Picture this?a big oak tree outside a high school usually used only by white students during breaks. A black student decides to sit under the tree one day, and the next day three nooses are found hanging from the tree. The students responsible get punished not with expulsion, as the principal recommended, but rather the school board confines them to the school for two weeks in an in-school suspension.
Sounds like an incident from before the civil rights movement, but unfortunately it's not. This event occurred about a year ago outside Jena High School in Jena, Louisiana. Racial skirmishes such as this continued during the ensuing year.
But why is this issue from Louisiana being covered here, in Maine, 1,700 miles away? Just last week, a national protest took place, where people all around the country, including many students here at Bowdoin, wore green and black to support black students involved with the episodes that have transpired in Jena, Louisiana, in the year since that student sat under the tree.
Unfortunately, that protest fell on deaf ears here?many students have no idea what has happened in Jena, allegedly even some of those who were protesting. So, here are details of what happened in Jena, Louisiana; hopefully its meaning and severity will become clear, even though it seems far away.
The day after the nooses were found, black students staged a silent, non-violent sit-in under the branches of the oak tree. The police were contacted, and District Attorney Reed Walters allegedly told the students he could "make [their] lives disappear with a stroke of [his] pen."
Racial tensions continued to build as time went on. On November 31, 16-year-old black student Robert Bailey and a few of his black friends attended a party (filled mostly with whites) where Bailey was attacked and beaten.
A similar incident occurred the next day when five black students tried to attend another party, and were told by a woman that they were not allowed inside. As the boys persisted to try to enter, and as tempers began flaring, a white man moved in front of the woman and another fight started.
The fight quickly ended, and the woman asked the man, who was not a student, and the black teens to leave. The students were then attacked by a group of white men, again not students, outside, and the police were called. The only attacker arrested in connection with this incident pled guilty to simple battery charges.
Also, around this time, a white male pulled a shotgun on several black students in a convenience store (details are sketchy as to whether or not he was a student). The black students wrestled the man to the ground and took away his weapon. The white man was not charged, but the students were charged with theft of a firearm.
Then, on December 4, white student Justin Barker was beaten up after allegedly taunting black students. He was knocked unconscious and was taken by ambulance to a local hospital. He received minor cuts and bruises, no brain damage, left the facility after about two hours, and attended a social function later that night.
The six black students were originally charged with aggravated assault, but DA Reed Walters increased these charges to second-degree, or unpremeditated, murder, identifying the boys' sneakers as lethal weapons.
Mychal Bell, 17, was the first to stand trial on June 26, 2007 after staying in jail since December with a bail of $90,000. The charges against all six boys were reduced from second-degree murder to second-degree battery and conspiracy over the summer. A white judge and all-white jury found Bell guilty of these new charges and he was sentenced to up to 22 more years in jail.
Fortunately, Bell's conviction was overturned by an appeals court on the basis that Bell was wrongly tried as an adult. The DA has the option to appeal this ruling or file new charges in juvenile court, and hence Bell is still being held in lieu of $90,000 bail.
The other boys have not been tried yet, except for the youngest, Jesse Ray Beard, who is being tried in juvenile court, which is not open to the public.
On September 21, a hearing was held on the issue of the amount of Bell's bail and whether he could continue to be held without charges being filed. Unfortunately, these requests were denied, so Bell still sits in jail for what is now his 10th month.
I hope by now it is clear to you what has happened in Jena, Louisiana. I've tried to present just the facts of what has happened, and leave the opinion making process to you.
William K. Richard is a member of the Class of 2011.