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JENA 6
No media throng or thousands of
supporters greeted Mychal Bell as he and his parents walked into the
LaSalle Parish courthouse.Details of why Bell was in court were
unavailable since his case now is being handled in juvenile court
and is not open to public scrutiny.
Bell was the first of six black students to be tried for an alleged
attack on Justin Barker, a white classmate at Jena High School. His
case and those of the other defendants — now known as the "Jena Six"
— have prompted comparisons to the struggles of people like Rosa
Parks.
What if Justin Barker's beating had been caught on tape? Would Jesse
Jackson and Al Sharpton have been able to make the "freeing" of the
Jena 6 into the 21st-century equivalent of Martin Luther King's
"Letter from a Birmingham Jail"? Not likely.
Last month, thousands of people demonstrated in the streets of the
small town of Jena, La., to decry the supposed disparate treatment
of blacks and whites by high school administrators and law
enforcement. Why should the Jena 6 have been released? Because of
rope nooses hanging from a schoolyard tree months before the
beating, we are told.
Most legal definitions of lynching call it a premeditated assault on
one person by two or more others -- which is exactly what befell
Barker. Yet press reports have described the beating as a
"schoolyard fight."What about the supposed disparate treatment based
on race?
The three noose hangers were isolated in an alternative school for a
month. They were not expelled, but neither were those responsible
for sending Barker to the hospital four months later. Barker was not
one of the noose hangers, so his attackers apparently convicted him
of a separate crime -- walking while white.
That Barker was tough enough to survive the blows, and that he was
so determined to receive a ring signifying his hard work to achieve
his diploma, speaks volumes about his character and strength.
Indeed, Barker has much more in common with "Bloody Sunday" beating
victim John Lewis than do his attackers. His attackers have more in
common with the law enforcement officers who beat Lewis on the
Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Ala., during a civil rights march in
1965.
Sharpton, the Rev. Jesse Jackson and other critics
accused District Attorney Reed Walters, who is white, of prosecuting
blacks more harshly than whites. They note that he did not file
charges against three white teens suspended from the high school
over allegations they hung nooses in a tree on campus not long
before fights between blacks and whites, including the attack on
Barker.
Since the rush of activity leading up to Bell's publicized release
last week, things have "finally quieted down," Bell's family has
said. The number of reporters stopping by each day has waned. The
phone calls have begun to lessen.
The hearing, which started around 9:30 a.m., lasted more than four
hours. Bell was accompanied by his parents — Marcus Jones and
Melissa Bell — and his attorneys. Also on hand were Barker and his
parents — David and Kelli Barker.
Bell and the other five defendants have been charged in connection
with the Dec. 4 attack on Barker that left him unconscious and
bleeding with facial injuries. According to court testimony, he was
repeatedly kicked by a group of students at the high school.
Barker was treated for three hours at a local emergency room and was
able to attend a school function that evening, authorities have
said. Protesters object that the Jena 6 were initially charged with
assault and battery with intent to kill. They argue that Barker's
same-day release from the hospital and attendance at a school ring
ceremony that night ruled out intent to kill.A person can be killed
from being kicked in the head. Being knocked unconscious is evidence
of at least an aggravated assault. The fact that one person is
assaulted by six can also be seen as evidence of intent.
Bell, Robert Bailey Jr., Carwin Jones, Bryant Purvis and Theo Shaw
were all initially charged — as adults — with attempted
second-degree murder and conspiracy to commit the same. A sixth
defendant was charged in the case as a juvenile.
Bell, who was 16 at the time of the incident, was convicted in June
of aggravated second-degree battery and conspiracy to commit that
crime. Walters reduced the charges just before the trial. Since
then, both of those convictions were dismissed and tossed back to
juvenile court, where they now are being tried.
Charges against Bailey, 18, Jones, 19, and Shaw, 18, have been
reduced to aggravated second-degree battery. Purvis, 18, has not yet
been arraigned. Bailey, Jones, Purvis and Shaw must face their
charges in adult court, as they were all 17 or 18 at the time of the
incident.
Last week, state District Judge J.P. Mauffray Jr. set Bell's bond at
$45,000, and Bell was released after spending more than 10 months
behind bars. He was greeted by close to 50 family members and
friends, Sharpton, Martin Luther King III, Bishop T.D. Jakes and
more than 100 members of the media.
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