Injustice in Jena as Nooses Hang from the "White Tree"

Injustice in Jena as Nooses Hang from the "White Tree"

By Bill Quigley

Created Jul 3 2007 - 8:44am

All White Jury sitting before White Judge agrees with White Prosecutor and

All White Witnesses and Convicts Black Youth in Racially Charged High School

Criminal Case

In a small still mostly segregated section of rural Louisiana, an all white

jury heard a series of white witnesses called by a white prosecutor testify

in a courtroom overseen by a white judge in a trial of a fight at the local

high school where a white student who had been making racial taunts was hit

by black students. The fight was the culmination of a series of racial

incidents starting when whites responded to black students sitting under the

"white tree" at their school by hanging three nooses from the tree. The

white jury and white prosecutor and all white supporters of the white victim

were all on one side of the courtroom. The black defendant, 17 year old

Mychal Bell, and his supporters were on the other. The jury quickly

convicted Mychal Bell of two felonies - aggravated battery and conspiracy to

commit aggravated battery. Bell, who was a 16 year old sophomore football

star at the time he was arrested, faces up to 22 years in prison. Five other

black youths await similar trials on attempted second degree murder and

conspiracy charges.

Yes, you read that correctly. The rest of the story, which is being reported

across the world in papers in China, France and England, is just as

chilling.

The trouble started under "the white tree" in front of Jena High School. The

"white tree" is where the white students, 80% of the student body, would

always sit during school breaks.

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.

The Jena high school principal found that three white students were

responsible and recommended expulsion. The white 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."

The African-American community was hurt and upset. "Hanging those nooses was

a hate crime, plain and simple," according to Tracy Bowens, mother of

students at Jena High.

But blacks in this area of Louisiana have little political power. The ten

person all-male government of the parish has one African-American member.

The nine member all-male school board has one African American member. (A

phone caller to the local school board trying to find out the racial makeup

of the school board was told there was one "colored" member of the board).

There is one black police officer in Jena and two black public school

teachers.

Jena, with a population of less than 3000, is the largest town in and parish

(county) seat of LaSalle Parish, Louisiana. There are about 350 African

Americans in the town. LaSalle has a population of just over 14,000 people -

12% African-American.

This is solid Bush and David Duke Country - GWB won LaSalle Parish 4 to 1 in

the last two elections; Duke carried a majority of the white vote when he

ran for Governor of Louisiana. Families earn about 60% of the national

average. The Census Bureau reports that less than 10% of the businesses in

LaSalle Parish are black owned.

Jena is the site of the infamous Juvenile Correctional Center for Youth that

was forced to close its doors in 2000, only two years after opening, due to

widespread brutality and racism including the choking of juveniles by guards

after the youth met with a lawyer. The U.S. Department of Justice sued the

private prison amid complaints that guards paid inmates to fight each other

and laughed when teens tried to commit suicide.

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.

Racial tensions remained high throughout the fall.

On the night of Thursday November 30, 2006, a still unsolved fire burned

down the main academic building of Jena High School.

On Friday night, December 1, a black student who showed up at a white party

was beaten by whites. On Saturday, December 2, a young white man pulled out

a shotgun in a confrontation with young black men at the Gotta Go

convenience store outside Jena before the men wrestled it away from him. The

black men who took the shotgun away were later arrested, no charges were

filed against the white man.

On Monday, December 4, at Jena High, a white student - who allegedly had

been making racial taunts, including calling African American students

"******s" 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.

The six charged were: 17-year-old Robert Bailey Junior whose bail was set at

$138,000; 17-year-old Theo Shaw - bail $130,000; 18-year-old Carwin Jones -

bail $100,000; 17-year-old Bryant Purvis - bail $70,000; 16 year old Mychal

Bell, a sophomore in high school who was charged as an adult and for whom

bail was set at $90,000; and a still unidentified minor.

Many of the young men, who came to be known as the Jena 6, stayed in jail

for months. Few families could afford bond or private attorneys.

Mychal Bell remained in jail from December 2006 until his trial because his

family was unable to post the $90,000 bond. Theo Shaw has also remained in

jail. Several of the other defendants remained in jail for months until

their families could raise sufficient money to put up bonds.

The Chicago Tribune wrote a powerful story headlined "Racial Demons Rear

Heads." The London Observer wrote: "Jena is gaining national notoriety as an

example of the new 'stealth' racism, showing how lightly sleep the demons of

racial prejudice in America's Deep South, even in the year that a black man,

Barak Obama, is a serious candidate for the White House." The British

Broadcasting Company aired a TV special report "Race Hate in Louisiana

2007."

The Jena 6 and their families were put under substantial pressure to plead

guilty. Mychal Bell was reported to have been leaning towards pleading

guilty right up until his trial when he decided he would not plead guilty to

a felony.

When it finally came, the trial of Mychal Bell was swift. Bell was

represented by an appointed public defender.

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.

The LaSalle Parish clerk defended the all white group to the Alexandria

Louisiana Town Talk newspaper saying that the jury pool was selected by

computer. "The venire [panel of prospective jurors] is color blind. The idea

is for the list to truly reflect the racial makeup of the community, but the

system does not take race into factor." Officials said they had summoned 150

people, but these were the only people who showed up.

