On Jena Six: Deny, Deny, and Cover Up
Published September 24, 2007
By Nate Bradbury
Recently, I realized that I am most happy when I am blissfully unaware of the world around me. This is a problem for me.
I may get wrapped up in a class, meeting, or even a TV show and life goes on without me. I’ve been less attentive than usual to the headlines this week and I was struck when I discovered the amount and magnitude of the media frenzies I had missed.
OJ’s out on bail! Spectators heard screams of “Don’t taser me bro!” The ACLU has filed a “friend of the court” on Senator Craig’s behalf, pointing out the bigoted nature of the police work in that Minnesota airport.
Then there is the case of the Jena Six. If you haven’t heard, racial tensions have come to a full boil in the small town of Jena, Louisiana. Since last August, a shocking chain of events has sparked national interest. Right now, there is a lot of misinformation about the case, the students, and the legal process; so, I would like to set the story straight.
In simple terms, last August, a group of black students expressed interest at a school assembly, in sitting underneath a lone tree in the center of their quad where only white students usually sat. Following that discussion, three white students hung two nooses from that tree and left them to be found the next morning by a relatively small number of Jena high school students. Though the authorities (both school and police) that dealt with the white students declared the incident a “prank,” members of the black community were shocked at the brazen representation of America’s history of lynch mob justice.
This is a detestable reference to a time when American society accepted the brutal disfigurement of black bodies and would even go so far as to celebrate lynchings with postcards, bits of rope from nooses, or the even more “prized” victim’s bone fragments. In short, threatening the black students with the symbolic nooses easily could have been prosecuted as a hate crime. However, the District Attorney Reed Walters argued that there were no racial undertones to the incident.
Sadly, this was only the beginning of an issue that should have been at the forefront of the national media scene long before now.
Last fall, the “noose-hanging” garnered minor media coverage and roused members in black and white communities in the surrounding area. Officially, racial tensions were not a problem until the beginning of last December.
Three inter-racial fights occurred within the span of four days between December 2nd and December 4th. Most notably, on December 4th, six black students attacked a white student at the end of Jena HS’s lunch period. According to police reports, the hanging of nooses in August did not prompt the attack and the connection between the incidents throughout the fall is unclear. However, the shocking part of these events is that all six of the attackers would eventually be charged with conspiracy to commit 2nd degree murder and attempted 2nd degree murder.
When the students were arrested, they were charged with 2nd degree battery, but it was not until D.A. Walters stepped in that the charges were increased to significantly higher levels. Mychal Bell, one of the most prominent members of the Jena Six, was 16 at the time of the attack, yet D.A. Walters chose to try him as an adult. Walters’s decision to prosecute Bell as an adult would lead to an all-white jury convicting Bell on reduced felony charges. Bell faced up to 15 years in prison following the conviction. Eventually, those charges would be overturned on September 14th, but the national spotlight remains on Jena as Bell stays in jail during the appeals process.
Last Thursday, September 20th, tens of thousands of protesters converged on Jena’s 3,000 residents in Central Louisiana. Mos Def, Rev. Al Sharpton, and Rev. Jesse Jackson were among prominent protesters featured throughout the day. This case is beginning to gain national recognition, but a large portion of American society is still unaware of the exposed racial divides in Louisiana.
Rumblings out of Jena represent the new American response to claims of modern racism: deny, deny, and cover-up. This is especially clear given the racialized media coverage of Hurricane Katrina, the government’s appalling response to the same hurricane, the recent Supreme Court decision undermining the precedent of Brown v. Board, and the complete ignorance of justice officials implied by their contention that racial violence played no role in the noose-hanging threat.
The Jena Six case should serve as yet another rude wake-up call to those of us that are blissfully unaware. Racism is a serious issue in the United States. It is easier to ignore at UVM, and New England in general, because the vast majority of the population is, as we know, white. Sweeping the problems and implications of systemic racism out of sight will only serve to exacerbate the problems that exist.
Issues like racism can appear larger than life. They beg the question, “What can I do?” because the problem simply seems too big. Mos Def put it best last Thursday when he said, “I’m f-in’ mad! If you ain’t gonna use your voice, then…I’m disappointed and ashamed.”
Print This Article
« You Tube | Serving You The News In Brief »
Comments
Leave a Reply
