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Racial tensions in US school
25/06/2007 22:25 - (SA)
Louisiana - Five black students are facing attempted second-degree murder charges for beating a white student, the climax of months of racial tension that included nooses hanging from a tree in a school courtyard.
Supporters of the teens say the charges are excessive. Two of the teens go on trial on Monday.
Last August, a black student at Jena High School, Kenneth Purvis, was told by the school principal he could sit in the school courtyard under a tree traditionally used by white students.
The next morning, three nooses were hanging in the tree.
"It meant a lynching," said Caseptla Bailey, the mother of one of the five students charged. "Everyone knew what it meant."
The principal recommended expulsion for the three students who hung the nooses, but they served a suspension instead.
"That just set all the black kids off," said John Jenkins, father of another accused student, Carwin Jones. "Wasn't that a hate crime? If anyone was going to be charged, shouldn't they have been?"
The racial tension led to a series of fights between white and black students, Bailey and Jenkins said.
A 'racist' town
On December 4, Justin Barker, who is white, was attacked at school by a small group of black students.
The five students, plus a juvenile whose name and charges have not been made public because of his age, have been called the "Jena Six".
District attorney Walter Reed and school officials did not return calls for comment. Jena, a town of 2 900, has about 350 black residents.
"This is a good town to live in for things like no crime, it being peaceful," Bailey said. "But it's very racist and they don't even try to hide it. It's like, stay in your place or else."
The two facing trial this week are Theodore Shaw and Mychale Bell. Both have been jailed since their arrests, unable to make $90 000 bond.
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