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Nooses
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Nooses dangle in race scandal
Nooses Suckered us!
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Comparison drawn to Klan-era intimidation in town in U.S. South
Sheldon Alberts, CanWest News Service
Published: Thursday, September 20, 2007
JENA, La. -It all began with the nooses hanging from the "whites only" tree. Not many of town's black residents saw them, three neatly tied ropes dangling from the branches of a leafy oak in the courtyard of Jena High School, but word spread fast.
And no one had to guess at the message being sent.
"The nooses are a symbol of black people being hung," said Tina Jones, a Jena resident who still shakes with anger at the memory.
School officials have cut down the "white only" tree, top, hoping its removal would help to restore racial peace.View Larger Image View Larger Image
School officials have cut down the "white only" tree, top, hoping its removal would help to restore racial peace.
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"They used to lynch black people years ago like that. It's offensive to black people."
More than 60 years after the last known lynching of a black man in the state, residents of this tiny lumber town in central Louisiana are enduring a mod-ern-day race scandal triggered by an event that has drawn comparison to Klan-era intimidation in the South.
This morning, thousands of demonstrators from across the United States are expected to converge on Jena, population 3,500, for one of the country's largest civil rights rallies since the 1960s.
The protest is being held in support of six black students -- including Ms. Jones's son, Bryant Purvis, 18 -- who were charged with attempted murder in December after a white teenager was beaten during a lunch-hour melee at the school.
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But the circumstances of that fight, black residents say, must be seen as part of a bigger picture that includes attacks on black students and an attempt to erase the last remnants of Jim Crow-era segregation in the town.
At a high school assembly on Aug. 30, 2006, a black freshman asked the assistant principal whether African-Americans could sit under a tree that had traditionally been used only by whites.
The school official replied, "You can sit anywhere you want."
The next morning, students arrived at classes to find the nooses -- two black, one gold, the official school colours. After learning three white students were responsible, Scott Windham, the principal, recommended they be expelled for the year.
A school board committee ruled the incident was a prank without racial overtones and reduced the punishment to an in-school suspension.
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Federal prosecutors refused to investigate the incident as a possible hate crime.
The decision stunned African-American parents, who accused school officials of being blind to the legacy of racial violence in Louisiana, where 335 blacks were lynched between 1882 and 1968.
"What really made this thing a national issue was the nooses, not a high school fight," said Marcus Jones, the father of Mychal Bell, another of the black students now known as the Jena Six.
"Most people I talk with, they ask, 'Is that still happening?' "
After black students held a protest under the "whites only" tree a few days later, Reed Walters, the district attorney for La Salle parish, allegedly warned he could make their lives "disappear with the stroke of a pen" if they continued to disrupt the school.
The situation quickly unravelled.
On Nov. 30, 2006, an unknown arsonist set fire to the school's academic wing.
Two days later, a black student attending a mostly white party at the Fair Barn, a local dance hall, claims he was severely beaten by a group of white teens. The following day, a white man allegedly pointed a pump-action shotgun at another group of black teenagers in a gas station parking lot.
Police charged a 22-year-old white man with simple battery in the Fair Barn assault. The alleged gun-wielding man faced no charges.
The final incident occurred on Dec. 4, when prosecutors say a group of black students attacked a white teenager, Justin Barker, without provocation.
The black teenagers contend he had taunted an African-American student who had been beaten in an earlier attack by whites.
The injuries inflicted on Mr. Barker were ugly, but not life-threatening.
He was knocked unconscious and was repeatedly kicked in the head. He spent three hours in a hospital emergency room and attended a social event that evening.
Parents of the Jena Six were stunned when Mr. Walters charged the students with attempted murder for what they considered a minor fight. They became more distraught when bail for the teens was set from US$70,000 up to US$130,000.
To date, only one of the Jena Six students has gone to trial.
Mr. Bell was convicted by an all-white jury in June of aggravated battery for using a shoe in the assault on the teen.
Last week, a Louisiana appeals court judge overturned the conviction, ruling Mr. Bell was wrongly tried in adult court.
"The charges didn't fit the crime, simple as that," said Marcus Jones, Mr. Bell's father. "[Mr. Barker] was not cut. He was not shot. He was not stabbed. Wasn't no teeth knocked out."
Much of the anger among Jena's African-American residents has been aimed at Mr. Walters, whom parents accuse of ignoring attacks by white students while exacting much tougher justice on blacks.
"He threatened the kids long before the fight happened," Mr. Jones said.
Mr. Walters has since dropped the attempted-murder charges against all but one of the Jena Six -- Mr. Purvis, who has yet to be arraigned.
But the aggravated battery charges remain, and the district attorney has vigorously defended his prosecution.
A "massive amount of misinformation" about the case has been spread, he said in a statement.
"At no time during the consideration to prosecute, or the prosecution of this matter, did anyone's race enter into any decision that was made."
Last month, school officials cut down the tree, hoping its removal would help restore racial peace.
But Mr. Walters dismisses claims the attack on Justin Barker was linked in any way to black students' anger over the hang-man's noose.
"At no time during the investigation of the incident, or at [Mr. Bell's] trial was any evidence presented connecting the two events," he said.
Ms. Jones bristles at the suggestion outside media have fanned the controversy.
"I don't agree with that," she said. "The D.A. blew it out of proportion when he charged these kids with attempted murder."
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