The Jena Six

At the high school in Jena, Louisiana, there is a big tree in the school yard, where the white students traditionally sit in the shade. Last August 31, during assembly, a black student stood up and asked the school principal if he could sit under the tree, and the reply was he could sit where he wished. So he and another black student sat under the tree. The next day three hangman's nooses, in the school colors, appeared in the tree. The school head recommended that the noose-hangers be expelled. The board of education overruled him, and three white students were suspended from school for three days.

More black students sat under the tree in protest. An assembly was called. Whites sat on one side, blacks on the other. The local district attorney, Reed Walters, accompanied by town police, turned to the blacks and told them: "See this pen in my hand? I can end your lives with the stroke of a pen."

Violence and tension increased, and the DA did nothing. On November 30 the main academic wing of Jena High School burned down. White students beat up a black student at a party. A young white man with a shotgun threatened black students at a convenience store. The blacks wrestled the gun from him and ran away. Later they turned the gun in to police, who arrested them for theft of the gun.

Finally, on December 4, in a schoolyard fight, a white student was beaten and kicked. He was taken to the hospital, where he was treated for minor injuries and released. That night he attended a school ring ceremony. The DA charged six black students with attempted murder and conspiracy to commit murder. These students have become known as the "Jena Six." They are: Robert Bailey (17), Theo Shaw (17), Carwin Jones (18), Bryant Purvis (17), Mychal Bell (16), and an unidentified minor. They were expelled from school, arrested, and jailed.

The first trial took place in June. Mychal Bell, who has been in jail since his arrest (because of high bail), was convicted by an all-white jury of aggravated battery and conspiracy to commit aggravated battery, both felonies. His public defender called no witnesses and offered no defense. Mychal is scheduled to be sentenced on July 31 and could face jail for 22 years. The others have not yet gone to trial. (For more details read here, and for local attitudes here.)

Jena is a small town of about 3,000 people, seat of La Salle Parish. The place is 85 per cent white, poor, heavily Republican, mostly Baptist, and doesn't even have an Episcopal church. It is in the middle of nowhere about 30 miles northeast of Alexandria. Years ago there was a sign where the highway turned off toward the town: "Keep your black ass out of Jena." The sign was near the Episcopal camp, Hardtner, and the camp director complained to the highway department. The sign disappeared. The sentiment didn't.

UPDATE: See the long analysis, dated July 3, by Bill Quigley, human rights lawyer and law professor at Loyola University New Orleans.