The all-white jury which was finally chosen included two people friendly

with the District Attorney, a relative of one of the witnesses and several

others who were friends of prosecution witnesses.

Bell's parents, Melissa Bell and Marcus Jones, were not even allowed to

attend the trial despite their objections, because they were listed as

potential witnesses. The white victim, though a witness, was allowed to stay

in the courtroom. The parents, who had been widely quoted in the media as

critics of the process, were also told they could no longer speak to the

media as long as the trial was in session. Marcus Jones had told the media

"It's all about those nooses" and declared the charges racially motivated.

Other supporters who planned a demonstration in support of Bell were ordered

by the court not to do so near the courthouse or anywhere the judge would

see them.

The prosecutor called 17 witnesses - eleven white students, three white

teachers, and two white nurses. Some said they saw Bell kick the victim,

others said they did not see him do anything. The white victim testified

that he did not know if Bell hit him or not.

The Chicago Tribune reported the public defender did not challenge the

all-white jury pool, put on no evidence and called no witnesses. The public

defender told the Alexandria Town talk after resting his case without

calling any witnesses that he knew he would be second-guessed by many but

was confident that the jury would return a verdict of not guilty. "I don't

believe race is an issue in this trial...I think I have a fair and impartial

jury..."

The jury deliberated for less than three hours and found Mychal Bell guilty

on the maximum possible charges of aggravated second degree battery and

conspiracy. He faces up to a maximum of 22 years in prison.

The public defender told the press afterwards, "I feel I put on the best

defense that I could." Responding to criticism of not putting on any

witnesses, the attorney said "why open the door for further accusations? I

did the best I could for my client, Mychal Bell."

At a rally in front of the courthouse the next day, Alan Bean, a Texas

minister and leader of the Friends of Justice, said "I have seen a lot of

trials in my time. And I have never seen a more distressing miscarriage of

justice than what happened in LaSalle Parish yesterday." Khadijah Rashad of

Lafayette Louisiana described the trial as a "modern day lynching."

Tory Pegram with the Louisiana ACLU has been working with the parents for

months. "People know if they don't demand equal treatment now, they will

never get it. People's jobs and livelihoods have been threatened for

attending Jena 6 Defense meetings, but people are willing to risk that. One

person told me: 'We have to convince more people to come rally with

us.....What's the worst that could happen? They fire us from our jobs? We

have the worst jobs in the town anyway. They burn a cross on our lawns or

burn down my house? All of that has happened to us before. We have to keep

speaking out to make sure it doesn't happen to us again, or our children

will never be safe.'"

Whites in the community were adamant that there is no racism. "We don't have

a problem," according to one. Other locals told the media "We all get

along," and "most blacks are happy with the way things are." One person even

said "We don't have many problems with our blacks."

Melvin Worthington, the lone African American school board member in LaSalle

Parish said it all could have been avoided. "There's no doubt about it," he

told the Chicago Tribune, "whites and blacks are treated differently here.

The white kids should have gotten more punishment for hanging those nooses.

If they had, all the stuff that followed could have been avoided."

Hebert McCoy, a relative of one of the youths who has been trying to raise

money for bail and lawyers, challenged people everywhere at the end of the

rally when he said "You better get out of your houses. You better come out

and defend your children...because they are incarcerating them by the

thousands. Jena's not the beginning, but Jena has crossed the line. Justice

is not right when you put on the wrong charges and then convict. I believe

in justice. I believe in the point of law. I believe in accepting the

punishment if I'm guilty. If I'm guilty, convict me and punishment, but if

I'm innocent, no justice..." and the crowd joined with him and shouted "no

peace!"

What happened to the white guys? The white victim of the beating was later

arrested for bringing a hunting rifle loaded with 13 bullets onto the high

school campus and released on $5000 bond. The white man who beat up the

black youth at the off-campus party was arrested and charged with simple

battery. The white students who hung up the nooses in the "white tree" were

never charged.

The people in Jena are fighting for justice and they need legal and

financial help. Since the arrests, a group of family members have been

holding well-attended meetings, and have created a defense fund - the Jena 6

Defense Committee. They have received support from the NAACP, the Louisiana

ACLU and Friends of Justice. People interested in supporting can contact:

the Jena 6 Defense Committee, PO Box 2798, Jena, LA 71342

jena6defense@gmail.com [1]; Friends of Justice, 507 North Donley Avenue,

Tulia, TX 79088 http://www.fojtulia.org [2]; or the ACLU of Louisiana, PO Box

56157, New Orleans, LA 70156 http://www.laaclu.org [3] or 417.350.0536.

What is next? The rest of the Jena 6 await similar trials. Theodore Shaw is

due to go on trial shortly. Mychal Bell is scheduled to be sentenced July

31. If he gets the maximum sentence he will not be out of prison until he is

nearly 40. Meanwhile, the "white tree" outside Jena High sits quietly in the

hot sun.

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"A little patience and we shall see the reign of witches pass over, their

spells dissolve, and the people recovering their true sight, restore their

government to its true principles. It is true that in the meantime we are

suffering deeply in spirit,

and incurring the horrors of a war and long oppressions of enormous public

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back the principles we have lost, for this is a game where principles are at

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