2008 Woodie Awards
The scoop on the Jena 6
Special to The Carolinian
Kevin Williams
Issue date: 9/18/07 Section: Opinions
The Jena Six are six black students, ranging from 15 to 17 years old. They attended Jena High School in Central Louisiana before being arrested in December 2006, after racial slurs and taunts led to school fight in which a white student was beaten and suffered a concussion and multiple bruises. The six black students were charged with attempted murder and conspiracy. They face up to 100 years in prison without parole.
The fight took place amid mounting racial tension after a black student sat under the "white tree" in the schoolyard where only white students sat. The next day three nooses were hanging from the tree.
An all-white jury took less than two days to convict 17-year-old Mychal Bell, the first of the Jena Six to go on trial. He was convicted of aggravated battery and conspiracy charges and now faces up to 22 years in prison. Before the schoolyard fight, white students had beaten and taunted black students in other race-based incidents, yet received little or no punishment. Jena is 85 percent white.
At least three charter buses will be leaving for Jena, Louisiana, on Sept. 19 to join thousands of others in a rally in support of the first of the Jena Six to be sentenced for an attack on a white high school student. Four 18-year-olds and a juvenile who round out the Jena Six are awaiting trial on attempted murder and conspiracy charges.
North Carolina buses will leave for Jena on Sept. 19. They will be in Jena the next day for the sentencing of Bell. North Carolinians will join thousands of others from Atlanta, Dallas, Washington D.C, Birmingham, Tallahassee and dozens of other cities in a protest rally outside the LaSalle Parish Courthouse.
The Rev. Al Sharpton criticized Jena officials in early August, saying the attempted murder charges leveled against six black teens show "one rule for white kids and one for black kids."
The fight took place amid mounting racial tension after a black student sat under the "white tree" in the schoolyard where only white students sat. The next day three nooses were hanging from the tree.
An all-white jury took less than two days to convict 17-year-old Mychal Bell, the first of the Jena Six to go on trial. He was convicted of aggravated battery and conspiracy charges and now faces up to 22 years in prison. Before the schoolyard fight, white students had beaten and taunted black students in other race-based incidents, yet received little or no punishment. Jena is 85 percent white.
At least three charter buses will be leaving for Jena, Louisiana, on Sept. 19 to join thousands of others in a rally in support of the first of the Jena Six to be sentenced for an attack on a white high school student. Four 18-year-olds and a juvenile who round out the Jena Six are awaiting trial on attempted murder and conspiracy charges.
North Carolina buses will leave for Jena on Sept. 19. They will be in Jena the next day for the sentencing of Bell. North Carolinians will join thousands of others from Atlanta, Dallas, Washington D.C, Birmingham, Tallahassee and dozens of other cities in a protest rally outside the LaSalle Parish Courthouse.
The Rev. Al Sharpton criticized Jena officials in early August, saying the attempted murder charges leveled against six black teens show "one rule for white kids and one for black kids."
Viewing Comments 1 - 5 of 10
Joe Pavan
posted 9/22/07 @ 12:37 PM EST
Racial tension???
What is racial tension anyway. Does it have eyes? Does it have a color in the first place?
My point here is that I am of color and I can see the judge went a little overboard, but the facts are that the kids did wrong and should be punished. (Continued…)
LGM
posted 9/24/07 @ 11:22 AM EST
Punished? Sure... so should have the white kids that jumped the black student at the "white prom" in Jena last spring. They didn't even get suspension. (Continued…)
Tia Bell
posted 10/06/07 @ 2:14 PM EST
This won't be a popular opinion amongst the Afro American population;however, I don't give a darn. Those 6 teenagers very well knew right form wrong on that day that they decided to gang up on that white student but they beat him to a pulp anyway. (Continued…)
David Martin
posted 10/16/07 @ 1:15 PM EST
The sentence for the one Jena 6 member should stand and all those young men should be tried for attempted murder. Since when is it accepted behavoir for six people to beat a single man uncousious. (Continued…)
punkash78
Ace
posted 10/22/07 @ 12:46 PM EST
Mychal Bell had numerous prior convictions before the incident which took place in December. Bell is also seventeen - the age in which an individual can be tried as an adult in the state of Louisiana. (Continued…)
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