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Hate Crime or Practical Joke - What Does Hanging a Noose from a Tree Mean Today?

When Will it All End?

By Stephanie Dears, published Sep 28, 2007

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Today as I channel-surfed, I came across the Dr. Phil show. It was about the Jena 6. I had heard about the case and shook my head every time I saw it on the news, asking myself when is it going to end? Not the story itself, but the cause of the story. Hate crimes.

In late 2006, in Jena, Louisiana, Justin Barker and friends hung some nooses from a tree outside their school. Why? Because black students wanted to sit under the tree. Blacks are not allowed to do so. The school said they didn't care; however, some students did care. Mmm. I am having flashbacks of blacks sitting in the back of the bus and not being allowed to drink from white drinking fountains.

In the end, after various altercations among the students, in retaliation for this perceived racist demonstration, Mychal Bell and five others attacked Barker viciously. Barker's mother claims that one more kick would have killed him. She is his mother. She would say that. Though, one must admit the pictures from the hospital after the attack look bad. One must also admit there are other ways of dealing with injustices.

Barker and friends were suspended for hanging the nooses. Supporters say it was just a joke. Even white supremacists would admit that hanging a noose is not done so as a joke. There is serious meaning behind it.

Bell and his friends were arrested and charged as adults. Bell was tried for aggravated second-degree battery, the others released, still awaiting trial. An appeals court overturned Bell's conviction, yet Bell remained in jail until yesterday, September 27, 2007. Apparently, since the conviction was overturned, he can still be tried in juvenile court. (www.nytimes.com) His supporters say the charges were excessive, and he should have been released with the others.

As I watched Dr. Phil, I heard the words I had been asking myself since I first heard this story: Who in this country could possibly believe that hanging a noose is a joke? The answer is no one. A hanging noose is tantamount to a burning cross.

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Takeaways

At a high school in Jena, Louisiana, nooses were hung from a tree by white students.
The white students who hung the nooses were given a suspension.
An angered black student retaliated and was tried as an adult. Jena to retry him as a juvenile.

Did You Know?

There are still places in this country where blatant discrimination against blacks exists.
Because of a previous precedent, double jeopardy may be possible in this case.

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Comments

Comments 1 - 12 of 12

Jimmy Hendrix

Justin Baker was not involved in the noose-hanging incident. This has been reported in the Washington Post, Snopes, The Town Talk of Alexandria, and other media outlets and the D.A. has said he was not involved. Remove the remarks about his so called involvement with the noose incident or else I will forward your remarks to the lawyers for Mr. Barker so they can sue you for slander and libel. and for the record, I think Mr. Bell, who has 4 arrests and at least one prior conviction and company were overcharged.

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Posted on 10/11/2007 at 9:10:00 AM

David E.

I was raised in New England Until age 14 when I moved to Jasper Texas (the city near where James Bird was Killed by 3 white men in the late 90s). The mood of race relations in the 70s ranged from Hate to Aceptance but to me the problem was two groups of people perating from different Cultural and Value Systems most likely pronounce by segregation of the past decades. both sides had little in common to form bridges to reduce the differences and with no constructed help from adults from ether race conflict and violence did erupt on occasion. Things like whites only trees and black only sides of parking lots were more about staking out territory than racial hatred. Hanging nooses in a tree is about intimidation or bullying aimed at the other race this is dishonnorable behavior from teenagers who probably lack the maturity to understand the consequences of there actions. But this was not a hate crime and trying to elevate it to one will not solve anything but only devalue other hate crimes

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Posted on 10/10/2007 at 9:10:00 PM

Michael Walsh

Excuse me, Stephanie Dears, but where did you get the information that says Justin Barker was disciplined for hanging the nooses? The media certainly IMPLIES that Barker was involved with the noose incident. But yours is the first article I've seen anywhere that comes right out and says this. Could you possibly be spreading a myth that isn't true? Because one of the strongest points made by conservative commentators on this issue is that Barker isn't even one of the boys who hung the nooses. They name court documents as their information source. Could you please name your sources?

