I just heard about JENA 6 . Racial Discrimination seems to have found a new dimension in the Jim Crow South. First we had Brown v. board of education being overruled and now we have this incident in the USA. The Country seems to have lost its touch on notions of equality.

Ash reports as to what is Jena 6;

At Jena High School in Louisiana, white students usually sat under a tree in the school courtyard, referred to as the “white tree”. During assembly on August 31 2006, a black student asked the vice-principal if they could sit under the tree, and the vice-principal answered “”You can sit anywhere you like“. A few black students ventured to sit under the “white tree” later that day. The next day, three nooses were found hanging from the tree. The school superintendent termed it a “prank” and the three white students responsible were punished with an in-school suspension. In fact, this incident should have been treated as a hate crime and reported to the authorities. The incident conjured up the ugly history of lynch mobs and the Jim Crow South and unleashed a cycle of interracial strife.

 

Black student protesters were threatened by the District Attorney, who said “See this pen? I can end your lives with the stroke of a pen.” Racial tensions persisted and frequent fights broke out between white and black students. In December, when some black students attempted to attend a “white” party, a fight broke out and a black student was injured. One of the white men involved was charged with simple battery and put on probation. The next day, some black students were confronted at a convenience store by a white student armed with a handgun. A fight broke out and a black student took possession of the gun. The police intervened and charged the black student with theft of a firearm, second-degree robbery and disturbing the peace, while the white student who produced the handgun was not charged.

 

A few days later, six black students assaulted a white student who suffered a concussion during the fight. These black students, dubbed the “Jena six” were arrested and are undergoing trial for attempted second-degree murder. Defendant Mychal Bell was tried and found guilty by an all-white jury and a white judge; his court-appointed public defense lawyer did not call a single witness to his defense. He is currently awaiting sentencing and faces the possibility of up to 22 years in prison.

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I would be following up on the case and posting relevant details.