Background
Jena, LA is about 160 miles southeast of Shreveport and 220 miles northwest of New Orleans in central Louisiana. It was named for a German town; it is about 86 percent white and 12 percent black with per capital income of $13,761. Population: about 2,500.
In 1991, Jena voted overwhelmingly in support of former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke in his unsuccessful bid for governor.
For background on the Jena Six controversy, see Being Black and Male In The American South.
The cast of characters:
- Student, Robert Bailey Jr., 17
- Student Justin Barker, 17
- Student Mychal Bell, 16
- Student Carwin Jones, 18
- Student Bryant Purvis, 17
- Student Ryan Simmons, 17
- Student Theo Shaw, 17
- Student Jessie Ray Beard, 14
- LaSalle Parish Schools Superintendent Roy D. Breithaupt
- LaSalle Parish District Attorney Reed Walters
The Timeline
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31 Aug 2006 |
A black student, Kenneth Purvis, a junior, asks, at a public assembly, if he can sit under an oak tree in the campus courtyard. The tree had reportedly been planted by white and blacks as a "unity" tree. An administrator tells him he can sit anywhere. He and friends later sit with white friends under the tree.
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1 Sept 2006 |
Two or three nooses hang from the tree, a reminder of the Jim Crow South and the KKK. (News reports are inconsistent; some Lousiana papers say three, some say two.) No police report was filed. A teacher reportedly cut down the ropes.
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7 Sept 2006 |
The principal recommends expelling the three white students responsible for hanging the nooses.
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8 Sept 2006 |
Recommendation for expulsion overruled by the LaSalle Parish School Board according to Schools Superintendent Roy D. Breithaupt.
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11 Sept 2006 |
The School Board met for 10 minutes; it did not discuss the 1 September noose incident.
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18 Sept 2006 |
The School Board met took a five-minute complaint from one Jena High School parent but took no action -- and had no discussion -- on the noose incident. The parent complained that the three students were not expelled. "We want our young people to really be equal and not have to be reminded of the wrong things that were done to our race in the past." (The Town Talk)
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Sept/Oct 2006 |
The white students are reportedly suspended for three days with a two-week in-school suspension and some Saturday detentions. (Details are not part of the public record.)
Black students organize a sit-in under the tree in protest; reportedly the school was then placed on lockdown for a week.
At a September student assembly, District Attorney Walters told students: "I can be your best friend or your worst enemy. With a stroke of my pen, I can make your lives disappear." He reportedly lifted a fountain pen to make his point. (Shreveport Times)
Some reports indicate that in the general assembly the white kids sit on one side and the black kids on the other ... and that the DA was looking at the black kids when he spoke.
The FBI said the noose incident looked like a hate crime. The US Attorney did not "press federal charges because the case didn't meet federal criteria. The students were under 18 and had no prior records, and no group such as a Ku Klux Klan was found to be behind their actions." (CNN)
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30 Nov 2006 |
The main academic building of Jena High School burns to the ground: arson. The crime remains still unresolved.
Later that night, Bailey and some friends try to attend a party at the Fair Barn in Jena. He was attacked and struck with beer bottles; "one of the students was later charged with simple battery and given probation." (Shreveport Times)
Some reports indicate that Bailey had been invited to the party.
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2 Dec 2006 |
Bailey goes to the Gotta Go convenience store with some friends. One of the white students who beat him up is at the store. After a confrontation, the white student pulls a shotgun from his truck. Three black students take the shotgun away from him and take it to the police department, reporting the incident. Bailey is later arrested for theft. The white student is not charged.
At least two reports say this was a sawed-off shotgun. This means the barrel has been shortened, usually with a hacksaw, making it easier to conceal the weapon and creating a wider shot pattern. They are legal in Louisiana but must be registered.
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4 Dec 2006 |
First day of school after the fire. Barker reportedly taunted Bailey about getting beaten up at the party. Reportedly, Barker is confronted by a group of black students and is knocked out with one punch. Barker hit his head on concrete when he fell. Some witnesses say black students kicked him while he was down. Barker was treated and released at the hospital. He attended a social for seniors that evening.
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5 Dec 2006 |
The School declares a state of emergency. Four students are arrested in conjunction with the 4 Dec fight -- Carwin Jones, 18; Robert Bailey Jr., and Theo Shaw, 17; and Jesse Ray Beard, 14.
Ryan Simmons, 17, Bailey and Shaw are also charged in connection with the 2 Dec incident: theft of a firearm, second-degree robbery and disturbing the peace. Also arrested: Justin Sloan, 22, in connection with the November 30 fight.
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7 Dec 2006 |
Six students are charged with second-degree murder and conspiracy to commit second-degree murder. The other two are Bryant Purvis, 17, and Mychal Bell, 16. All six are expelled from school (date of expulsion unknown).
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15 Dec 2006 |
The LaSalle Parish District Attorney's Office announces that Bell will be charged as an adult. Bail is set at $90,000. Bail for the other students ranges from $70,000 to $138,000.
Under Louisiana law, anyone who is 15 must be tried as an adult if the charge is attempted murder. However, the charge of battery -- which this was subsequently reduced to -- is not the "adult charge" list.
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Next:
Events of 2007 and
Sources
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