If the author were to do a bit more investigation, he would have come up with the following already available timeline from the friends of justice to provide further context for the situation. For example-

-Members of the Jena six *were * involved in convening a peaceful protests after the noose incident. One of the responses to this sit in was an assembly where the 'District Attorney Reed Walters warned black students that additional unrest would be treated as a criminal matter. According to multiple witnesses, Walters warned the black student protestors that, "I can make your lives disappear with a stroke of my pen."'

-One of the Jena six was *ASSAULTED* by a 22 year old male at a party not simply threatened: "a black student was assaulted by a white adult as he entered a predominantly white partly held at the Fair Barn (a large metal building reserved for social events). After being struck in the face without warning, the young black student was assaulted by white students wielding beer bottles and was punched and kicked before adults broke up the fight. It has been reported that the white assailant who threw the first punch was subsequently charged with simple battery (a misdemeanor), but there is no documentary evidence that anyone was charged."

-Of the witnesses at trial to the infamous beatdown of Justin Barker (which hm...didn't include beer bottles like the other fight did), none were black, and you would think, given the presence of both black and white students at this event that a black student might have been called.

I'm not excusing the fight or saying that there should be no punishment for the students involved, but 90K bond for a high school fight where the victim, even though he went to the hospital was seen at a party the *same* night? And Mychael Bell is *still* in jail, and has been for the last NINE months? You've got to be kidding right?

But again, we resort to looking at this through the lens of white fear of black rage: ignoring peaceful protest, ignoring the parents of the black students who were involved in helping the students form a proper response to the terroristic noose threat, ignoring that viewing a tennis shoe as a murder weapon is ridiculous, and on, and on....

Have we all forgotten Billy Holiday's Strange Fruit? Pictures of burned and disfigured black bodies swinging in the summer breeze, while happy whites posed for the camera below the tree?

Strange Fruit swinging from the cotton trees

PS- I'm not even going to touch self segregation, even though it happens everyday for every race (Chinatown? Japantown? The exclusive country club?). While sticking with your own isn't going to bring us closer to racial harmony, each party and each individual has to be ready to come out peacefully and thoughtfully and have difficult conversations. As we can see from the case in Jena, everyone isn't that open minded...

Very informative post.Based on what I've seen on this board,you probably will not not get many responses save those that may attemp to turn your post around.

It's good to see someone with access to the information post the rest of the story about the Jena 6. Those who choose not to believe in facts will continue to yap, and that's sad.

First, let me say it does strike me that the initial reaction by the school's Expulsion Committee was lenient and inadequate in dealing with the white students who put the nooses in the tree. It's possible they did it as a poorly considered joke, but it's also possible that they were serious and malicious, and the consequences should have been more severe in any case. It's 20/20 hindsight, but still...

Second, contrasting the legal treament of white and black participants in various incidents which preceeded the beating incident at issue may in fact show inequalities and unfairness. There are a lot of conflicting accounts out there, but I don't deny the possiblity. If it happened, it should be investigated and prosecuted, especially if violence was involved. There should be no double standard.

All that being said, judging by the descriptions I have read, the December 4th incident which gave birth to the "Jena Six" should NOT be characterized as a "fight." The assault was organized, with some of the assailents deliberately preventing teachers and others from coming to the victim's aid. The victim was unconcious after the first blow came from behind, and was brutally attacked while helpless. The fact that the injuries the victim inccurred may not have been life-threatening does not in any way rule out that the intent may have been murder.

I cannot know if the assault was pre-meditated, and if the intent in the minds of the assailants was homicide or mere battery. However, neither can anyone else who has not been part of the investigation. The basic facts of the assult certainly do not contradict the attempted homicide charge. Of course it is also possible that it was an assault that got pumped up to attempted murder by the DA, perhaps to compell cooperation or a plea from the suspects. It is even possible that there are racial motives for more serious charge, though I think that is unlikely. However to downplay the seriousness of the incident and assume that the more seruious charges are unjustified is a serious mistake. To suggest that the preceding incidents somehow justified the assault is reckless and legally untennable.

