Jena Six
The Jena Six were six black teenagers in Jena, Louisiana, convicted in the 2006 beating of Justin Barker, a white student at the local Jena High School, which they also attended. Barker was injured on December 4, 2006, by the members of the Jena Six, and received treatment at an emergency room. While the case was pending, it was often cited by some media commentators as an example of racial injustice in the United States. Some commentators believed that the defendants had been charged initially with too-serious offenses and had been treated unfairly.
A number of events had taken place in and around Jena in the months before the Barker assault, which the media have associated with an alleged escalation of local racial tensions. These events included: the hanging of rope nooses from a tree in the high school courtyard, two violent confrontations between white and black youths, and the destruction by arson of the main building of Jena High School. Extensive news coverage related to the Jena Six often reported these events as linked. Federal and parish attorneys concluded from their investigations that assessment was inaccurate for some of the events; for instance, the burning of the high school was an attempt to destroy grade records.
Six students—Robert Bailey, then aged 17; Mychal Bell, then 16; Carwin Jones, then 18; Bryant Purvis, then 17; Jesse Ray Beard, then 14; and Theo Shaw, then 17—were arrested for the assault of Barker. Mychal Bell was initially convicted as an adult of aggravated battery and conspiracy to commit aggravated battery. His convictions were overturned on the grounds that he should have been tried as a juvenile. Before a retrial in juvenile court, Bell pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of simple battery. The other five defendants later pleaded "no contest" to the same offense and were convicted.
The Jena Six case sparked protests by people who considered the arrests and subsequent charges, initially attempted second-degree murder, as excessive and racially discriminatory. The protesters asserted that white Jena youths involved in similar incidents were treated more leniently. On September 20, 2007, between 15,000 and 20,000 protesters marched on Jena in what was described as the "largest civil rights demonstration in years". Related protests were held in other US cities on the same day. Subsequent reactions included songs alluding to the Jena Six, numerous editorials and opinion columns, and congressional hearings.
Background to the assault
is located in the town of Jena, Louisiana, which has about 3,000 people. Some early reporting indicated that students of different races seldom sat together, for instance in the cafeteria, although this has been disputed. According to early reports of the school environment, black students when outside typically sat on bleachers near the auditorium, while white students sat under a large tree in the center of the school courtyard, referred to as the "white tree" or "prep tree". According to some of the school's teachers and administrators, the tree in question was not a "white tree", and students of all races had sat under it at one time or another.At a school assembly held on August 31, 2006, a black male freshman asked the principal whether he could sit under the tree. According to Donald Washington, United States Attorney for the Western District of Louisiana, the principal said the question was posed in a "jocular fashion". The principal told the students they could "sit wherever they wanted". CNN reported that the freshman and his friends sat under the tree.
Noose hanging
The following morning, students and staff discovered rope nooses hanging from the tree; reports differ as to whether there were two or three nooses. A black teacher described seeing both white and black students "playing with , pulling on them, jump-swinging from them, and putting their heads through them" that same day. Craig Franklin, assistant editor of The Jena Times, said the nooses were hung as a prank by three students directed at white members of the school rodeo team. The school's investigating committee had concluded that "the three young teens had no knowledge that nooses symbolize the terrible legacy of the lynchings of countless blacks in American history". The names of those who hung the nooses were not publicly disclosed.Repercussions
The school disciplinary process that followed is unclear. It was reported that the principal, Scott Windham, learned that three white students were responsible and recommended expulsion, that the board of education overruled his recommendation, and that school superintendent Roy Breithaupt agreed with the overruling. It was initially reported that the punishment was reduced to three days of in-school suspension. Under the district's Crisis Management Policy Procedures, the three students were isolated at an alternative school "for about a month", spent two weeks on in-school suspension, served Saturday detentions, had to attend Discipline Court, were referred to Families in Need of Services, and had to have an evaluation before they were able to return to school.The school superintendent was quoted as saying, "Adolescents play pranks. I don't think it was a threat against anybody". Black residents of Jena have said that this comment stoked racial tensions leading to subsequent events.