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Posted on 10/03/2007 at 11:10:00 PM

Alyce Rocco

Stephanie: I did not write the law and I am happy that the case got the people involved, so that better lawyer's could be hired. If we, the people, had not involved ourselves in the case, Mychall Bell would have been given, at least, the minimum sentence of "22 years in jail" for a crime he may or may not have committed. First the new lawyer had to prove that the charges levied were unlawfull, in a court with a biased (and corrupt?) Judge.

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Posted on 10/01/2007 at 10:10:00 AM

Andrea Edwards

I saw that story, hanging nooses is a hate crime, it is not a joke, and anyone who does that needs to be brought to trial.

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Posted on 09/30/2007 at 2:09:00 AM

Stephanie Dears

Alyce, there's a difference between having a mistrial because of a hung jury and being retried and being tried AND convicted as an adult, then as a juvenile. The conviction was overturned. It's bad enough that if he was tried at a state level, he can be tried again in federal court. That's BS. It is even more BS that since it was overturned because he should have been tried as a juvenile that the city is saying, oops, well, since this trial can't fly, we'll go back and do what we should have done in the first place. It should be, they blew it, they don't get a second chance.

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Posted on 09/29/2007 at 10:09:00 PM

Alyce Rocco

An African/American war vet, retired Jena High teacher said he does not think the youth understand the seriousness of nooses. The 50 something Jena High libarian said she did not even know what the nooses meant. Never read a Western or watched a Cowboy show? Never heard of the KKK and lynchings? The good news is the students are "debating" the incident and perhaps some education will have the kids understand it all.

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Posted on 09/29/2007 at 9:09:00 PM

Alyce Rocco

Even DA Walters publically announced that Bell "blind-sided" Barker. I did not personally see the signed witness statements and no longer trust the reliablity of online sources; but if what I read was true; Bell was not the person who knocked Barker out with one punch. People can be tried more than once for the same crime. A hung-jury (can not come to agreement and give a verdict) will have the case thrown out and re-tried. Because Bell was tried improperly as an adult, he can be tried, correctly as a Juvenille.

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Posted on 09/29/2007 at 9:09:00 PM

Alyce Rocco

"Who?" It seems just about every white person and a handfull of black people do not get that there was nothing funny about it. I do have a problem with repeating "6 kids" because it has yet to be proved in court if any or all of those kids were involved. "A black kid with a green jacket"? The coach that witnessed the incident was not called to Bell's trial. Media keeps forgetting to use words like accussed of or alleged to have...

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Posted on 09/29/2007 at 9:09:00 PM

Coreen Carlin Gonzalez

This is absolutely outrageous how in the world can a Mychal Bell get a fair trial with a all white jury, Justice should neither be black or white but we need to pray for these young people and especially for Mychal Bell, the first one to be tried. I'am a proud grandmother of one hispanic grandson and two bi-racial grandsons and one precious bi-racial baby girl who i would die for I can't believe people are so ignorant God Love's all his children hatred is contegious, Stop the ignorance and wake up! It just hurt so much to try to explain to my precious grandchildren that people don't aren't born with bigotry. Violence is never a solution to any problem but let's be fair with sentencing. I will pray that his verdict will be overturned and a big lesson is to be learned from the jena six, racism is alive and well so let's not let our guard down and be vigilant. I hope monday's program on Dr. Phil will bring to light the injustice of today.

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Posted on 09/29/2007 at 7:09:00 PM

Irene L

I agree..it's sad to think we still have this type of prejudice after all these years...growing up in the 60's as a kid, I didn't understand it then either...When I heard this story on the news, I just cringed..

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Posted on 09/29/2007 at 5:09:00 PM

Kelly Keltner

"Who in this country could possibly believe that hanging a noose is a joke? " - Quite frankly put, the same sort of people who thought it was okay to use a noose back in the 1800s. However, and I expect some would disagree with me here, the parents need to take some responsibility for this. Hate starts at home and while there's some possibility that some of the kids were acting in accordance with their peers, someone's parents had to instill that hatred in their kids for this to have even been an idea in their mind. I agree that when kids get together and there's one bad idea, it seems to infect the whole lot like a rabid infection but the fact that this tree was still considered a "whites only" tree suggests that there are a lot of adults living in this community with some really ignorant ideas.

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