Jim Crow Alive and Well in Jena
Last fall in Jena, Louisiana the day after two Black high school students sat beneath the "white tree" on their campus, nooses were hung from the tree. Months of inter-racial violence followed the decision by a white school superintendent to over-rule the principal's recommendation to expel three white students found to have hung the nooses.
Parish Superintendent Roy Breihaupt dismissed the nooses as a "prank." A few of the black athletes, the stars of the football team, took the lead in resisting. The day after the nooses were hung, they reportedly organized a silent protest under the tree. The school called an assembly and summoned the police and the district attorney. Black students sat on one side, whites on the other. District Attorney Reed Walters warned the students he could be their friend or their worst enemy. He lifted his fountain pen and said, "With one stroke of my pen, I can make your life disappear."
A series of white-on-black incidents of violence followed. In one incident a white student, who had been a vocal supporter of the students who hung the nooses, was beaten after allegedly calling several black students "nigger." After lunch, he was knocked down, punched and kicked by black students. He was taken to the hospital, released and was well enough to attend a social event that evening.
The DA responded by charging six black students with attempted murder and conspiracy to commit murder. Jena High students, Robert Bailey (17), Theo Shaw (17), Carwin Jones (18), Bryant Purvis (17), Mychal Bell (16) and an unidentified minor, were expelled from school, arrested and charged with second-degree attempted murder.
The first trial ended last month, and Mychal Bell, who has been in prison since December, was charged with aggravated battery and conspiracy to commit aggravated battery (both felonies) by an all-white jury in a trial where his public defender called no witnesses.
Defense Attorney Blane Williams said. "I feel I put on the best defense I could," he said in response to criticism of not presenting any witnesses or evidence during the trial. "I did the best I could for my client, Mychal Bell."
Defense lawyers argued that a charge of conspiracy to commit second-degree aggravated battery should have been brought against Mychal Bell in juvenile court rather than adult court. 28th Judicial District Court Judge J.P. Mauffray Jr. agreed and on Tuesday vacated one of two convictions against Bell, but he left standing Bell's conviction on a second-degree aggravated battery charge.
On Friday September, 14, 2007 a state appeals court on threw out the only remaining conviction against Bell. The reversal of Bell's conviction will not affect four other teenagers also charged as adults, because they were 17 years old at the time of the fight and no longer considered juveniles, said attorney George Tucker of Hammond.
Prosecutors have the option of appealing to the state Supreme Court.
Civil rights leaders, including the Revs. Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton, had been planning a rally in support of the teens for the day Bell was to have been sentenced. "Although there will not be a court hearing, we still intend to have a major rally for the Jena Six and now hopefully Mychal Bell will join us," Sharpton said in an e-mailed statement. Said Jackson: "The pressure must continue until all six boys are set free and sent to school, not to jail."
The potential loss of freedom and a future of the remaining defendants warrant national attention. It isn't getting anywhere near as much. Less people in fact know about this miscarriage of justice than know who fathered Anna Nicole Smith's baby. Then again knowing about racial injustice in this country has never been a catalysis to correcting it.
Published by Donnell Russell
US Army Combat Veteran, an EMT, and security guard. I have had it with political parties, the "PC" generation, the religious right, the secular left, network/cable news, reality TV, and standardized testing.... View profile
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- Parish Superintendent Roy Breihaupt dismissed the nooses as a "prank."
- On Friday September, 14, 2007 a state appeals court on threw out the only remaining conviction.
9 Comments
Post a CommentThe continuing Jena saga. Nationalists are rallying, bringing "tools" to block the MLKjr day parade. They also have a petition to repel the Civil Rights bill. Wonder what Justic Lives Not is doing to improve the "Dixie" image. Only racists would issue a permit for that kind of rally. http://www.thetowntalk.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071027/NEWS01/710270319
Thought you might be interested in this article by new CP, Jenn White that puts a new spin on events in Jena:
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/402770/the_jena_six_racism_in_small_town_life.html
compuwise: How many rapists are charged with attempted murder after using force, perhaps to the point of causing the victim to lose conciousness? How many group rapists, such as the one when a female was raped on a pool table in a bar, were charged with "conspiracy to commit rape"? I did read your article and was told by another CP in a PM that I am not allowed to express my opinion in my own dumb arse way, so I am not going over there to address your latest comment. THIS IS ABOUT 6 TEENS IN JENA, who were illegally charged, as has been proven by better lawyers. Like you say, FACTS.
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/395501/jena_6_on_1_facts_only_please.html
'He was taken to the hospital, released and was well enough to attend a social event that evening.'
Some rape victims can technically be considered well enough to attend social events. Does that mean they are any less victims?
m.d.c
I would love to beleive that this is simply a case of an overly zealous processuctrt (of which we have far too many of all races), however to ignore the clearly racial dimension of the story (including but not exclusively the case itself) is naive.
I do however appreciate your comments. I am reassured by those who share my opinion. I am challenged to think by those who do not.
Hopefully, you will copme back for my follow-up next week Jena: What About Bell. it takes yet another look at the issue and the modern protester.
m.d.c: I challenge you to show me one case where a tennis shoe was used to charge teenagers as adults, citing the tennis shoe as lethal weapon. I would also like some cases where white on white crime, such as a barroom brawl, ended with "consiracy to commit murder" or "attempted murder" charges got filed against the participants. The white teen with the shotgun got zero "attempted" anything charges when he pointed at the teen he just beat up for attempting to attend a "whites only" party that he had been invited to attend by a white friend. At 22, that kid only got a "simple assualt" charge for attempting to murder Bailey. I mean fair is fair, if teen fights are attempted murder the 22 year old's attack of a minor, should be taken even more seriously, wouldn't ya think?
Lets get to know all of the story before we jump to conclusion. It is not always a "race thing".
You might be interested in reading Shamontiel's 3 articles about her trip to Jena on the 20th. Because AC turned down her Chicago rally story a few weeks ago as "not news" she is publishing for no pay, but will donate pageview bonus to the Defense Fund. http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/388808/jena_6_rally_part_1_the_scene.html
This sick event was a travesty of justice, and needs to be rectified immediately. Please do not condemn all of us Southerners as bigots; I assure you the vast majority of us here in Modern Dixie do not think there is anything funny about nooses hanging from a tree marked "whites Only". As for the Jena 6, My friends would have done the same damn thing if we saw some thugs dogpile on one of our friends; ya damn skippy we would!