Current Events Watch

At a high school in Jena, Louisiana, there was a “white tree”, where only white students sat during breaks. Until last September, that is, when a black student asked permission from the school if he could sit under the tree. They said he could sit anywhere. Duh.

The very next day, though, three nooses were hung from the “white tree”. Three white students were held responsible and expelled from school. Hey, they may not be KKK Grand Wizards yet, but it’s a start.

However, the white superintendent overturned the expelling saying that, “Adolescents play pranks. I don’t think it was a threat against anybody,” and gave them a three day suspension instead. On the bright side, at least they only had three days to hone their cross-burning and lynching skills, hardly enough time to become proficient.

A few days later, the entire black student body protested by sitting under “the white tree”. That same day the white District Attorney came to Jena High School for an impromptu assembly with, of course, law enforcement. (”We have black folks here, we need back-up!”)

It has been reported that the DA threatened the black students who were sitting under the tree, saying if they did not stop making such a big to-do about the “innocent prank”:

“I can be your best friend or your worst enemy. I can take away your lives with a stroke of my pen.”

Then, come Friday night, a black student was beaten by a group of white students at a party. Saturday, at the Gotta Go convenience store, the black student who was beaten up the night before, along with his friends, ran into one of the white students who beat him up.

A fight broke out (surprise!) and the white kid who had beaten the crap out of the black kid the night before, went to his vehicle and grabbed a shotgun. The black guys wrestled the shotgun away from him and brought it to the police department and reported what had happened. Guess what? The black students were arrested for stealing the gun. The white student was not charged.

The next Monday, another white student was attacked at school by a group of black students for taunting them with racial slurs and saying that he supported the nooses that were hung on “the white tree” and also supported the white guys who beat up the black guy at the party. He was treated at a hospital and released the same day, and well enough to apparently go out that same night.

Six black students, now known as the Jena Six, were arrested for beating him, and charged with attempted second-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder. They were all immediately expelled from school. Where’s that 3-day suspension overriding superintendent when you need him? That’s right, never mind, I forgot for a moment that these kids aren’t white, it’s different.

In the local paper, it was reported that the white DA published a statement saying, “When you are convicted, I will seek the maximum penalty allowed by law.” Are you kidding me? “When you are convicted” is quite an assumption! I think what he meant to say was, “If you are convincted.” Then again, we’re in Jena, Louisiana.

The kids, some who have already spent several months in jail because their families didn’t have the money to post bail, face between 20 and 100 years in prison, for attempted second degree murder. The white kid, on the other hand, who was well enough after the fight, er, I mean attempted murder, to attend a party that same night, apparently has no worries. Good to go.

Don’t get me wrong. I don’t condone the behavior of the white kids or the black kids, or the fighting crap. They’re kids, they fight, it’s wrong, it happens. But it’s obvious that in Jena, LA, racism is rampant. The “white tree”. The nooses, just a honky prank, no harm done. White kids beating up a black kid, apparently just one of those things kids do. Blacks beating up a white kid, though, attempted murder, and 100 years in jail. Oh yeah, and I guess pulling a shotgun on someone is okay, as long as you’re white, and your target is black. And God forbid they should try to take the gun away, that would be stealing. But then again, that’s what black folks do. Just ask anyone in Jena.

jena six, racism, white tree, jena louisiana, youtube