The Jena Six: Racism in the South is Alive and Well

An important story is being stoked and stirred in the South these days about a group called "The Jena Six" . If you have not been keeping up with the story, its from a high school in Jena, Louisiana, a small town of about four thousand. A negro boy sat under a tree at Jena high school called the "white's only tree".

After he left, three nooses were hung from this so called "white's only tree". The high school is a predominately caucasian school. The Jena Six are a group of negro students who have now been charged with attempted murder of a caucasian student who was taunting them after things started getting "out of hand".

Those three nooses were put up under the "white's only tree" by a few boys from the high school. The boys were caught and were suspended for a few days. Soon, fights started breaking out at school, and things exploded from that point on. What is amazing is that the negro boy had actually asked permission from the school to sit under that "white's only tree" !

The boys in the Jena Six group were given sentences, some very severe. They boys' ages range from fifteen to seventeen. One boy received twenty two years as a jail sentence, given to him by an all caucasian jury. Their story did not receive much national attention for one reason or the other.

As a reult of all this, web sites have been set up with petitions saying "Free the Jena Six !". The town librarian says that Jena has no problem with racism. She is reportedly caucasian. She stated that she does not know what the nooses were supposed to mean. Eighty five per cent of the small town of Jena is caucasian.

The high school was nearly burnt down from all this activity. The main academic building was burnt in what remained as an unsolved fire.

Town officials later did the right thing when they cut down the "white's only tree". It was a step in the right direction, if only an external sign that peace is wanted. But the tree of justice needs to grow in the place of that old "white's only tree".