Words Tewauna Oliver
“Southern trees bear strange fruit, blood on the leaves and blood at the roots. Black bodies swinging in the southern breeze, strange fruit han ging from the poplar trees. Pastoral scene of the gallant south, the bul ging eyes and the twisted mouth. Scent of magnolias, sweet and fresh. Th en the sudden smell of burning flesh. Here is a fruit for the crows to pluc k, for the rain to gather, for the wind to suck, for the sun to rot, for the t ree to drop, here is a strange and bitter crop.”- Billie Holliday
When I heard the story of the Jena Six only two things came to my mind one wa s “why would anyone do that?” and the second was the Billie Holliday song Strange Fruit. I thought we lived in a time where we have come far from such major racial issues where parents didn’t have to fear what could happen to their children simply because the co lor of their skin. But, in light of some major cases such as the Sean Bell c ase or the Liberty City Seven it’s apparent that we really haven’t come as far as we would all like to think and it’s easy to see how come Black America still needs strong civil right lead ers who aren’t just flocking towards the publicity of a case.
The Jena Six case is a clear cut case of the racism that is ever present in o ur society. How is it possible that a black boy could get attacked and jum ped and yet nothing happens? But now a white boy gets attacked and jumped and its second degree attempted murder. Who makes theses decisions? A l aw should apply to everyone regardless or race, creed, or color. When ev er something happens to a black persons child the black media is quick to say, and some of us are guilty of it as well, “if it was a white person it would have been handled differently.”
Ok so now here we have a situation where the cases are not being tried the s ame. Here we have the lives of six young black men hanging in the balance o f a jury of their “peers”. But the case is being tried in the rural south with a predominantly whi te jury. Are these their peers? We as a community speak on many issues and have so much to say but yet what are we doing?
Here are some facts on the case but do your research and exercise your rig hts; if we don’t act like we want them then who are we to get mad when people try to take th em away? The position we as people of color have in this society has been p aved by those who came before us. They worked hard to get us where we are an d apparently we have to work harder to maintain and surpass their achiev ements. But isn’t anything worth having also worth working for?
(Just a few days after the fire in the high school)
As a black student, Robert Baily, enters the fair barn, a local space res erved for social gatherings, he is struck in the face and attacked by whi te party goers with broken beer bottles and is “stomped out” before anyone came to break up the fight; the initial attacker reporte dly was charged with battery and sentenced to probation.
The following night one of the attackers pulled a pump action shotgun on three black students. After a fight for the gun the three students fled t he scene with the gun; the three boys were charged with aggravated batte ry and theft.
Then on December 4th 2006 a fight broke out between two students, one bla ck and one white. The fight was reportedly due to teasing about the stude nt who had been beaten up at the fair barn, and left the white student, Jus tin Barker, unconscious. Despite his supposed unconscious state seve ral students still kicked and punched him however the fight was broken u p in a matter of seconds. Less than an hour after the fight 6 students were arrested and initially charged with attempted murder.
Justin was arrested for having a loaded rifle in his car, and treated for wounds from the fight. Upon release from the hospital after 2 ½ hours, he attended the schools ring ceremony. Yet, the six boys being h eld responsible for this were being charged with second degree attempt ed murder which did get reduced to aggravated assault and conspiracy bu t is STILL A FELONY. The bonds of the six ranged from $70,000 to $138,000 a nd currently all but Mychal Bell are out on bond. The sentencing trail is scheduled for Thursday September 20th 2007 and Bell is looking at up to 2 2 years. If convicted at the time of his release Bell will be around 40 yea rs old and would have spent most of his adult life in jail behind a fight he had in high school.
Jena Louisiana, 171 miles from New Orleans, is a small town with a popula tion of 2971 according to the 2000 census. Jena is 12% Black and 85% White so needless to say there is a little racial tension in this southern town . But who would have expected what was to come from three boys wanting to s it under a traditionally “whites only” tree.
Jena High School, The Mighty Giants, is home to about 538 students, grad es 9-12, 18% Black and 80% white. This would be your typical high school s etting if not for the eruption of social unrest that came about during la te August and early September 2006.
Incident one occurred on Thursday August 31st. On this day three black s tudents decided to ask permission to sit under a tree that sat on the “white side” of campus and was reserved strictly for the enjoyment of the white stud ent body. These students were given permission and told they could sit w here ever they wanted to.
The very next day, incident two, three nooses were found hanging from th e above mentioned tree in the schools colors, black and gold. Four days l ater on September 5th the parents of the black students at Jena High held a meeting at L&A Missionary Baptist Church to discuss the fear and anger they had abou t this hate crime.
The following day on September 6th the black students of Jena High came t ogether and staged a protest under the tree which immediately led to a sc hool assembly. Special guests of honor at this assembly included polic e officers, and District Attorney Reed Walters who came to let the black students know that any further unrest would not be tolerated and is quot ed as saying “I can make your lives disappear with a stroke of my pen.”
On September 7th as the halls were being patrolled by police officers th e boys in question for hanging the nooses, whose names have not been rele ased for privacy and safety reasons, claimed that the nooses were just a prank stemming from a scene from the Hallmark Mini-series entitled “Lonesome Dove” and the boys were given in school suspension. Which according the Jena High School handbook is the usual punishment for “third time out of a particular class for misconduct, gambling, and ref usal to sit in assigned seat.”
However, “threatening a student and/or faculty with a weapon (real or imagined) ” according to the handbook are grounds for “recommended expulsion.” Now I can’t speak for everyone, but anything that can be used to kill me, which is d isplayed in the way it would be used to kill me, IS A WEAPON.
On September 8th the school was put on full lock down and on September 10t h the black parents denied an opportunity to speak to the school board. O n September 18th the black families’ representative was allowed to speak for 5 minutes but could not speak o n the noose issue.
With racial tension still in the air November approaches and brings for th new drama on November 30th a fire broke out in the academic wing of the h igh school.
Letters for Mychal:
Mychal Bell
Inmate, A-Dorm
LaSalle Correctional Center
15976 Highway 165
Olla, LA 71465-4801
Donations:
Jena 6 Defense Committee
PO BOX 2798
Jena, LA 71342
The Jena 6 Defense Committee
PO Box 2798
Jena, LA 71342
jena6defense@gmail.com
Mayor:
Murphy McMillan
P.O. Box 26
Jena, La. 71342
Phone (318) 992-2148
District Attorney Reed Walters:
Reed Walters, District Attorney
28th Judicial District
PO Box 1940
Jena, Louisiana 71342-1940
Phone:
(318) 992-8282
Fax:
(318) 992-4731
Governor:
Kathleen Blanco
Office of the Governor
Attn: Constituent Services
P.O. Box 94004
Baton Rouge, LA 70804-9004
Phone:
(866)-366-1121
(225)-342-0991
(225)-342-7015
Fax:
(225)-342-7099
Judge J.P. Mauffray:
1050 Courthouse Street
P.O. BOX 1316
JENA, LA 71342
Phone:
(318)992-2002
Fax:
(318)992-8701
In the spirit of Angela Davis, Huey P Newton, Bobby Seale and other Activ ists IT’S TIME TO TAKE MATTERS INTO OUR OWN HANDS!
www.UNIVERSITYHUSTEONLINE.com
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