On the day of the march, CNN aired an interview with Tina Jones, mother of Jena 6 defendent Bryant Purvis(and aunt of defendent Carwin Jones), says her son wasn't even in the fight. I watched this interview from a bar in Alexandria Louisiana where all the marchers who didn't go straight home went to decelerate after leaving Jena.
http://beta.cnn.com/video/#/video/bestoftv/2007/09/04/collins.jena.six.trials.cnn
Purvis wasn't even arrested on the spot after the fight, because he wasn't on the spot. He wasn't arrested until the next day. He wasn't at the fight, but he was one of the leaders of the silent protest under the tree where the nooses were hung; in response to the noose hangers getting the light punishment of in-school suspension. The protest that lead D.A. Walters to comeout to the school and threaten the Black students that if they didn't knock it off and stop making trouble, that he would "end your lives with the stroke of my pen".
Hmmm, not at the fight and not arrested, but was one of the leaders of the protest where he was threatened to have his life ended.
Rober Bailey, Jr told CNN that by the time he arrived at the fight, students and coaches had broken it up.
"When a fight breaks out, all the kids just run to see a fight. That's just how it was," he said. "You really couldn't see nothing. So when I'm running to see what's going on, I got down there to the fight, it was over."
Anybody who's been in high school at least during my life time (I'm 29), knows this good and well. I went to Junior High and High School in Bossier Louisiana, and anytime there was a fight there was a big croud around it, because everyone would run to see what was happening.
Other so-called facts taken for grant by those who have no interest in actually investigating the claims, nor an interest in dealing with the issue of the obvious racially intimidating environment that was fostered in Jena for months leading up to the fight:
1. Just becasue the big white man at the district attorney's office with the pen says that Justin Barker was attacked from behind for no reason, doesn't make it so. Where's the evidence of this? Many students have claimed that he was slanging racial insults while taunting the black kid that had been beat by whites and hit with beer bottles. (by the way, only one white person was charged in that attack and offered probation; not 80 years in prison)
As noted here, the story of a no reason attack makes no sense; and to believe that, you first have to believe that these boys are just natural born black savages who picked out a totally innocent white boy at random, to beat him up for kicks.
2. Just becasue D.A. Walter and U.S. Attorney Donald Washington claim that the nooses hangings had nothing to do with the fight, doesn't make it so. That's his opinion, and a self serving one for both, because neither of them did anything about that threat; which started the build up of tension that lead to the school fight. In Washington case, even thought the FBI investigated and recommended it the noose hangings be prosecuted as a hate crime; which Washington refuses to do just because the noose hangers don't have a prior record.
3. Further, Justin Barker was doing this taunting with one of the noose hangers. How do we know, because, besides the students who were there saying so; he testified in court against Mychael Bell as a witness to the fight.
There are other points that I may add as I think of them
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Check evangelicaloutpost.com to read all the witness statements, BArker's medical records, etc. I have a source in Jena who went to the courthouse and got them for me - we scanned them, took out personal info, created transcripts, etc. and gave them to Joe to post because he can handle the traffic and I can't. That way, you don't have to rely on the media's version of what happened.
To better understand the Jena Six incidents, you should read the timeline posted near the bottom of the page at www.thejenatimes.net/home_page_graphics/home.html Next read the police reports and witness statements posted at evangelicaloutpost.com
Jena High School students, teachers and administrators say that students of both races congregated beneath the tree and that the tree was never officially or unofficially reserved for white students. According to the Jena Times, the black student who requested permission at an assembly posed the question in jest. The paragraph below is taken from the Jena Times chronology of events:
"August 30, 2006: During a Wednesday assembly of all males at Jena High School, many items were discussed concerning rules and policies of the school for the new school year. Such items included dress codes, etc. Near the end of the assembly, one black student jokingly asked Assistant Principal Gawen Brugess if black students were permitted to sit underneath
the tree in the center of the square located in the center of the campus. The question evoked laughter from everyone at the meeting, including the
black students, with Burgess responding, "Don't even go there. You know you can sit anywhere you want." Burgess and the rest of the students knew the remark was made to gain laughter as a joke, not as a serous question. A couple more jokes were also made (not about the tree) before the lighthearted assembly was dismissed."
The three white students contend they were merely taking the joke made at the assembly one step farther.
Jena High School administrators, teachers and students also say there was never a protest beneath the tree following the noose-hanging incident.
