Is anyone else as mad as I am

[LadyP]

Jena 6: Jenna Six, An American Tragedy - Jena is a small highly segregated rural Louisiana town that we published a story about a few weeks ago that many other outlets had ignored. It is now in the news front and center so we thought we would revisit the topic and perhaps introduce it to those who are reading about it for the very first time.

In September of 2006, a black student asked permission from school administrators to seek the cool offering of solice under the shade of a tree that is commonly reserved for the enjoyment of the white students of the school.

 

School officials allegedly told the Black students that it was ok to sit wherever they wanted and they went ahead and did so. The next day, three nooses, in the school colors, were found hanging from the same tree.I can not believe someone would say that in 2006. Yes 2006. there is no excuse for the noose.

 

After an investigation, the Jena high school principal determined that three white students were responsible and it was recommended that they be expelled. The expulsions would subsequently be overturned by the white superintendent of schools and issued the students a three day suspension, saying that the nooses were simply "a youthful stunt." WTF

As a result, black students organized a sit-in under the tree to protest the soft treatment given to the white students. African American parents tried to voice their opinions and were repeatedly shot down.

 

The town's district attorney quickly arrived, flanked by police officers, and told the Black students to stop making such a big deal over the nooses. The school assembly, like the schoolyard where all of this had begun, was divided by race, with the Black students on one side and the white students on the other. Directing his remarks to the Black students, District Attorney Reed Walters said, "I can make your lives disappear with a stroke of a pen." DID THEY TELL YOU THAT THE DA IS THE SUPERINTENDENT AS WELL

 

In November, tension was still high and the academic wing of the school burned in a fire. An attack ensued outside of school where the assailant, a white student, was charged with simple battery after an Black student was punched and beaten with beer bottles.

 

Hostilities grew.

 

On Monday, December 4 2006, a white student named Justin Barker got into a fight with Black students. Allegedly, the white student had been allegedly racially taunting the black students in support of the students who hung the nooses and was reportedly taken to the hospital treated and released.

 

Six Black Jena students (Mychal Bell, Robert Bailey Jr., Carwin Jones, Bryant Purvis, Theo Shaw and Jesse Beard) were subsequently arrested and charged with attempted second degree murder. All six were expelled from school. On the morning of the trial, the District Attorney reduced the charges from attempted second degree murder to second degree aggravated battery and conspiracy.

 

The all-white jury deliberated for less than three hours and found Mychal Bell, the only one charged as an adult, guilty on the maximum possible charges of aggravated second degree battery and conspiracy. He awaits a Sept. 20 sentencing hearing. Mychal Bell faces up to a maximum of 22 years in prison. The cases against the other five Black students are pending.

 

I CAN NOT BELIEVE THAT THIS IS STILL GOING ON, IT WAS A SCHOOL FIGHT KIDS DOING WHAT KIDS DO WHEN THEY DONT AGREE. YES ITS WRONG BUT TO GO TO JAIL FOR STICHES. THAT WRONG.

[lambert13]

Quote:

Originally Posted by LadyP The town's district attorney quickly arrived, flanked by police officers, and told the Black students to stop making such a big deal over the nooses.

It's hard to believe that stuff like that still goes on today.

[Christine]

Catherine, I would have never believed or understood something like this no matter what year it was. It is incredibly unbelievable the hatred that some people still feel in this world. I find it so sad that we are supposed to be sharing our democratic ways around the world and all of our ideas of freedom & equal rights and things like this happen.

As for it not being publicized I truly believe its because no one wants any one else in the world to know that we are not equal in this country.

Sitting here I am thinking about the dicussion I had with my students last week about how far we have come as a country and wonder why we haven't made it to the point of "all men are created equal"

[Christine]

Just found this

 

Conviction in Jena case overturned - Crime & Punishment - MSNBC.com

Court overturns conviction in Jena beating

Judges rule teen should not have been tried as adult in racially tinged caseJENA, La. - A state appeals court Friday tossed out the aggravated battery conviction that could have sent a black teenager to prison for 15 years in last year's beating of a white classmate in the racially tense Louisiana town of Jena.

