Thousands protest against racists in US as tensions continue to rise

 

Thousands of protesters converged in the North America town of Jena in Louisiana on 21 September in support of six African American teenagers who are being persecuted for beating up a racist schoolmate.

The initial incident occurred in 2006 after three racist caucasian students at Jena High School hung three nooses from the “white” tree after an African student requested permission from the school administrator to sit under it. The noose, symbolic of the lynchings that were once so prevalent in the North American south, was seen as a warning deterrent. Although the school’s head recommended that the three students involved in the incident be expelled, the governing board of the school overruled him and they were merely suspended from the school and the decision was taken not to prosecute them in the face of protests from the African American students at the school. The students protested by organising a sit-in under the tree. The School Principle reacted by inviting District Attorney Reed Walters and 10 local police officers to the school. Marcus Jones, Mychal Bell's father, described Walters visit:

"Now remember, with everything that goes on at Jena High School, everybody's separated. The only time when Black and white kids are together is in the classroom and when they playing sports together. During lunch time, Blacks sit on one side, whites sit on the other side of the cafeteria. During canteen time, Blacks sit on one side of the campus, whites sit on the other side of the campus.

"At any activity done in the auditorium-anything-Blacks sit on one side, whites on the other side, okay? The DA tells the principal to call the students in the auditorium. They get in there. The DA tells the Black students, he's looking directly at the Black students - remember, whites on one side, Blacks on the other side-he's looking directly at the Black students. He told them to keep their mouths shut about the boys hanging their nooses up. If he hears anything else about it, he can make their lives go away with the stroke of his pen."

The actions of the racist trio sparked a number of copycat incidents around the country. At least 10 cases of noose hanging were reported including, a noose left dangling from the door of a professor in New York, a student drove to school with a noose hanging from his rearview mirror in Chicago, a noose was found in a police locker room in Long Island and a woman was arrested in Queens for flaunting a noose at her African American neighbours and threatening to kill their children.

In Jena, the tension at the school and in the area continued to boil. When 17-year-old African American student Robert Bailey, who was invited to a dance at a hall arrived at the event he was punched in the face and attacked by a gang of caucasian youths. Of the gang, only one member was arrested and subsequently given probation. The night following this attack, Robert and two of his friends were threatened by another racist gang, one of whom pulled a gun on them. Bailey and his friends managed to wrestle the gun out of his hand but were later arrested and charged with theft as their attacker went free.

When Bailey returned to school he was taunted and allegedly called the n word by caucasian student Justin Barker, who supported the actions of the suspended noose-hanging trio. A fight ensued and Barker was beaten and left unconscious by six African American students, although he was later able to attend a school social event that same evening. The six students, Robert Bailey Junior, Theo Shaw, Carwin Jones, Bryant Purvis, Mychal Bell and an unidentified minor were subsequently charged with second-degree attempted murder. The excessive sentencing and the outrageously high bail, ranging from $70,000 - $138,000, caused international outrage and brought heavy condemnation of the heavy handed, ethnically bias and disproportionate charge in light of the flimsy treatment received by the noose-hangers.

The United States Attorney Donald Washington refused to accept the clearly anti-African sentiment that was the driving force behind the charges. District Attorney Walters also attempted to excuse the subdued treatment of the racist trio in comparison to the retaliatory actions of the African American students. He claimed that he could not prosecute the students because there was no state law under which to charge them.

On 20 September approximately 20,000 protesters marched along the main streets of Jena in what was one of the biggest demonstrations in recent years. Other US cities coordinated a march on the same day. 16-year-old Mychal Bell was the only member of the six to have been tried by that time and had been found guilty of attempted murder by an entirely caucasian jury. On the day of the protest, the charges against him were reduced to aggravated battery and conspiracy. His conviction was overturned on the technical basis that he should not have been tried as an adult. On the 3 December, he was charged and pled guilty in a juvenile court to second degree battery and agreed to testify against the other 5 boys if their case went to trial. He was sentenced to 18 months imprisonment. The trial against four of the defendants is still pending. The status of the case of the fifth defendant, who is a juvenile, remains unknown.

In October 2007, a number of copycat incidents occurred involving the hanging of nooses around the town of Jena.