Jena High School students and teachers say that Walters addressed his warning to all students. Jena supports have lifted the "stroke of my pen" from an address that, in total, is a non-threatening, conciliatory speech.
Following the beating incident, the Justice Department reopened its
investigation into the noose-hanging incident and determined there was nolink between the nooses and the attack on Justin Barker at Jena High School.
U.S. Attorney Donald Washington told CNN that, "A lot of things happened between the noose hanging and the fight occurring, and we have arrived at the conclusion that the fight itself had no connection." He added that none
of the black students involved in the beating made "any mention of nooses, of trees, of the 'N' word or any other word of racial hate." According to CNN, federal official also examined the way the school handled the infractions and whether black students were being treated differently than white students. Washington told CNN that they discovered "it was not unusual
for the school superintendent to reinstate students after the principal recommends expelling them." Washington also told CNN that the 16-year-old defendant, Mychal Bell, has "several previous assault charges on his
record."
The CNN story ("U.S. Attorney: Nooses, Beating at Jen High Not Related") is
online at http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/law/09/19/jena.six.link/index.html
As Washington pointed out, the investigation determined that Barker did not taunt the black students with racial slurs. In other words, he "clears" the victim of any offense. The next logical state would be for the Justice Department to investigage the possiblity of filing hate crime charges against the prepretrators, but no one expects this to happen.
The original news out of Jena said they the black students who attacked Barker were angry
because they overheard Barker discussing a fight at the private party. The fight at the private party did not involve white students or white kids,
it involved some members of the Jena Six and white adults. Both blacks and whites were invited to the private party at the Jena Fair Barn. Trouble started when a group of uninvited black youths, including Robert Bailey, attempted to crash the party. When one of the hosts, a white woman, asked
them to leave, they refused. Rather than calling police to eject the party crashers, a 22-year-old white male named Justin Sloan confronted the party
crashers and hit Robert Bailey. Sloan was charged with battery. He pled guilty to the charge and was granted parole because it was his first offense. To date, he is the only person sentence in connection with any of the Jena incidents/
The Jena Police Department and prosecutor's office have repeatedly refuted allegations Sloan hit Bailey with a beer bottle are false or that the fight
involved gangs of white kids are false. These allegations began appearing in blogs only after the Jena incidents drew national attention. In his police
statement, Bailey says merely that Sloan and Matt Windham, a 21-year-old male, hit him. To date, Sloan is the only person convicted and sentenced in connection with the Jena Six incidents. It is unclear why Windham wasn't charged. It might be becvause he did not hit Bailey.
The shotgun incident at the convenience store involved Windham, Robert Bailey and two other black students. The black students say that Windham approached them with a shotgun as they stood in front of the store and threaten to shoot them. They claim to have wrestled the shotgun away from him. Windham says the black students recognized him as he was about to enter the store
and that Bailey yelled out, "Hey, we got action!" Windham alleges that the three chased him to his truck in the parking lot, where he drew an unloaded shotgun from the back seat in an attempt to defend himself. He alleges the black students wrestled the empty shotgun away from him, beat him up and left with the shotgun. Witnesses, including the store employees who called police and a customer who was filling her car with gasoline supported
Windham's version of the altercation. Windham was treated for injuries at a local hospital and released. Police arrested the black students and charged
them aggravated robbery and theft of a firearm.
Three circumstances elevate charges of simple battery to aggravate battery: (1) a deadly weapon is used, (2) serious bodily injury is inflicted, and (3)
the victim is vulnerable, defenseless or helpless. Sloan was charged with simple battery rather than aggravated battery because he did not use a weapon, and no serious injures were inflicted (Bailey did not require medical attention). The Jena Six have been charged with aggravated battery
because serious injuries were inflicted (Barker required medical treatment and his medical expenses are estimated at $14,000) and because the attack continued after Bailey lay helpless and unconscious on the ground.
(Remember, the police documents relevant to the Jena Six incidents, including police
statements made by alleged victims, alleged assailants and witnesses to the
events, are posted near the bottom of the page at
http://www.evangelicaloutpost.com/http. The site includes the medical report on Barker's injuries.)
The local prosecutor said he didn't prosecute the students accused of hanging the nooses because he could find no applicable Louisiana law to
charge them under. This does not indicate of unequal treatment. Walters also filed no hate crime charges against the Jena Six for the beating of Justin Barker. Louisiana has no applicable hate crime laws
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