Louisiana Braces As Jena Becomes Racial Bias Flashpoint

New York Times:

They called it the White Tree. Not because of the color of its leaves or tint of its bark, but because of the kind of people who typically sat beneath its shade here at Jena High School.

And when a black student tried to defy that tradition by sitting under the tree last September, it set off a series of events that have turned this town of 3,000 in central Louisiana's timber country into a flashpoint over the issue of racial bias in the criminal justice system.

Three nooses quickly appeared on the tree a day after the black student sat under it, and not long afterward, the authorities said a white student had been beaten by six black schoolmates. The white student was treated at a local hospital and released; the black students were charged, not with assault, but with attempted murder.

Read the whole story: New York Times

Comments

[SeanGardner]

02:21 PM on 09/20/2007

I believe the demonstration will be successful. And I hope it will be peaceful.

[protagonia]

10:19 AM on 09/20/2007

NO RIOTING! IT'S THE WEAPON WE USE ON OURSLEVES. AWLAYS TRICKED INTO IT. NEVER SERVED BY IT.

NEVER DESTROY YOUR OWN THINGS FOR YOUR OPPONENT. BE SMARTER.

[Ginzaman]

09:52 AM on 09/20/2007

Jesse Jackson and whoever it takes to expose to the world what this racist crap is.

[susiesorority]

09:43 AM on 09/20/2007

What kind of nitwit hangs a noose under a tree in the first place? We wouldn't be having this discussion.

I don't know about anyone else out there over 45, but if anyone had told me, back in high school in the 70's, that this stuff would be happening in 2006-7, I'd have said no way, we're past it. The regression on every level is horrifying.

[scottymac11]

11:04 PM on 09/19/2007

per wikipedia
On December 4, 2006, Jena High School student Justin Barker, age 17, was assaulted by other Jena High students. National Public Radio reported that earlier that day Barker, a white student, bragged about how one of his alleged attackers, Robert Bailey, Jr., had been beaten up by a white man the Friday before.[2] Barker was then hit and kicked by a group of students and was temporarily knocked unconscious.[3][2] He was examined by a doctor at the local hospital. After two hours of treatment and observation for a concussion and an eye that had swollen shut, he was released in time to attend the school's Ring ceremony that evening.[4] In the meantime, the six students accused of the attack, eventually dubbed the "Jena Six",[5] were arrested.

also in wikipedia
An argument ensued, after which the white student ran to his pickup truck and produced a pistol-grip shotgun. Bailey ran after the white student and wrestled him for control of the gun. Bailey's friends intervened in the scuffle and took the gun away. Bailey refused to return it and ultimately took it home with him. Local police reported that the accounts of the white student and black students contradicted each other and formed a report based on testimony taken from eyewitnesses. This resulted in Bailey being charged with three counts: theft of a firearm, second-degree robbery, and disturbing the peace. The white student who produced the weapon was not charged.[2][6]
Rockmonkey "The article I read said the kid they beat was beaten into unconsciousness. I don't know about you guys, but if 6 white kids had beat a black kid like that...well I doubt Jesse would be saying they shouldn't be charged with attempted murder"
Jesse Al and other african americans must speak. I don't recall anyone here angered by the assults on the black student that prededed the Jena six assaults.
If there is no law in Jena for all people, of course unrest will folow. Attempted murder from an assault where the victim celebrated hours later dosen't seem appropriate.

[realitytrumpsbull]

07:19 PM on 09/19/2007

Good thing no one did any actual studying, there, you know how education can just throw water on the flames of ignorance and short tempers, and all...and if you do that, you can't milk a circumstance for more federal money...people thinking for themselves, being productive, solving problems, can't have THAT....

[Rockmonkey]

05:55 PM on 09/19/2007

The article I read said the kid they beat was beaten into unconsciousness. I don't know about you guys, but if 6 white kids had beat a black kid like that...well I doubt Jesse would be saying they shouldn't be charged with attempted murder. They would be crying for the harshest penalties possible. The double standard on hate crimes(by minorities) is ridiculous, and thats what this was.

