I would hazard a guess there was racial bias operating in the Jena legal system at the time. I cannot say for certain because disentangling the facts from the propaganda is no easy task.

But the principle, in accordance with your previous post, is that the Constitutional rights of the Jena 6 were abrogated by virtue of their race.

If you are going to make that claim, then the details matter. The nature of an attack and the severity of injuries suffered make a difference as to whether an attack is treated as a felony or a misdemeanor. Do you think that shouldn't be the case?

The only legal contention, then, is whether a shoe can be considered a weapon. That's an unorthodox position, but not one without precedent. One can attend greater damage to a victim with shoes than without. The alternative is to regard all stomping attacks that do not result in death as a misdemeanor.

Can you assert (with a straight face) that you believe that there was no
racial bias operating in the Jena legal system at the time?

The principle is that it is wrong to insist that justice be enforced
against black offenders while not equally insisting that justice be
given to black victims. Such a position of focusing on this one act in
isolation of its context does not well serve the cause of “justice for
all”.

A kneejerk answer might be “yes”, but be carefull — remember the defense “unusual punishment”. Constitutionally, if a law is not regularly (evenly) enforced, and becomes a means by which authorities can discrimate against some group of people, then it ceases to become a law. This is quite proper. It is the foundation of what “rule of law” means. If a law is to mean anything, than it MUST be enforced non-discrimatorially. I'm talking Constitution here.

So I am not convinced that the Jena attackers were guilty of a felony. In the earlier altercation when whites beat up one of the Jena 6, the whites were not charged with felonies. This casts doubt on the Jena 6 guilt on constitutional grounds.

That is what this case is about: Justice for all.
It never was about the actions of the Jena-6 in a vacuum.

I don't care who hung which racial epithet, assault is assault. Anyone capable of assault over a racial epithet (no matter how onerous) is someone I'm going to keep an eye on, black or white.

That kid was racist, though.

The Jena 6 were originally charged with attempted murder and conspiracy, the theory being that their tennis shoes constituted weapons. Justin Barker was assaulted at Jena High School on December 4th 2006. It is difficult to assess from witness statements who was responsible or exactly what happened. It is also difficult to assess the severity of Mr. Barker's injuries. His face was badly bruised and one of his eyes was swollen shut. He looked like a boxer after a tough ten-round match. These symptoms caused no lasting damage. The medical expenses related to this case are approximately $4,000, although that too is difficult to pinpoint because Justin had some pre-existing conditions.

When I first learned of the Jena case I did some quick research and discovered that if the defendants were convicted of attempted murder and conspiracy they would do a minimum of twenty-five years without parole.

The prosecution insisted that the assault on Justin Barker was completely unrelated to a series of increasingly violent altercations involving black football players (the Jena 6) and the circle of white male students responsible for hanging the nooses in September of 2006. I thought this was a ludicrous claim. Robert Bailey, one of the Jena 6 defendants, had been assaulted at a dance a few nights before the school incident and had been threatened with an automatic weapon the following morning. Arsonists had set fire to the main academic building at the high school the day before Bailey was attacked–an event that put the entire community on edge (the fire is rarely mentioned in media accounts). But the two groups of boys had been clashing throughout the fall semester. The antagonism began with the noose incident in September and intensified after local officials decided to treat the noose hangers as innocent pranksters who didn't grasp the racial implications of their rash act. Black students protested at the high school, the campus was placed on lockdown, and the DA was brought in to tamp down the turmoil by threatening to end the lives of the protesters with a stroke of his pen. This forced the two groups to take their beef to the streets.

My account has been challenged by local apologists for the DA, and an account written by the editor of the local paper was reprinted in the Christian Science Monitor (an editorial decision I'm sure they wish they could revisit). Later investigations sponsored by defense counsel thoroughly validated my account, a fact that would have surfaced had any of these cases gone to trial.

I should also mention that, in the wake of the massive rally on September 20th 2007, a religious revival swept through the churches of Jena producing a measure of reconciliation between black and white residents. Jena is an overwhelmingly Baptist community and this was a natural way for the community to deal with their deep issues. Some may argue that getting fired up for Jesus isn't an adequate response, but it is an excellent starting point. The revival hasn't received any media attention but it suggests that the folks in Jena are trying to respond to the challenges before them the best way they know how.

That was after a well-researched article in Atlantic Monthly (http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200801/jena6) revealed that the Jena 6 were a bunch of bullies and troublemakers with a history of arrests. Just a few months later in February 2008, Bryant Purvis, one of the Jena 6, was arrested for assault in Carrollton, Texas, where he had relocated. Turns out he felt it necessary to resolve a disagreement by slamming a kid's head against a bench.

There are racial injustices committed every day in this country that go unreported. It's sad to see Sojourners follow the media pack every time with no independent questioning. The Jena 6 were not latter day Emmett Tills. They were punks.

And therein lies the problem. As Atlantic Monthly reports, there were indeed simmering racial problems in Jena. But when the activist Left, abetted by groups like Sojourners, in a kneejerk way, made the Jena 6 national symbols of American racism, the inconvenient facts ultimately obscured the moral message. To persist that the Jena 6 prosecution was an issue of prejudice or racism discredits your publication and works against the very goals you wish to achieve.

Jeff

Alan Bean