Jena High School - Racial Tension

Racial Tension

Racial tensions surfaced in Jena on September 1, 2006, when hangman's nooses were discovered in a tree in the high school's campus after a black student tried to sit with white students at lunch. The principal recommended that the noose-hangers should be expelled. The board of education overruled him, and the three white student perpetrators were isolated in an alternative program. and then received two weeks of in-school suspension. On November 30, 2006 an arson fire destroyed the main academic building at the school. On December 4, 2006 a fight broke out on campus, after which six African-American students, later dubbed the Jena 6, were arrested and charged with attempted second-degree murder. Law enforcement officers told the Alexandria Daily Town Talk they have found no links between the noose incident, the arson fire, and subsequent fights.

The six accused of attempted second-degree murder are black and attacked a white student after a week of intimidation between the two groups, including the one who was assaulted. Intimidation cited includes an off-campus incident in which a white teenager responded to alleged threats by brandishing a gun. Black teenagers allegedly wrestled away the gun, and were then held in custody and charged with theft because they refused to return the gun to its owner. No charges were made against the white teenager for brandishing the firearm.

On June 26, 2007 the first day of trial for Mychal Bell, one of the defendants, the prosecutor agreed to reduce the charges for Bell to aggravated second-degree battery and conspiracy to commit aggravated second-degree battery. Bell was found guilty by the jury, and will face the possibility of up to 22 years in prison when he is sentenced. 150 were summoned, some of which were black citizens, but only 50, none of whom were black, reported for duty. The sentencing was originally scheduled for July 30, but was delayed until September 20, 2007. However, on September 14, 2007, Bell's battery conviction was overturned, as Louisiana's Third Circuit Court of Appeals in Lake Charles ruled that he shouldn't have been tried as an adult. The other five students will be tried at a later date.

The town has gained international notoriety as an example of the alleged "new 'stealth' racism" that allegedly lives on in America with national attention drawn to the events by a National Public Radio prime time story on July 30, 2007.

John Mellencamp also released a song called "Jena" in August 2007, which brought a great deal of attention to the small high school.