This post references information from the Wikipedia Jena 6 page.

     Yesterday, September 20th an estimated 60,000 people rallied in Jena, Louisiana to protest the sentencing of six African American teenagers referred to in the media as the “Jena 6″. The group of young men were accused of various charges from assault to attempted second-degree murder for the beating of Justin Barker, a fellow student who attended Jena High School with them. The beating followed a rash of racially charged incidents that could have been avoided, and I wonder, what else could have possibly gone wrong in Jena? Here are the 10 reasons why the last year at Jena was a complete cluster fuckapalooza*.

*cluster fuckapalooza
military use: a situation where nothing will go right, casualties will occur, evac will not happen, often engineered by the stupid.

- by the urbandictionary

Come on, it was the best phrase I could find.

1. A School Divided by Racism
Before the incidents at Jena, the students at Jena high school segregated each other. Black students sat on bleachers by the auditorium, and the white students sat under a large tree known adequately as the “White Tree”. This is what lead up to the hanging of nooses from the tree after a group of black students sat under it the previous day. I can’t believe someone would do that this day in age. I mean, why try to kill yourself with a noose when your mom’s medicine cabinet is full of vicodin?

2. Hangman. Game or Hate Crime?
Three white students were found responsible for hanging the nooses, and the principle urged their expulsion. The board of education rejected the principle’s recommendation treating the incident as a prank and the student’s punishment was reduced to three days of in-school suspension even though incidents like this may be treated as hate crimes by the F.B.I. Hmmm…I want to congratulate the board of education for knowing exactly how to prevent a problem from happening, by not preventing it at all. Good job people, good job.

3. The Pen is Mightier Than the Protester
An assembly was called at Jena High school after a protest to the reduced punishment of the three boys was broken up by police. LaSalle Parish District Attorney J. Reed Walters was asked to speak to the assembly and ended up threatening the black protesters by telling them that he could, “affect lives with the stroke of a pen” if they didn’t stop making a big deal over an “innocent prank”. I’m not sure about this one Mr. Walters. When did innocent pranks start involving nooses and racism? I guess things have changed since the good ol’ 90’s.

4. Ignorance is Bliss
A few days after the assembly, a group of black students went to the school board in regards to the recent incidents, but were refused to speak to the board because the board believed the problems had been solved. I’m amazed at the incompetence from the people who had a chance to stop this problem from escalating.

5. Fires, barn parties, and shotguns. OH MY!
Incidents at Jena steadily worsened with the school being set on fire, racial fights at the Fair Barn party, and an argument at a convenience store which resulted in a white student pulling a shotgun on Robert Bailey (a black student who had been beaten in the Fair Barn party fight), and several of his friends. Bailey’s friends took the gun and refused to give it back. Bailey ended up being charged with three counts including robbery, while the white student wasn’t charged.

6. Two Wrong Charges Don’t Make a Right One
Shortly after the fight at the incident at the convenient store, 6 black students assaulted and beat Justin Barker on December 4, 2006. Barker, a white student, was supposedly bragging about how Robert Bailey had been beaten days prior at the Fair Barn party. A fight broke out shortly afterward resulting in several of the black students beating Barker by kicking him.

The 6 black students, who were eventually called the, “Jena 6″ were arrested and charged with attempted second-degree murder, which caused protests from black residents who believed the charges were unfair. The charges were later reduced to aggravated second-degree battery which requires the use of a deadly weapon, but what exactly was the deadly weapon?

7. Assault With a Deadly Tennis Shoe?
During the trial of Mychal Bell, one of the Jena 6, District Attorney Walters, argued that the shoes the students used while kicking Barker were deadly weapons and justified the aggravated second-degree battery charge. Does anyone else find this ridiculous? A shoe a deadly weapon? Although, I must say that ninjas can turn even a Kleenex into a deadly weapon, so maybe Walters was right.

8. The All White Jury and Daddy’s Friend
Bell’s trial had an all white jury. Funny thing is though, that this wasn’t the result of poor jury selection. What happened was none of the black citizens called to jury duty showed up so it ended up being all white. On top of that, one of jurors was friends with Barker’s father, which made him biased. I’m telling ya, it doesn’t get better.

9. The Worst Offense Is a Bad Defense
Bell’s public defender, Blane Williams, who is a black man himself, didn’t call a single witness in order to help defend Bell, when eye-witness reports said he may not have even been in the attack. I honestly just want to stop here.

10. Charges Not Reduced
The charges on the other students created a public outcry demanding that they be reduced because the charges didn’t fit the crime they committed, which resulted in a an online petition receiving almost 400,000 signatures and the rally of nearly 60,000 people at Jena in support of the boys.

I think Jena 6 has once again reminded us that racism is quite strong and that justice can nearly be ignored by everyone with the responsibility to fight for it.