Black Folk, Know Your Place In Jena, Louisiana

It was the spring of 1931. A freight train bound for Memphis carried a groupof young African Americans in search of a better life. They were desperatelytrying to escape the future that awaited them because of the color of theirskin.

Everyone in the Jim Crow South knew the rigid caste system and his or herplace in it. Everyone in the Black community knew their life could turn upsidedown by the mere accusation of “disrespecting” a White person and their falsesense of superiority and privilege. Everyone knew that “disrespecting” a Whitefemale was a capital offense punishable by death.

Despite knowing the grim realities that came with their dark complexion, theyoung group of African Americans on that freight train that day in March 1931was still optimistic about the opportunities that awaited them in Memphis.

However, at a train stop in Stevenson, Ala., a young White man claimed thata group of Blacks had tossed him from the train. The sheriff in nearby PaintRock, Ala ordered officers to arrest all African Americans onboard. When thetrain stopped, only nine African American men and two White females wereonboard.

The two White females claimed the young Black men had gang raped them, andthey were arrested on the spot Eight of the nine men were convicted andsentenced to death with very little evidence to suggest they were guilty of anycrime.

The group became known as the Scottsboro Nine as the country was rocked bythis blatant injustice. The International Labor Defense and the NAACPrepresented the Scottsboro Nine legally.

Eventually, one of the alleged victims recanted their story, saying thatthey were prostitutes who were trying to escape charges of vagrancy. The judgedismissed her story and convicted the Scottsboro Nine. On appeal, the AlabamaSupreme Court upheld the convictions.

Throughout the history of the Jim Crow South, injustices were commonplace.From Emmett Till to the Mississippi burning incident, equal justice for Blackswas completely unheard of throughout the southern region of the country.

However, as time has gone by and the South has become integrated,politically correct Americans have prided themselves on the abolishment ofracism and discrimination. Ask a specific demographic if racism still existsand the answer is always an emphatic “no.” Ask them about the Jena Six, and seeif that answer is still as emphatic as before.

”There are a lot of places in the Deep South where (almost) nothing haschanged aside from the fact that segregation isn’t legal,” said Mark Potok,director of the intelligence project for the Southern Poverty Law Center inAlabama.

In December 2006, an African American student asked the principal forpermission to sit at a “White-only” tree in the courtyard of Jena High Schoolin Jena, Louisiana. The principal responded by saying that the student couldsit anywhere he pleased. The next day students found three nooses hanging fromthe “White-only” tree.

Race riots followed, culminating in a schoolyard fight that resulted in sixBlack teens charged with attempted murder for beating up a White teen whosuffered no life threatening injuries.

The Black community of Jena was outraged. Prior to the fight at Jena Highschool, a Black teen had survived a vicious attack for attending an all-Whiteparty. In addition, a White youth had recently pulled a shotgun on three Blackteens at a local convenient store. According to CNN.com, the White kid who beatup the Black party crasher faces charges of simple battery and the thug whopulled a shotgun faces no charges.

CNN.com reports that in the convenient store incident, the three Black teenswere actually arrested and accused of aggravated battery after grabbing thegun-in what they call self-defense.

Despite the recent racially charged incidents, city official believe race isnot an issue in any of these incidents.

”Race is not a major local issue. It’s not a factor in the local people’slives,” said Mayor Murphy McMillan.

After protests erupted at the school and in the community, District AttorneyReed Walters told the Black students who were protesting under the “White only”tree that he could “end their life with a stroke of a pen.”

His words proved prophetic after the Jena Six were arrested and charged withattempted murder although the victim, Justin Barker, 17, was released from thehospital after two hours for a concussion and swollen eye. Barker even attendeda ring ceremony later that night, where friends say he was his same jovialself.

The District Attorney added, “I will not tolerate this type of behavior. Tothose who act in this manner, I tell you that you will be prosecuted to thefullest extent of the law and with the harshest crime that the facts justify.When you are convicted, I will seek the maximum penalty allowed by law. I willsee to it that you never again menace the students at any school in thisparish.”

Mychal Bell, the first of the six to face a trial, will learn his fate thismonth. According to the Associated Press, an all-White jury on reduced chargesof aggravated battery and conspiracy to commit it convicted Bell. He faces upto 22 years in prison.

”Can they really do this to me?” Bell asked from his jail cell.

Like the Scottsboro case in 1931, the Jena Six has received support fromactivist groups such as the NAACP and ACLU.

Al Sharpton recently organized a demonstration in the central Louisiana townto protest a justice system that has “one rule for White kids and one for Blackkids.”

Sharpton added, “I did not come to Jena to start trouble. I came to Jena tostop trouble.”

According to local residents, Jena is a town divided by race. The town of3,000 has only 350 African Americans. Most Blacks live in the impoverished Ward10, while Whites live in a section of town known as “Snob Hill.”

When a Black teacher was able to purchase a home in the predominately-White“Snob Hill”, local real estate agents refused to show him a “White” propertyeven though several were advertised in the local paper, according toCNN.com.

A young African American with a business degree was unable to get a job as abank teller despite his qualifications.

The racial lines and caste system in Jena is evident and it was only amatter of time before all of the tension exploded.

”The White kids should have gotten more punishment for hanging nooses. Ifthey had, all of the stuff that followed could have been avoided,” said MelvinWashington, the lone African American on the school board.

Despite the negative attention that has recently invaded Jena, injusticealong racial lines is still commonplace in American society.

According to the Urban League, Black men are three times more likely thanWhite men to face jail once they have been arrested. Over 24 percent of Blacksarrested in the U.S. in 2005 ended up in jail compared with 8.3 percent ofWhite men.

Blacks also received jail sentences that are on average 15 percent longerthan Whites for similar crimes. For aggravated assault, Black men weresentenced to an average of 48 months in jail, which is 33 percent longer thanthe average of 36 months received by White men, according to the Urban League’sannual State of Black America report.

As Bell awaits his sentencing, and the remainder of the Jena Six await theirfate, ask yourself is racism extinct from American society. Sometimes peoplewill have you believe that everyone gets along despite physical differences,and those claiming racism are simply playing the race card to their advantage.The next time you hear this excuse, think of the Jena Six and ask yourself,have we come as far as we think we have?