The Jena Six

 

 

 

 

 

Click here: YouTube - The Jena Six

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YuoiZnr4jLY

 

In September 2006, a group of African American high school students in Jena, Louisiana, asked the school for permission to sit beneath a "whites only" shade tree. There was an unwritten rule that blacks couldn't sit beneath the tree. The school said they didn't care where students sat. The next day, students arrived at school to see three nooses (in school colors) hanging from the tree. (Please note, the tree above is not the tree, but a tree at Jena High School.)

The boys who hung the nooses were suspended from school for a few days. The school administration chalked it up as a harmless prank, but Jena's black population didn't take it so lightly. Fights and unrest started breaking out at school. The District Attorney, Reed Walters, was called in to directly address black students at the school and told them all he could "end their life with a stroke of the pen."

Black students were assaulted at white parties. A white man drew a loaded rifle on three black teens at a local convenience store. (They wrestled it from him and ran away.) Someone tried to burn down the school, and on December 4th, a fight broke out that led to six black students being charged with attempted murder. To his word, the D.A. pushed for maximum charges, which carry sentences of eighty years. Four of the six are being tried as adults (ages 17 & 18) and two are juveniles.

Yesterday, I was in Jena for the first day of the trial for Mychal Bell, one of the Jena Six. The D.A., perhaps in response to public pressure, tried to get Bell to cop a plea. Bell refused, and today, jury selection began. After today, we'll know whether or not the case will be tried in front of an all-white jury. Jena's 85-percent white, and it remains to be seen whether or not the six can get a fair trial.

Both off-the-record and on, Jena residents told me racism is alive and well in Louisiana, and this is a case where it rose above the levee, so to speak.

In the next few days, I'll be posting a few photos from Jena that are related to the case, as well as linking to a multimedia piece I'm working on. CNN began reporting on the story today, following the lead of the BBC, who crafted an excellent hour-long documentary that can be found on P2P networks.

Update: Mychal Bell, the first of the Jena Six to face trial, was found guilty of aggravated second-degree battery and conspiracy to commit the same on June 28th. A comprehensive look at the case, the trial and the verdict was published on July 2nd at friendsofjustice. Plus, Democracy Now did a full story. To send a letter to Governor Blanco, please visit Color of Change.

 

 

King, Sharpton Rally behind 'Jena Six' Case, But is it Enough? La. town divided over black teens jailed in attack

By Mary Foster,

AP

Talk About It: Post Thoughts

Jena, La. -- Martin Luther King III, the oldest son of the famed civil rights leader, recently urged a crowd to use the ballot box to change a local justice system where six black teenagers face the possibility of decades in prison for attacking a white classmate.

King spoke at what was billed as a town hall meeting to back the teens - labeled by supporters as the "Jena Six." He chastised the mostly black audience for failing to vote.

"We have to come together, white folks and black folks, and elect a new district attorney if it's found that he has misappropriated power," King said.

The youths were charged with attempted second-degree murder and conspiracy, sparking outrage in the black community, drawing attention from the American Civil Liberties Union, which is now monitoring the case, and civil rights leaders.

Mychal Bell, who was 16 at the time of the assault, was tried as an adult and convicted of reduced charges of aggravated second-degree battery and conspiracy. He remains in jail, unable to raise a $90,000 bail. He faces up to 22 years in prison when sentenced on Sept. 20.

The other five are awaiting trial on the original charges District Attorney Reed Walters, who has refused to talk to the media about the case, did not return a call for comment left at his residential number late Tuesday. In the past, he has said he cannot comment because of the pending charges.

King said that if blacks, who make up only 12 percent of the population in LaSalle Parish, voted at 95 percent, they would find the electoral muscle to make changes.

King appeared with the Rev. Al Sharpton, who was making his second appearance in Jena in support of the teenagers. He called the case "a national disgrace."

"Any time you have two levels of justice in any court system, it undermines everything," Sharpton said.

About 150 people, including a few white residents, jammed into tiny Antioch Baptist Church, taking all the space inside and spilling out onto the lawn.

Before the meeting, Sharpton and King met with Bell at the parish jail.

Two new defense attorneys for Bell - Louis Scott and Carol Powell-Lexing - said they planned a motion for a new trial, contending that Bell should have been tried as a juvenile and the trial should have been moved to another parish.

The attorneys also said they would ask for Bell's release on a reduced bond while he appeals his conviction.

Jena, a town of 3,000, is mostly white with about 350 black residents. Residents said race relations had been sensitive - though not explosive - until incidents began unfolding last fall at Jena High School.

The morning after a black student sat under a tree on campus where white students traditionally congregated, three nooses - lynching symbols in the old South - were hung in the tree. Students accused of placing them were suspended from the school for a short period, but tensions increased. Fights between black and white students were reported on and off campus.

Then on Dec. 4, the six black students were accused of jumping Justin Barker, 18, who is white, and beating and kicking him at the high school.

Barker was treated at a hospital emergency room and went to a school function the same night. Bell, a star football player who was being courted by UCLA and Louisiana State University, was found guilty by an all-white jury.

Trial dates for Robert Bailey Jr., Bryant Purvis, Carwin Jones and Theodore Shaw, all 18, and an unidentified juvenile have not been set.