Recently, I was directed to an article about an event that happened in Jena, Louisiana where a black student asked Jena High School administration if he could sit under “the white tree”. Here are the details:
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.
School spirit or racism? I think it’s pretty clear. The principal expelled the boys who put the nooses up, but the 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.”
Youthful stunt? What the hell? How very 1860 of the Jena superintendent.
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.
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.
Worst enemy eh? Sounds like blacks aren’t allowed the freedoms provided under the 1st amendment of the constitution, but that’s just my opinion. Call me crazy, but I like black people. Guess what - they’re people - I’m not kidding. Someone tell Jena.
This is the question: Had white students protested and sat under the tree on behalf of the blacks or even sat with the blacks, would the DA have come and threatened the students? I’m guessing not. And I’m a damn good guesser.
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.
Seems here like we have an opportunity to appeal on the grounds that the part of the law that says “Jury of your peers” was pretty much ignored. I’m wondering if you have to qualify for a certain level of racism to be allowed to be a juror in Jena? Couldn’t they have at least moved the trial to a different parish?
How about moving it to Lincoln parish? Oh wait, even there the blacks have their own town (Grambling) apart from the white folks. I’m going to get major grief from my relatives and friends in Ruston (where I was raised - which is the “white town” in Lincoln parish). But I don’t care. I think Louisiana has to be one of the most racist states in the USA. Anyone remember David Duke? He was the former Grand Wizard of the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, and later became to represent the people of Louisiana by becoming a member of the house of representatives in the state of Louisiana (at different times, for both republican and democratic parties). You can’t tell me or anyone else that politics in Louisiana aren’t messed up.
If you want to read the full article: http://freethejenasix.com/
Update: The “white tree” at the high school has been cut down! Yay.
as an act of civil disobedience, I updated the wikipedia entry for Jena high school. I changed the school motto from “student learning is our top priority” to “student racism is our top priority”. In case they wise up, I’ve included an image for proof.
Update: CNN has posted a story about this situation today. Maybe now it will get appropriate coverage.