 

Mychal Bell, who was 16 at the time of the December beating, should not have been tried as an adult on the battery charge, the state Third Circuit Court of Appeal in Lake Charles ruled.

 

Bell is one of six black Jena High School students charged in an attack on fellow student Justin Barker, and one of five originally charged as adults with attempted second-degree murder.

 

The charges brought widespread criticism that blacks were being treated more harshly than whites after racial confrontations and fights at their school.

 

Attorney Louis Scott of Monroe said he didn't know whether Bell, whose bond was set at $90,000, would get out of jail immediately.

 

"It means that at the present time all charges are dismissed," Scott said. "But we don't know what approach the prosecution is going to take — whether they will re-charge him, where he would have to be subjected to bail all over again or not.

 

"We're working on that right now," he said.

 

Rally for 'Jena Six' planned

Bell was to be sentenced Thursday in a case that has brought international attention to Jena. Civil rights leaders, including the Revs. Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton, have been planning a rally in support of the teens that day.

 

 

"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.

 

"Mychal Bell's parents will still join me in Chicago tomorrow and we will still continue mobilization on this miscarriage of justice."

 

Jackson said, "The pressure must continue until all six boys are set free and sent to school, not to jail."

Racial tensions flared after nooses

Jena is a mostly white town where racial animosity flared about a year ago when a black student sat under a tree that was a traditional gathering place for whites.

 

A day later, three nooses were found hanging from the tree, evoking for some the image of lynchings in the old South. There followed reports of racial fights and confrontations at the school, culminating in the December attack on Barker.

 

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, legally, no longer juveniles in Louisiana, said attorney George Tucker of Hammond.

 

Bell was 16 at the time of the fight, making him a juvenile under Louisiana law.

 

Tucker, who represented one of teens — Theo Shaw — until Friday, said the boy whose case is in juvenile court will benefit, and Bell will be tried by a judge in juvenile court.

 

Judge J.P. Mauffray Jr., who heard Bell's case, noted that the district attorney also could appeal to the Louisiana Supreme Court.

 

District Attorney Reed Walters did not return a call asking his next step.

 

Details of ruling

Mauffray had thrown out a conspiracy conviction on which Bell was convicted, saying it was not a charge on which a juvenile may be tried as an adult. But he had let the battery conviction stand, saying Bell could be tried in adult court because the charge was among lesser charges included in the original attempted murder charge against him.

 

He was wrong, the Third Circuit ruled.

 

While teenagers can be tried as adults in Louisiana for some violent crimes, including attempted murder, aggravated battery is not one of those crimes. Defense lawyers had argued that the aggravated battery case should not have been tried in adult court once the attempted murder charge was reduced.

 

"The defendant was not tried on an offense which could have subjected him to the jurisdiction of the criminal court," the three-paragraph ruling said.

 

The case "remains exclusively in juvenile court," the Third Circuit ruled.

[LadyP]

I KNOW in my class we are talking about being a good citizen and respecting differences. i hope I can get them from saying that chinks at the chinese resturante or mami and popi at teh corner store

[Heidi]

unbelievable...I honestly don't know what else to say about this. I just can't understand how people can be so ignorant about things like this. Unbelievable....

[~Melissa~]

Very sad. I guess I was ignorant to think this doesn't go on in the schools anymore. I'm so appalled by this story. Thanks Christine for the update.

[MsShelley]

I must agree, I had no idea that this was still happening...

[Sharonie]

OMG, I can't believe something like this is still going on. I have seen individual cases but not as a large group. How do they get away from this kind of discrimination?!

[LadyP]

its funny but in South line this happens all the time. When I visit my family they still call me gal. and have colored and white only bathrooms. I can not believe that this is still allowed.