If anyone believes that racism in the United States is a thing of the past, they should watch this documentary.
Jena (pronounced "GEE-NA") is a small town in Louisiana, with a population of about 3,000. Towards the end of 2006, it started to make news: A group of six black teenage males were charged with attempted murder. Their crime: they had beaten up a white teenage male. He was treated at the local hospital and released shortly thereafter.
While it is obvious that they should not have done this, the serious charge brought forth by the DA (with a possible penalty of 20 years in jail) was excessive.
For months leading up to this assault there had been numerous instances of racial tension in Jena. The high school playground was unofficially divided into white and black zones. When some black students began hanging around the 'white area', they felt snubbed. Then they started noticing that nooses were left hanging in the large tree of the 'white area'. A complaint to the school administration went nowhere. The nooses were dismissed as prank. They are only kids, after all...
On another occasion, a young white man threatened some black men, pointing a shotgun at them. The black men got the weapon away from him. The police noted this incident as a 'theft', since the blacks had taken the white man's property (his shotgun) away from him.
Racial tensions in the town continued. The main building of the high school was destroyed by arson. Finally, when the six black teens beat up the white teen, the DA seemingly decided to 'get tough' and show everyone that 'enough is enough'. The families of the six teens were terrified of what would happen.
As the trial started, the whole town was in an uproar. Protesters came from far and wide to show support for the 'Jena 6'. There were large civil rights demonstrations not seen in the South since the 1960's.
In spite of these events, there was little coverage of this story in the mainstream media for several months. Fortunately, other news providers (bloggers, the alternative press, and also the BBC in Britain) covered the story. People around the United States gradually learned about the miscarriage of justice for the 'Jena 6'. Some political organizations circulated online petitions to raise money for a proper legal defense...
This documentary is about one hour long. It was made in 2007, just as everything was happening. It does not report that the charges were ultimately reduced to aggravated second-degree battery.
This charge sounds more like what it should have been all along. There is no doubt that this would have been the charge if six white teens had assaulted a black teen (if indeed they would have been charged at all.)
Jena (pronounced "GEE-NA") is a small town in Louisiana, with a population of about 3,000. Towards the end of 2006, it started to make news: A group of six black teenage males were charged with attempted murder. Their crime: they had beaten up a white teenage male. He was treated at the local hospital and released shortly thereafter.
While it is obvious that they should not have done this, the serious charge brought forth by the DA (with a possible penalty of 20 years in jail) was excessive.
For months leading up to this assault there had been numerous instances of racial tension in Jena. The high school playground was unofficially divided into white and black zones. When some black students began hanging around the 'white area', they felt snubbed. Then they started noticing that nooses were left hanging in the large tree of the 'white area'. A complaint to the school administration went nowhere. The nooses were dismissed as prank. They are only kids, after all...
On another occasion, a young white man threatened some black men, pointing a shotgun at them. The black men got the weapon away from him. The police noted this incident as a 'theft', since the blacks had taken the white man's property (his shotgun) away from him.
Racial tensions in the town continued. The main building of the high school was destroyed by arson. Finally, when the six black teens beat up the white teen, the DA seemingly decided to 'get tough' and show everyone that 'enough is enough'. The families of the six teens were terrified of what would happen.
As the trial started, the whole town was in an uproar. Protesters came from far and wide to show support for the 'Jena 6'. There were large civil rights demonstrations not seen in the South since the 1960's.
In spite of these events, there was little coverage of this story in the mainstream media for several months. Fortunately, other news providers (bloggers, the alternative press, and also the BBC in Britain) covered the story. People around the United States gradually learned about the miscarriage of justice for the 'Jena 6'. Some political organizations circulated online petitions to raise money for a proper legal defense...
This documentary is about one hour long. It was made in 2007, just as everything was happening. It does not report that the charges were ultimately reduced to aggravated second-degree battery.
This charge sounds more like what it should have been all along. There is no doubt that this would have been the charge if six white teens had assaulted a black teen (if indeed they would have been charged at all.)
