Judging Jena

The nation saw an eruption of protest last week in support of the six black students now being charged with second degree battery after beating up a white student. T-shirts and chants of “Free the Jena Six” were prominent on college campuses across the nation, including IU, and in Jena, La., where civil rights leaders Reverend Al Sharpton and Martin Luther King III led a march on the local courthouse.\n Details of the event are still unclear even among top news organizations, though it occurred in December 2006. It is therefore important to determine the solid facts on which there is footing for debate. \n These facts are certain:\nIn September 2006, a black freshman at Jena High School inquired of his vice principal whether he could sit under the “white” tree, an oak used by white students as a gathering place. Shortly after the vice principal affirmed that he could, three nooses appeared hanging from the tree’s branches. The three students responsible were suspended for a short period. This occurrence acted as the catalyst for a series of racially charged events in Jena that culminated in the December confrontation by the six boys. They were immediately charged with second degree attempted murder – charges that were later dropped. Mychal Bell, the first of the six to be tried, was convicted of second degree battery, but a Louisiana Court of Appeals overturned the conviction, saying Bell was unjustly tried as an adult. He is still in jail.\n It remains unclear whether the boys will be convicted and many of the “facts” of the case that are being advocated by the black and white communities in Jena are as of yet substantiated, placing the town, state and nation in a difficult position.\n One thing, however, appears abundantly clear: the town of Jena, La., is divided among a racial rift, despite claims to the contrary. Last week’s protests stemmed from each side and the Facebook activism of a technological era that allows people on each side of the argument to hurl insults and possibly flawed information into an online community of millions. But the racism involved in the case cannot be denied, and must make intellectual minds ask: How far have we progressed since the civil rights movement of the 1950s and ‘60s?\n Are there other cases that we’ve swept under the carpet? Why has strong national protest only now begun in support of the Jena Six, more than nine months after the initial arrest? How many similarly racial issues slip through the knowledge network of common Americans?\n The Jena Six case represents a deeper, nuanced racial landscape not easily solved by simply crying “Free the Jena Six.” We must take a step back and determine all the facts, starting in the universities, where activism speaks strongest. Racism in America has once again become an issue on campus and should be solved with intellectual debate based on evidence, not innuendo. In this way we can all help ensure that the nation confronts its racial issues before they explode to the surface.