By
Arla Shephard,
Garrett Troy
October 1, 2007
At 11 a.m. today, University of Washington students will engage in a walkout to express their support of the "Jena Six."
The "Jena Six" are black high school students from Jena, LA., charged with the attempted murder of a white classmate. Racial tensions in this town have been escalating since an incident last year when a black student inquired about sitting underneath a tree where his white classmates normally sat. The next day three nooses in school colors were found dangling from the tree.
When Jena High School students protested the display, local district attorney Reed Walters chastised the students for complaining about an "innocent prank." Feelings of social injustice culminated last December when six black students beat up a white classmate for his racial epithets.
"This case has been under the radar in the media," said senior Ashley McClammy, protest coordinator. "I am challenging people to meet on the HUB lawn at 11 a.m. and to wear all black in honor of the Jena Six."
Five of the six youths were initially charged with attempted second-degree murder as adults, though their murder weapons were tennis shoes. Four of the five have had their charges reduced to aggravated battery as adults.
Mychal Bell, 17, the fifth student charged, was convicted of aggravated battery as an adult, but in a state appeals court, the conviction was dismissed. Bell will face aggravated battery charges in juvenile court.
Since the incident, several copycat noose hangings have sprouted up throughout the country, including at a high school in North Carolina and the University of Maryland.
The walk out is part of a nationwide effort by the National Walk-Out Movement, created by such rap luminaries as Mos Def, Talib Kweli and M1 of Dead Prez, as well as political activist groups like Malcolm X Grassroots Movement and Change the Game.
Following the momentum created when thousands of protestors flocked to Jena Sept. 20, the National Walk-Out Movement encourages students from across the country to "rally and show support for the Jena 6, who are being denied their human rights by the Louisiana criminal justice system."
The goal of the walkout, as outlined by Malcolm X Grassroots Movement, is to have all charges against the Jena 6 dropped, to have the Jena School District Superintendent be fired, and to have Judge Mauffray and District Attorney Reed Walters investigated on ethics charges.
[Reach reporters Garrett Troy and Arla Shephard at news@thedaily.washington.edu.]
5 Comments
#1 Lena
on October 1, 2007 at 6:50 p.m.(UW Campus | Unverified Name)
I must have been living under a rock to have missed this story until now. This is the first time I've heard of "Jena Six", and the focus of this article left me confused. Why would there be a movement to "honor" and "free" six students who ganged up and assaulted someone else? No matter how I spin the rhetorics around, I cannot find a just reason for this.
Afterwards I did a little digging and learned more about the story. Information varies from source to source and is often never complete. There are also a whole not more rhetorics that take a more sophisticated mind than mine to plow through. However...
I still don't understand why people are calling to free these six teenagers.
Despite everything else I've read, the fact doesn't change that they violently assaulted someone and should be held responsible for the act. They should receive fair judicial treatment, which means the sentencing should be appropriate to the crime. This doesn't mean that they should be freed or honored.
The last time I heard, resorting to violence to solve an issue (any issue) does not earn you praise. And causing someone physical harm does not earn you sympathy. This principle is somehow bent somehow in this case.
Ah yes. I haven't mentioned anything about race in what I said. That's another argument. It's important, but it is irrelevant to the fact that people who hurt others should be punished. No exceptions. Neither for those who might have incited the violence (which may or may not be true) nor for the Jena Six.
#2 Lena
on October 1, 2007 at 6:50 p.m.(UW Campus | Unverified Name)
I must have been living under a rock to have missed this story until now. This is the first time I've heard of "Jena Six", and the focus of this article left me confused. Why would there be a movement to "honor" and "free" six students who ganged up and assaulted someone else? No matter how I spin the rhetorics around, I cannot find a just reason for this.
Afterwards I did a little digging and learned more about the story. Information varies from source to source and is often never complete. There are also a whole not more rhetorics that take a more sophisticated mind than mine to plow through. However...
I still don't understand why people are calling to free these six teenagers.
Despite everything else I've read, the fact doesn't change that they violently assaulted someone and should be held responsible for the act. They should receive fair judicial treatment, which means the sentencing should be appropriate to the crime. This doesn't mean that they should be freed or honored.
The last time I heard, resorting to violence to solve an issue (any issue) does not earn you praise. And causing someone physical harm does not earn you sympathy. This principle is somehow bent somehow in this case.
