Jena 6

The South is at it again with their modern day racism.

There had been several reports of racism and brawls between white and black students in Jena, Louisiana in the past year. In 2006, a black student at a local high school sat under the so-called "White Tree" where the preppy white kids generally spent their time. The next day, three nooses were hung from the tree. The three students responsible were recommended for expulsion by the principle, however the Board of Education and superintendent overturned the recommendation. Instead the only punishment they received was a brief in school suspension.

After numerous brawls between different groups of teenagers, the six black teenagers in Jena were singled out and charged with attempted murder after jumping one white teenager who was said to have mocked one of the black teenagers prior to the fight.

The injuries of the white teenager were mild at best seeing as he was out of the hospital and attended a high school event that very same day. Irregardless, the all white jury convicted the Jena 6 with some of them facing more than 20 years in prison.

Mychal Bell, a 16 year old who is part of the Jena 6, had his charges dropped after being convicted because he was tried as an adult. However, he is still in jail because the courts denied him a bond. Bell and the Jena 6 were tried by an all white jury with no chance of having a black juror because all 50 of the people who showed up for jury duty were white.

A few of the others had their charges reduced to aggravated assault as opposed to attempted murder, although the reduction is still in itself racist. Aggravated assault requires the use of a deadly weapon, however none of the Jena 6 possessed such a weapon so the courts claimed that the shoes they were wearing were a "deadly weapon" and five of them are still facing jail time.

Clearly this is a case of institutionalized racism. Thousands of people have been protesting in Jena this past week; including Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton and Mos Def.

If you want to read more about the incident, Wikipedia does a good job of examining the whole situation:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jena_Six