As the trial of a black student accused of beating his white classmate is underway, University students expressed contempt for the circumstances surrounding the racially-charged events.
Mychal Bell is the first of six black students from Jena High School to go on trial for allegedly beating a white classmate after a semester of racial tensions stirred violence within the small community.
According to the Associated Press, controversy this past August arose at the start of the school year when a black student sat under a tree on school property that is considered by students as a white area to congregate. The next day three nooses hung from the same tree to intimidate the black students, reports said.
When the Jena High School principal recommended the white students responsible for the nooses be expelled, Jena’s school superintendent Roy Breithaupt reduced their punishment to a three-day suspension from school.
Breithaupt said he was dismissing their actions as a mere adolescent prank, angering much of the black community who felt harsher punishments were necessary, according to the AP.
Then in November, a young white man allegedly threatened three black students with a shotgun in a convenience store. The man who allegedly pulled the gun was not charged with any crime.
As racial tensions continued to mount, a black student was beaten by a white classmate for attending an all-white, off-campus party. The white attacker was charged with simple battery.
Finally in December a group of six black students allegedly jumped and beat a white student who was associated with the noose prank and had been jeering at the black students. The white student, although reportedly knocked unconscious, was seen in public later the same night.
All six black students were not only expelled from Jena High School, but also charged with attempted second-degree murder and conspiracy to commit second-degree murder, which combine to carry a maximum sentence of 80 years in prison if convicted.
LaSalle Parish District Attorney Reed Walters reduced Bell’s charges Monday to aggravated second-degree battery and conspiracy to commit aggravated second-degree battery. The combined charges carry a sentence of up to 22 1/2 years in prison if convicted. It is unclear if prosecutors will reduce the charges of the remaining defendants.
Further compounding the racial difficulties of the case is the jury selection that took place earlier this week. According to the AP, because of the low number of blacks in Jena – about 350 out of 2,900 residents – the six-person jury is entirely made up of white adults. Blacks were not present in the jury pool. Blacks represent 12 percent of the population, and whites account for nearly 85 percent in Jena.
Katlin Crooks, geography junior and a 2005 graduate of Jena High School, said racial difficulties have always been present at the high school.
“There has always been a little tension between whites and blacks,” Crooks said. “We have [at Jena High School] what we call the square, which is basically a big grassy area in the middle of our school. It was always blacks on one side and whites on the other.”
Crooks said she thinks the reduced punishment did not fit the alleged crime.
“I think they should have been expelled,” Crooks said. “If I was black, I would really take that [display of nooses] to heart and I would want to make it a harsher punishment.”
Crooks said while she thinks the charges facing the black students are extreme, they must still suffer the consequences of their actions.
“The [attempted second-degree murder and conspiracy to commit second-degree murder] charges went a little too far, but I think they do need to pay for their actions.”
As a Jena resident, Crooks said she feels the court’s findings will be fair and that the people of her hometown are more objective about the situation that it appears to people outside the town.
“I know a lot of articles I’ve read are making our town – the white community – seem really racist, and that’s not the case at all,” Crooks said. “A lot of people are for both sides. They know … [both sides] should be punished. It is not really that everybody is racist, but there are some [people] that are. A lot of people [here] see both sides of the story. A lot of people are neutral, and a lot of people [here] want to see this thing come to a rest.”
Crooks acknowledged her hometown has its problems.
“I don’t want to say that everybody is a racist, but there are a few [people] that would be, especially in our older white community than in us younger kids,” she said. “I guess it’s because of the way they were brought up.”
Derrick Petit, political science and history senior and member of the University’s Black Student Union, said expelling the students in question would have sent a stronger message of not tolerating racial discrimination at Jena High School.
“If they had been expelled, other students would see how serious it is,” Petit said. “By seeing the superintendent on their side, the superintendent became [the students’] ally, making no limit on what they can do. The superintendent should be investigated for his actions.”
Petit said the original punishment of the students who hung the nooses may have prevented the instances of physical violence.
“If the expulsion and punishment would have been upheld, the black students would have felt equal to the white students, and I believe it wouldn’t have gotten to this point,” Petit said.
According to Westley Bayas, political science senior and a member of the Black Student Union, the school failed to meet the needs of black students by reducing the students’ punishments.
“It’s important for the school to make all students – regardless of race – feel comfortable,” Bayas said. “And in allowing such actions to be punished so weakly, the school failed to do this for black students.” University students said they were confused and appalled by the inconsistency of the charges. “It’s ridiculous that we still have that kind of discrimination in government and society,” said Kelly Guilbau, psychology junior. “[Both the black and white students] beat up another kid and that’s all it comes down to. I mean, the color of skin has nothing to do with how hard you hit someone.”
Joe Brown, civil engineering sophomore, was upset after learning of the noose display.
“It’s one thing for freedom of speech,” Brown said, “But to demonstrate that, it’s out of order.”
Brown said he believes if the two instances are indeed found to be similar, the punishments should be comparable. “They should [get] the same punishment,” Brown said. “I would have made them work together, to do some kind of community service where they were forced to cooperate with each other. Separation makes them still hateful towards each other, where if they’re forced to come together, then it should work out.”
Brown said he hopes the students will be able to seek trial in a more just courtroom.
“I just hope they can at least appeal to a more fair court,” Brown said.
Nyk Robberson, political science sophomore, said he also thinks the all-white jury will unfairly sentence the black students.
“The area is 85 percent white, so, you know, there’s no need to even infer what’s going to happen,” Robberson said. “In the black community, what is [seen as] right is going to be seen as unjust in the white community.”
Logan Duplechin, kinesiology senior, said he thinks discrimination on both sides exists in the case.
“Regardless if it’s black or white,” Duplechin said, “I think it’s really unfortunate that discrimination on any side has to play a part.”
Ronald Bell, mechanical engineering freshman, said the black students will mostly likely be found guilty, in part because of jury selection.
“They pretty much don’t have a chance,” Ronald Bell said. “It doesn’t look good for them.”
He said the controversial actions surrounding the case push civil rights and diversity acceptance movements backwards.
“Hopefully the people of the community come to their senses and realize how this is completely opposite [of the] direction of where we’re trying to go in this world and this is backtracking,” Ronald Bell said. “We need to try to move forward, and they need to get their acts together.”
—Contact Nicholas Persac at [email protected]