Ah yes. I haven't mentioned anything about race in what I said. That's another argument. It's important, but it is irrelevant to the fact that people who hurt others should be punished. No exceptions. Neither for those who might have incited the violence (which may or may not be true) nor for the Jena Six.
#3 Chaim Eliyah
on October 2, 2007 at 12:53 a.m.(Seattle, WA | Unverified Name)
I think the first commentator here is forgetting about rights, such as punishments that fit the crimes committed, a fair trial, an impartial judge and jury (and, we might pray, an impartial District Attorney), to bear witness and to call witnesses to our defense, and equal protection under the law.
I personally think the journalism of this particular article leaves a bit to be desired. There was no major organized protest today, and several student group leaders (like those of the BSU, the Black Student Union, and of WAR, Whites Against Racism) were shocked when they saw the article in Monday's Daily. And then there is the lack of research like the fact that the three nooses were for three students who asked to sit under the tree, like the fact that the ensuing protest was responded to by police, that an assembly was called in which the D.A. threatened to take away the (Black) students' lives "with a stroke of [his] pen." People neglect to mention that Whites had already begun threatening Blacks with everything up to and including a shotgun, which, when wrestled away from White antagonists, resulted in Blacks being charged with the theft of that weapon.
The case of the Jena 6 is about more than a schoolyard fight. It is about the culmination of a series of events reminiscent of Jim Crow law, and it is about taking a stand for rights and for justice. I can't remember any fights at my high school in which people were hauled away in handcuffs and threatened with life sentences. Even the hospital in Jena said that the blows suffered by this victim were minor.
Granted, Mychal Bell was no shining example of a cool-tempered student. Perhaps in the proper environment, his anger could have been directed toward a cause such as activism rather than manifested physically outward toward other students on, admittedly, more than one occasion. Unfortunately, and true to form, the eyes of this nation's media were not turned on Jena until a rather tragic event occurred, in this case tragic because the actions of these students give precedent to those seeking to reinstitute the Jim Crow state of affairs. But that notwithstanding, in our newspaper, in mainstream media, and in the courtrooms of this nation, Bell and his classmates deserve fair treatment -- and part of that fair treatment is telling the whole story.
Thank you,
Chaim Eliyah
#4 Rob Bly
on October 2, 2007 at 2:52 p.m.(UW Campus | Unverified Name)
There are many facts floating around that people should consider more sides of the story than jumping off on the first thing you read.
Fact 1: the nooses hung on the trees were first connected to racist threat, then corrected by other sources as a harmless gesture related to, guess what, football. They were intended as a challenge to a rival high school football team, which the school football team would have a match against. And the nooses bore the color of the school. Additionally, the noose hanging occurred long time before the beating and the police couldn't find any reason to connect the two. Don't take my word for it. Check the facts yourself by browsing through more new sources.
The fact that two (drastically reality altering) interpretations of the noose-hanging incident merits more cool-headed thinking before jumping in on accusations. You can believe one interpretation over the other, and admittedly, the threat-interpretation is more wild spread. However, what is more popular isn't always more accurate, as rumors spread faster than facts. So when you take a stand, be sure to note are you're basing it on your personal belief of what happened, not necessarily what really happened. Therefore, a dramatic action like large-scale name calling isn't advised.
Fact 2: The victim in the beating was knocked out, and the six were reported to continue stomping him when he was knocked out. The victim was in a clear position of vulnerability against the six. These circumstances qualify the action of the six teens as aggravated assault. And that deserves arrest and jail term.
Fact 3: Social responsibility is no substitute for individual responsibility. Even if these six teens grew up in a hostile environment, that doesn't make their violent treatment of somebody else acceptable. Besides, ganging up on someone who is clearly in a position of vulnerability is no act of "standing up for justice", but of cruelty.
How can their action be condoned, let alone honored?
#5 taylor hoth
on October 22, 2007 at 8:46 a.m.(Magnolia, TX | Unverified Name)
Rob, on your fact 3..
justin barker was in fact cornerd but if you look back previously in the beginning of november you will see that Robert Bailey (one of the jena 6) was jumped by a group of white kids at a fair. Then when Bailey and a few friends confronted one of the white men he pulled a shotfun out. robert bailey and his friends wrestled the gun away from him and the man took off running. When Bailey told the police the kids were all charged with Robbery of the shotgun..
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