[Qbear]

05:46 PM on 09/19/2007

Plant a whole grove of f*ckin trees instead of ONE tree.

[groucho]

02:25 PM on 09/19/2007

"Jesse got his headline" I haven't seen any white leaders go down and try and inject a little common sense in this situation. Remarks like yours and the other racists here make this event more important.

Would this white tree be an example of the freedoms in this country that our enemies hate us for?

This whole event highlights the fact that racism is alive in well, in schools, in courts, everywhere. I'm so sick of it.

[1will]

04:19 PM on 09/19/2007

I'm not a racist. You however are a whiny little bitch.
Let me guess. You're the guy that finds racism in every event 24/7. You cry wolf so much that when a legitimate example of racism occurs no one believes you. Everyone is racist and is to blame for your every failure or setback. You're probaly raising kids to cry racism at every opportunity just like Daddy does.
You'll note I never defended the whites in Jena. If you pulled your head out long enough to read my post you'd see that.
As for Jesse getting his headlines, are you the only person in America that doesn't think he's in love with the camera? Even black friends of mine acknowledge Jesse cares first about Jesse then the cause of black people. I'm just glad he's taking time away from shaking down corporations to go do some good.

[1will]

12:54 PM on 09/19/2007

Well Jesse got his headline. At least this time it seems he has a legitimate cause to back. Hopefully everyone down there can behave themselves during the upcoming demonstration.

[WMK]

11:24 AM on 09/19/2007

This sort of evil nastiness has been and continues to be an ugly reality simmering beneath the surface of life in the largely un-reconstructed South. That the local power elite (whites) would exercise their control of the local legal apparatus to produce a perverted mockery of justice is unsurprising.

What would be surprising is if outside pressure can undo any lasting harm caused to anyone involved in these incidents - I hope so. Wiping out any blot on the students legal records related to this would be the minimum criteria for 'justice' in this situation, and honestly the best that could be hoped for.

It is too much to hope for that the people who hang nooses from the 'white' tree would ever change their minds and that is the ongoing tragedy of how southern culture is morally stunted and spiritually crippled by the poison of racism. There is a LOT that is admirable, beautiful, and good in the people of the South but all of it is shadowed, tainted, cursed by the deeply rooted corruption of bigoted hate.

[WoodyCPM]

10:51 AM on 09/20/2007

WMK: It is too much to hope for that the people who hang nooses from the 'white' tree would ever change their minds and that is the ongoing tragedy of how southern culture is morally stunted and spiritually crippled by the poison of racism. There is a LOT that is admirable, beautiful, and good in the people of the South but all of it is shadowed, tainted, cursed by the deeply rooted corruption of bigoted hate.

-------------

Very nicely put. Now replace "South" with "United States" and you'll have gotten it all absolutely correct.

It never takes more than a few hours whenever these kind of stories surface, especially when they happen down South, for the self-righteous Yankees to start smearing the entire SOUTH with the "their-all-a-bunch-of-racists" brush. And it never takes but a second for white Southerners to start lambasting the Yankees for their ignorance and bias, especially in light of the ways in which racism plays it ugly self out in the North. And then we get to refight the Civil War all over again from our keyboards!

[tombollocks]

11:13 AM on 09/19/2007

So let's cut down the tree. Good idea, Jena. That'll keep those blacks from trying to sit under it. Why, goodness! Ayshuns and Messkins might try to sit under it next! Just ain't no place safe and clean for white folk no more...*Sob*...

[kmccaskill]

10:19 AM on 09/19/2007

all i can say is riot

Hypocrite Hillary(DC Experience Matters?JFK & Bill HAD LIL

This Video Is Showing That Hillary is a hypocrite for saying obama has no experience

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LBy3AKn_2Fk

[KUjHwk]

10:14 AM on 09/19/2007

The young men involved in this should be punished on some level, but second degree murder?! That's absurd. This is prosecutorial terrorism. This prosecutor needs to be reprimanded, and so does the public defender. What a disgrace to the attorney profession.

[average joe]

09:39 AM on 09/19/2007

A fuckin tree. Guess poor people got nothing else to do. Move on Dot Org send them some money you waste yours on silly crap.