Of 'White Trees', Black Boys and Jena, Louisiana

Of 'White Trees', Black Boys and Jena, Louisiana
[col. writ. 7/21/07] (c) '07 Mumia Abu-Jamal


I you asked me two weeks ago if I've ever heard the name of a
little town in Louisiana called 'Jena', I would've drawn a blank.

Jena? Never heard of it.

It made me think of the ill-fated Palestinian village called Janin,
that Israel crushed into oblivion several years ago.

I think the incumbent president's daughter has that name (with and
additional 'n').

But, that's it.

When a friend sent me several internet articles about recent events
there, I was, quite frankly, flabbergasted.

I was astonished to learn that today, in the first decade of the
21st century, in Jena High School, there is still a 'white tree',
called that not because the leaves are white, but because it is a
generous giver of shade, and only white students sit under it.

In Sept. 2006, a young student named Kenneth Purvis asked the
school principal for permission to sit under the 'white tree.' The
principal answered that he could sit where he liked.

So, they did.

The next day, the 'white tree' was festooned with three nooses, in
school colors.

In the South (or the North, for that matter), nooses have one clear
meaning -- they are threats of death.

People naturally got riled up, angry, or scared.

Jena's High School principal looked into the matter, found the
three white students responsible, and recommended that they be
expelled.

The school superintendent felt otherwise, rescinded the expulsion,
and instead recommended a 3 - day suspension. Speaking to the Chicago
Tribune, the superintendent said, " Adolescents play pranks. I don't
think it was a threat against anybody."

(Perhaps he meant anybody important - or white)

For Jena's Black community, this was but the latest slap in the
face.

Black students at the high school decided to resist by holding a
sit-in under the 'white tree' to protest the light suspensions given to
the 3 white noose-hangers.

When word got out about the pending sit-in, the local DA came to a
Jena school assembly, with several cops to threaten the students who
dared to think they could do what people did some 40 years ago
throughout the South (before the so-called 'New South'). He told them
if they didn't stop making a fuss about this 'prank' he could be "your
worst enemy." To make the point plain, he told the teen gathering, " I
can take away your lives with a stroke of a pen."

Several days later, a white Jena student, who reportedly made
racist taunts, including calling Black students 'niggers', got knocked
down, punched and kicked. The boy was taken to the hospital, treated
and released. That very night, he was well enough to attend a public
event.

Within days six Black Jena students were arrested and charged with
attempted second degree murder. All six were also immediately
expelled.

The 6 teens were given bails set from $70,000 to $139,000.

Bail at these ranges could've just as easily been set at $1
million, for they were at rates that none of the local parents could
afford. That meant, of course, that all of the accused were held in
jail for months, awaiting trial.

And if money for bail was out of reach, what about money for
attorneys?

Again -- out of the question.

That meant that public defenders were appointed by the court.

For one of the accused, Mychal Bell, this meant little better than
no counsel at all, for his trial was soon decided by an all-white jury,
who promptly convicted him of aggravated second degree assault, battery
and conspiracy.

Bell now awaits sentencing which may put the teenager in prison for
the next 22 years.

The public defender never challenged the all-white jury pool, put
on no evidence, and didn't call a single defense witness.

The law of aggravated assault requires the use of a deadly weapon.
What was the weapon?

Tennis shoes.

Families and friends of the Jena 6 are organizing against this
case, and are also being threatened by the local establishment. One
woman told Louisiana ACLU member, Tory Pegram, "We have to convince
more people to come rally with us.....What's the worse that could
happen? They fire us from our jobs? We have the worst jobs in the town
anyway. They burn a cross on our lawns or burn down my house? All of
that has happened to us before. We have to keep speaking out to make
sure it doesn't happen to us again, or our children will never be
safe."

To contact the Jena 6 Defense Committee, write:
P.O. Box 2798
Jena, Louisiana 71342

Or on the web: jena6defense@gmail.com.

--(c) '07 maj

[Sources: Quigley, Bill, "Injustice in Jena: Black Nooses Hanging From
the 'White' Tree", July 3, '07; Quigley@loyana.edu.; Mangold, Tom, "
'Stealth racism' stalks deep South", BBC News, 5/24/07 online]