2006, Six African-American Youth Brutally

¶ … 2006, six African-American youth brutally assaulted a fellow classmate at Jena High School in Louisiana. The six students, Mychal Bell, Carwin Jones, Jesse Ray Beard, Robert Bailey Jr., Bryant Purvis and Theo Shaw faced serious criminal charges including the most highly contested charge of attempted second-degree murder. Moreover, some of the adolescents were tried as adults. Some charges that were later deemed excessive, such as the attempted murder charges, were dropped. Plea-bargaining reduced the sentences for most of the "Jena 6," as they are known. The Jena 6 case is commonly advocated on the side of the African-Americans who perpetrated the assault.

The case also deserves to be viewed in light of the rights to free expression exercised by white students at Jena High School. Before the Jena 6 incident, racial tensions mounted due to little more than perceived injustices. For example, an African-American student asked to sit under a tree on school property "where white students usually sat." The next day several nooses were hanging from the tree. According to Bello, "Black parents were outraged by the symbolism, recalling the mob lynchings of black men." The parents complained, and the principal probably had to appease them for political purposes. The principal suggested that the students responsible for the nooses be expelled. However, the district superintendent reacted with more sense and overruled the principal. The superintendent gave the students three-day suspensions instead (Bello). After all, no one was hurt. The students simply invoked their constitutional right to free expression. They did not aim any racial slurs at an individual student, let alone beat one up.

However, race is blamed for any number of crimes that may not involve racism at all. For example, an arsonist set fire to Jena High School before the Jena 6 incident. The case has also been linked to racial tensions at Jena (Bello). The accusation that the Jena 6 were unfairly treated by the law also falls apart in light of other crimes that took place in Jena. One white man in Jena pleaded guilty to simple battery for punching a black teenager (Bello). Crime knows no racial boundary. The protection of the First Amendment to the Constitution should also not be contingent on matters related to racial tension.

Reactions to the Jena 6 incident were riotous. African-Americans in Jena and the civil rights activists that supported them cried foul, claiming that the charges brought against the six teenagers were so excessive and racially motivated. The victim was knocked unconscious. Instead of focusing on the victim's pain and suffering, media sources point out that the 17-year-old, Justin Barker, was not even hospitalized after being treated in the emergency room for his injuries. For two and a half years Barker's family suffered emotionally due to the aftermath of the incident but all the media could focus on were the perceived civil rights of his assailants.

Even after the charges were dropped or reduced, defense lawyers still claimed that the district attorney was "overreaching" by charging one suspect with aggravated second-degree battery because no weapon was involved (Witt). One of the African-American student's father claimed that the charges were "ridiculous," (Witt).