According to US Attorney Donald Washington, the Federal Bureau of Investigation investigators found that the hanging of the nooses "had all the markings of a hate crime". But, it could not be prosecuted as such since juveniles are rarely prosecuted in the federal system, and this offense did not meet departmental standards for charges to be brought. La Salle Parish District Attorney J. Reed Walters stated that Washington had found no federal statute under which the teens could be prosecuted, just as he had found no applicable state statute. Walters opined: "The people that should be ashamed of what they unleashed on this town".
The school called police to the school in the days after the noose incident. The principal called an assembly on September 6, 2006. The Jena Police Department asked Parish Attorney Walters to attend and speak at the assembly. Already pressed for time due to a case under preparation, Walters felt that the students were not paying proper attention to him. He warned them, "I can be your best friend or your worst enemy. With the stroke of a pen I can make life miserable for you or ruin your life. So I want you to call me before you do something stupid". Though black students say Walters was looking at them when he made the comments, Walters and school board member Billy Fowler, also present, deny it. Walters said that he was irritated at "two or three girls, white girls, were chit-chatting on their cellphones or playing with their cellphones".
School arson, fight, and confrontation
On November 30, 2006, the main building of the high school was destroyed by arson. Although it would be many months before the perpetrators were known, the news media later widely cited the fire as a racially charged event leading up to the assault on Barker. On December 28, 2007, LaSalle Parish Sheriff-elect Scott Franklin announced that an investigation had shown that the fire was set in an effort to destroy grade records in the building and to close the school for a time. Six male suspects had been arrested, and two more adult males were being sought. Franklin indicated that the fire was not racially motivated, and had no connection to the Jena Six. Two of the arson defendants pleaded guilty, and were sentenced to ten years in prison, with restitution ordered in the amount of $10 million.On December 1, 2006, a private party was held at the Jena Fair Barn. Bailey and four other black youths tried to enter the party at about 11:00 p.m. According to U.S. Attorney Washington, they were told by a woman that no one was allowed inside without an invitation. The youths persisted, stating that some friends were already at the party. A white male, who was not a student, moved in front of the woman and a fight ensued. After the fight broke up, the woman told both the white male and the black students to leave the party. Once outside, the black students were involved in another fight with a group of white males who were not students. Justin Sloan, a white male, was charged with battery for his role in the fight and was put on probation. Bailey later said that one of the white males broke a beer bottle over his head, but there are no records of Bailey receiving medical treatment.
The following day, an incident occurred at the Gotta Go convenience store, outside Jena in unincorporated LaSalle Parish, between Matt Windham and three black youths, including Bailey. Law enforcement reported that their accounts contradicted each other. Windham alleged that Bailey and his friends chased him, that he ran to get his gun, and that the students wrestled it away from him. According to the black students, as they left the convenience store, they were confronted by Windham with a shotgun. They said they wrestled the gun away from him and fled the scene. Bailey was charged with disturbing the peace, second-degree robbery, and theft of a firearm.
Attack on Barker
A group of black students punched, kicked, and stomped on a white 17-year-old Jena High School student, Justin Barker, on December 4, 2006. The attackers initially claimed that they beat victim Justin Barker because he made a racist joke. Superintendent Breithaupt described the battery as a "premeditated ambush and attack by six students against one. The victim attacked was beaten and kicked into a state of bloody unconsciousness". Barker was released from a local emergency room after three hours of treatment and observation for a concussion and an eye that had swollen shut. The emergency physician's record shows that he also had injuries to his face, ears, and hand. He attended his school's class ring ceremony and dance that evening. He later testified, "I waited 11 years to go to it. I wasn't going to let that get in my way". He left the dance early due to pain. During the trial, Barker testified that his face was badly swollen after the attack and that he suffered a loss of vision in one eye for three weeks. He said that he had suffered recurring headaches and forgetfulness since the attack.US Attorney Washington stated he did not believe the noose incident and the beatings were related. Walters likewise said that he believed there was no link between the noose incident and the beating. "When this case was brought to me and during our investigation and during the trial, there was no such linkage ever suggested. This compact storyline has only been suggested after the fact." Although Washington believed that both the noose hangings and the Barker battery were symptoms of racial tension, he has also said that there was no apparent lingering anger among students at the school after the nooses were found.