofchange.org/jena/.

[DevotedToAMC]

I hope the rally is successful. How stupid of the DA to file charges against the young man and have him convicted when the first crime was the hanging of the nooses as a threat. He fought back in self defense.

[Danni]

I'm watching the rally right now, and there are easily thousands of people there in support.

Note that there are a number of issues at play:

1. The noose hanging

2. A fire at the school

3. One of the three kids who hung the noose assaulted a black kid and pulled out a gun. The black kid gets the gun away, but he's charged with theft when the police arrive.

4. The kid that got jumped by the Jena 6 went to the hospital and then was released three hours later to go to a school function, and the DA is trying to claim that it was attempted murder and that the incident isn't related to the noose.

I like how other people are silent about it.

[EricaKane70]

Wow, I had no clue about this story until today, I really don't watch much tv during the summer and am pretty out of the loop about alot of things. I really hope this rally is successful. Strange how I never saw anything about this on my yahoo page or maybe I just didn't realize what it was. Its sad in america that people still are segregated in 2007.

[Lskreet]

I hope it is too. If I could I'd be right there in Jena protesting.

I'm not surprised stuff like this still goes on, but I'm glad people are rallying together and hopefully this will bring about some change in this small town.

[Kwing42]

First let me say, I think racism of any kind is wrong, white against black, black against white, white against Indian, etc.

Here is a blurb from our local paper, my thoughts in ( ):

The cause of Thursday's demonstrations dates to August 2006, when black Jena High School students were told it was OK to sit beneath a shade tree frequented by white students. But nooses appeared in the tree the next day. Three white students were suspended but not prosecuted. (Action was taken by, I assume the police...punishment was assigned, I think they should have recieved a little jail time/community service work as well, but they were punished)

Fights between blacks and whites followed, and the unrest culminated with a December attack on a white student. (both white and black students involved in the fight should have been held accountable, and those who attacked the white student, obviously should have a more severe punishment)

Officials arrested six black teens, and five were initially charged with attempted second-degree murder, charges that have since been reduced for four of them. (I do not know how badly the student was beaten, if he was severely beaten then obviously the punishment should fit the crime. Only those involved should have been punished, if the beating was merely a "fight" and the student was not severely injured, then we have a problem, because the punishment would not fit the crime.)

Obviously the protesting is in regards to the murder charge, I would assume and hope.

Can someone tell me what condition this white student was in after the fight, was it 5 on 1? What are the specifics of the fight.

[Danni]

No, it was not taken by the police. The principal wanted the three students expelled, but the LaSalle Parish School Board overruled him, citing that they had just committed a prank (yeah, insinuating a lynching is just SO funny). The only punishment they received was three days suspension. DA doesn't charge them with anything because he "couldn't find anything in Lousiana law to use for prosecution". Gee, I don't know. Aside from the fact that putting a noose on a tree on federally funded property is considered a hate crime... The black students, angered by the ruling, collectively sat by the tree in protest and in comes DA Reed Walters and his "I can end your life with this pen" rhetoric. Things are copacetic for a while, until there's a fire at the school. The white kids think the black kids did it, the black kids think the white kids did it.

There are three different fights that went on. Fight number one includes one of the Jena 6 (Bailey) where he's refused entrance into a party. Some white kids who were there start fighting with him and his friends, and one of the white kids uses a bottle to attack Bailey. Both were charged with 2nd degree assault and 2nd degree battery despite the fact that there was a deadly weapon involved on the part of the white kid.

Fight number two occurs at a convenience store. Bailey is hanging out with friends and a white male comes to the area. I have no idea who initiates the fight, but the white guy (who, I must note is an actual adult) goes to his truck, takes out a shotgun and points it at Bailey. Bailey and his friends wrestle the gun away from him and they call the police. No charges are filed against the white guy. Bailey's charged with disorderly conduct, 2nd degree assault, and theft.

Fight number three: Parker (the white guy in question) is casually chatting about fight number two, using some slurs in the process. Six black teens overhear him and tell him to watch his mouth, and of course Parker is talking back and fight begins. Parker gets knocked out, but the fight continues. Dude is treated for a concussion and a swollen eye, but leaves the hospital two hours later to attend a school ceremony that night (very important detail here).

First they were charged with 2nd degree assault, but then in comes DA Reed Walters, who couldn't hide his white hood even if he tried, and decides to up it to 2nd degree attempted murder and 2nd degree conspiracy to commit murder. The "murder weapon" in question: Bell's sneaker. If convicted, they could get up to 80 years in prison. Mychal Bell has his trial first. Now I'll say that his lawyer failed him by not putting any witnesses on the stand, however, when you have an all-white jury from an all-white pool in the Deep South and one of the prosecution's witnesses is one of the original three who hung the noose things were not going to end well. After two hours, the jury finds him guilty. Now, this story is going around the blogosphere. It's making the DA, the judge, and the whole town of Jena look bad, and rightfully so. Eventually the judge downgrades the charges to 2nd degree assault, but considering that Bell was tried as an adult, he'd still be screwed because he could get up to 22 years in prison. He was supposed to have been sentenced yesterday, the specific date of the protest.

The main issue that people fail to understand about the Jena 6 is that it's not about letting them go unpunished. It's about the fact that there is a HUGE flaw (and that's the understatement of the year, quite frankly) in regards to how justice is doled out based on race. It's about the blatant disparity on how minorities vs. whites are punished, and the fact that if it's happening in this small podunk town like Jena, it's happening everywhere. It is about equal justice.

[JamesF]

According to the story I read this morning (yep it's even in the British press), the white student attended a party the same night as the fight. I guess it's easy to draw a conclusion from that.

[Danni]

It's funny that the BBC was all over it, but the NY Times wasn't until the protest actually began.

[Ryan]

Breaking News from Yahoo:

[Kwing42]

If said information is fact (there are no sources listed as to the details of the fights or anything) then I agree that the attempted murder charge is bogus and wrong.

But then again, I do not have all the facts in the case. It seems too many times we want to jump on one horse or another out of fear that civil liberties and rights are being violated, but in the end, they weren't.

I do assume that there is more to this story than what is being said, and I am sure most of that would suggest equal blame, and too harsh of punishments on the 6.

[Danni]

All you have to do is go to CNN.com and you'll know the details.

It's funny how people start showing their asses really well. Not a racist town, my ass.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationw...hi_tab01_layout

[Kwing42]

Sad thing is Danni, racism is all around us and in fact it hits every person of color, white, red, black or brown.

What I think is OVERLY sad is that if the colors were reversed, there would be no outcry...kind of like the Duke Lacrosse case...how sad was that, and they were tried and sentenced for a crime they never committed because of the media coverage.

Where were those who stand up for the wrongly accused? They weren't there...because they were white.

But I do feel badly for this situation and all involved and hope it gets worked out ASAP for the good of everyone.

[Danni]

Jesus H. Christ, when will you realize that this isn't about the majority? First of all, in a town like Jena if six white kids beat up a black kid, they sure as hell will not be on trial for attempted murder. It's not that hard to figure that out seeing as how a white kid smashed Bailey (one of the Jena 6) over the head with a bottle and only got probation and another white guy points an unloaded shotgun at Bailey's head and received NO punishment. That is the problem, Kwing. There is no reverse situation because it wouldn't happen.

And in regards to Duke, you have no idea how quickly the media turned around to sympathize with those players before Nifong's issues came out. Then again, if you're not on the other side of the spectrum, you're not going to see it or care unless it directly affects you.