by Cedric Mcclester

Created on: September 22, 2007

It's been said, "Justice delayed is justice denied,' which is more than apropos to the situation in Jena, Louisiana relative to the so-called Jena Six.

The Jena Six are a group of six African-American teenagers who are charged with attempted second degree murder after allegedly assaulting a white teenager in Jena, Louisiana, on December 4, 2006. The Reverends Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton, noted civil rights leaders, believe the arrests and the subsequent charges were racially motivated .

Jena is a small town in Louisiana where at Jena High School students of different races rarely sat together. Traditionally, Black students sat on bleachers near the auditorium and white students sat under a large shade tree, euphemistically referred to as the tree of knowledge, or "the white tree," which was located in the center of the school courtyard. During a school assembly on August 31,2006, a Black male freshman student asked permission from the principal to sit in the shade of the "white tree."

According to the recounting of events given by U.S. Attorney Donald Washington, the question was asked in a joking fashion. The principal said the students could sit wherever they pleased. The following morning three nooses were found hanging form the tree. The principal discovered that three white students were responsible and recommended expulsion.

His decision was overruled by the board of education. Superintendent Roy Breithaupt agreed. Subsequently, the punishment was reduced to three days of in-school suspension. Mr. Brethaupt was alleged to have commented, "Adolescents play prank. I don't think it was a threat against anybody." Black residents of Jena claim that the decision served to stoke racial tensions, which lead to subsequent events. Initially the event wasn't reported to the police or the FBI which could have arrested the white students for a hate crime.

The principal called an impromptu assembly where students segregated themselves along racial lines. The Jena Police were in attendance and invited District Attorney Reed Walters who took pains to gear his remarks to the Black students, It should be pointed out that Jena is a mostly white town in central Louisiana, with a population of about 3000, eighty-five percent of which are white.

Mr. Walters continued the intimidation by informing the Black students, "I can be your best friend or your worst enemy. With a stroke of a pen, I can make your lives disappear." Walters was true to his word, when Robert Bailey, a Black

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