On December 4th, 2006, Justin Barker, a student at Jena High School, was knocked down, kicked, and beaten unconscious by a group of fellow students. Witnesses give varying accounts of the incident’s severity, but we do know that Barker, 17, was taken to LaSalle General Hospital, where he was treated for superficial injuries and then released. His attackers, who ranged in age from 14 to 17, were arrested and charged with attempted second degree murder.
The accused consisted of Mychal Bell, aged 16 at the time of the incident; Robert Bailey, JR., then 17; Carwin Jones, then 18; Bryant Purvis, then 17; Theo Shaw, then 17; and Jesse Ray Beard, then 14. All of the youths except Beard were charged as adults. Later, the charges against the teens, who came to be known as “The Jena Six”, were reduced to aggravated second-degree battery and conspiracy. Jena’s District Attorney justified these charges by citing the boys’ sneakers as lethal weapons.
The December 4th incident did not happen randomly or unexpectedly. Consider the chain of events that led up to it:
- August 31, 2006 - A black student at Jena High School jokingly asked administrators if he could sit under the “white tree”. It has been reported that white students traditionally sat beneath this live oak, which has since been cut down, though teachers at the school have stated that students of all races congregated there from time to time.
- September 1st, 2006 – Three nooses were found hanging from the “white tree”. The perpetrators were identified as three white students in attendance at Jena High School. Six days later, the Jena High School principal recommended the students for expulsion. The next day, Schools Superintendent Roy D. Breithaupt announced that the students would be suspended rather than expelled.
- November 30th, 2006 – An unidentified arsonist set fire to a wing of Jena High School’s main building. (The wing was later demolished due to extensive damage.) Later that night, five black youths (including Robert Bailey, Jr.) were denied entrance to a party at the Fair Barn. A fight ensued, during which all parties were asked to leave. Justin Sloane, a white male, was charged with battery and sentenced to probation.
- December 2nd, 2006 – A fight was reported at the Gotta Go convenience store in Jena. Reports are conflicting, but it is commonly agreed that a disagreement took place, resulting in a shotgun being drawn by a white student. The firearm was taken away by Bailey, who was charged with theft of a firearm, second-degree robbery, and disturbing the peace. Bailey insisted that he had disarmed the student in an effort to safeguard himself and his friends. The white student was not charged with a crime.
- December 4th, 2006 – Justin Barker was beaten by his fellow students. Some reports state that Barker was a friend of the original three students who hung the nooses, and that he had taunted Robert Bailey, Jr, just before the assault. Barker denies this. The Jena Six were arrested and charged with attempted second degree murder.
Since then, the Jena case has ruffled feathers throughout the nation. Many consider the Jena Six’s charges to be disproportionate to the crime; they point to seeming disparities in the treatment of black and white students, as well as the fact that Mychal Bell, the first of the Jena Six to face trial, was convicted by an all-white jury – one of whom was a friend of Justin Barker’s father. (Bell’s conviction was later overturned on the grounds that he should have been tried as a juvenile. At the time of this writing, it is unclear whether he will be freed, or face different charges.)
The tension in Jena shows no sign of easing. On September 20th, 2006, approximately ten thousand demonstrators marched on Jena in support of the defendants. Their number included Revs. Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton. Soon after, federal agents investigated a white supremacist web site which disclosed the addresses and phone numbers of the Jena Six. One poster even threatened to give directions to the defendants’ homes, “in case anyone wants to deliver justice”.
What really happened in Jena, Louisiana? That depends on who you ask. Some call the schoolyard beating a violent response to what was essentially a tasteless prank. Others view both the harassing nooses and the physical beating as hate crimes. Many regard the incident as the inevitable culmination of years of racial tension in Jena, a town that supported former KKK member David Duke’s electoral dreams in 1992. (Jena’s residents maintain that they are not bigots, as they have been portrayed in the media.)
Whether or not they indicate deeper social problems, the events in Jena are far from over. Several young men still await trial. And the nation – and the world – waits with them.
Update December 2010: Mychal Bell has had several new run-ins with the law including an arrest for shoplifting, resisting arrest, and simple batter, and another charge involving battery.