Charles-

I did not suggest that the incidents before justified the fight. Which I will call a fight given the descriptions that I sited in the friends of justice brief. There were words, a fight broke out given all of the tension over the previous months. Is the difference between a fight and an assault one of premeditation? I'm not sure, but the you and others calling it an assault brings to mind nefarious elements and associates them directly and unfairly only with the black students. There are things we will never know because we *weren't* there, and many of the witnesses who were gave conflicting stories, and now that these events are more than a year old, each party will be entrenched in their respective positions because it goes with the narrative that has already been spun by the media: poor white boy beaten by angry black mob- but we'll ignore all the other events that led to that.

Characterizing this as a premeditated assault goes directly into viewing this through the lens of white fear of black rage. Were the nooses premeditated? Was the fight/assault on the black student at the white party premeditated?

Hm....

The difference between a fight verus attempted murder is what happens after the victim gives up or falls down unconscious.

BRW -

Well, by citing the other incidents in the same post, especially one that involved a possible earlier attack on one of the assailants in the incident at issue, I think you did suggest that they were justification of a sort. Even above you are citing the tensions as the cause of the violence. The tensions may go to motive, but it's not a justification for the actions of the "Jenna Six." You accuse whites of ignoring "all the other events that led to that." That's exactly what justice dictates we all MUST DO in examining the legal case. The intent and whether premeditation was involved are what determine the severity of the charges. The preceding events and context do not and should not.

I think my point is that you and others are mistaken in focusing on the "Jenna Six" as being the "good fight." The primary injustices here are much more likely to be crimes of "ommission" rather than "commision" - by school officials, authorities, and the justice system. The injustice is not that the Jenna Six were persecuted (and prosecuted), but that the actions of the white students who placed the nooses in the tree, and others who may have engaged in violence or provacative behaviour in the subsequent days were NOT likewise prosecuted. It shouldn't be "Free the Jena Six." It should be "sue the Expulsion Committee" or "prosecute the beer bottle assault" or "Why no prosecution for them?" Dropping charges against the Jenna Six only further compounds any injustice.

By the way, the accounts I have read said that Barker was rendered unconcious immediately but that the assault continued. The number and balance of assailants also undercuts the "fight" label. Are there other versions at odd with this?

You ask if the difference between a fight and an assault is one of premeditation? No. In fact, all fights include an assault by the party striking the first blow - premeditated or not. The fight that comes afterwards is self-defence on the part of the victim, and continued assault on the part of the assailant. However, if the victim has a chance to end the conflict (by leaving or subduing the assailant) and instead renews it, self-defence is gone and we are back to assault.

It's an interesting parallel, in fact, if you view the nooses in the tree as a metaphorical assault, where the victims (the Jenna six) have a chance to end the fight but instead (having had sufficient time to cool down - which makes it premeditated) commit assault in turn (the Dec. 4th incident).

Were the nooses premeditated, you ask? Good question, although I think intent was a more important issue. Both intent and premeditation go to the severity of that matter. But it is a separate matter. We should be looking at how our educational system and parenting failed us when students could engage in such actions - either maliciously or out of ignorance. Likewise we should examine how the "Jenna six" came to believe that violence was an appropriate means to redress that offense, or any other.

BRW - I understand your point but you give the impression that all that went on before should be ignored. I have a hard time believing that the boy who was assaulted was pure as the driven snow. I'm not one who believes in blaming the victim but is it really reasonable to assume that these boys just picked this kid out of thin air to attack? What did this kid say or do? His beating is not justified but I also don't believe it happened in a vacuum. I don't believe he didn't contribute to the feeling of hatred that exist in that town. Perhaps you, who seems to be an adult, could ignore the past grievances but to ask teenagers - growing into adulthood and all that entails to ignore these CONSTANT slights and turn the other cheek while their own community continues to spit in their face is asking for a bit much. So many of these posters are approaching this as though these were adults when in fact they are children who have been betrayed by the very elements that should have been defending and protecting them - their school, their police department, their prosecutor. Their options were to ignore, ignore and igrnore...Ignore the nooses, ignore the threats from the prosecutor when they attempted to protest peacefully, ignore the beatings they had received, ignore the racism that existed in the schools and the community. I agree BRW we should be protesting the ones who committed crimes and were not prosecuted but in light of the fact that past events have shown us they are not going to be prosecuted -- I for one do not think six boys lives should be ruined when they weren't the only ones who contributed to this horrible mess. Some of you will continue to be obtuse and maybe you can't feel much empathy but I can't pretend that there is anything right about these kids spending one more day in jail.