“Out of the ground the LORD God made to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food, the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil…but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall die.” Genesis 2: 9, 17 (NRSV)
On Sept. 10, “Blog of the Nation” on the National Public Radio Web site reported that on Thursday, Sept. 20, a court in Jena, LA will sentence a 17-year-old high school football player, Mychal Bell, on an adult conviction of aggravated second-degree battery. The report further states that Bell, a black male, was originally charged with attempted second-degree murder for his part in an assault on a white student at Jena High School, facing up to 15 years in prison.
Bell has been in jail since December of 2006. Black teenage males are often tried as adults in many of the judicial systems throughout the United States, especially when charges of assault are involved. Along with Bell, six other black teenagers have been arrested and charged, four of them as adults. They are now known as the Jena 6.
First reported in the Chicago Tribune on May 20, this case of juvenile justice gone awry began in September 2006. Incoming freshman high school students attended an opening assembly at the school. As part of the description of the campus life, an administrator described a tree on the high school campus as “the tree of knowledge,” relating it to the tree of the knowledge of good and evil found in the Biblical scriptures of Genesis 2. Realizing the tree was on the “white” side of campus, a first-year black male student asked a simple question: “Can I sit under the tree?” The instant response was, “Sit wherever you want.”
The school is predominantly white in an 85 percent white town. The town, with a population of 3,000, has a high school of 460 students of which 85 are black. Undoubtedly, the student already knew about the problem of racism that existed in Jena.
In a mythical colorblind society, it would not matter that this black male freshman high school student would consider sitting under the tree. He should have the same right to the shade provided by the tree as the other students. He should enjoy equal protection under the laws of the La Salle Parish School District, the town of Jena, the State of Louisiana, and the United States like anyone else. But Jena is not the Garden of Eden. So this young boy challenged the myth.
The next day, three nooses were found hanging from the tree. Charges against three white students who were identified as the perpetrators and initially recommended to be expelled because of committing a hate crime were dropped by the district superintendent who stated the act to be only a prank.
Race fights began at the school. A fire of unknown origins destroyed the central wing of the school. A white youth beat up a black youth attending an all-white party. Then, at a convenience store, three black students were confronted by a young white man possessing a shotgun. Finally, six black students beat up a young white male who had been taunting them. The victim was not seriously injured and left the hospital shortly. All six students were expelled from school.
The district attorney, Reed Walters, charged the six black students with attempted second-degree murder as well as other offenses. However, Mychal Bell’s conviction was recently overturned on Friday, September 14, by a state appeals court stating that he should have never been tried as an adult. This minor victory may set the rulings for the other students who have been charged, yet not convicted, of the same or similar offenses. We have yet to see if Walters will drop all charges from the remaining five students and if double jeopardy would apply to Bell.
I implore the SMU community to join the ACLU, community organizations and faith-based groups to support the Jena 6 fight against racism. You can show solidarity by attending a city-wide prayer meeting at the St. Luke Community United Methodist Church on Sept. 19 at 6 p.m. T-shirts will be sold to help the legal defense fund for the Jena 6. You can also attend a march and rally in Jena on Sept. 20. Busses will leave the church at 12:01 a.m. If you can’t attend the march and rally, supporters are asked to wear all black on Sept. 20 in solidarity with the Jena 6.
Let us, as a university community, find a way to stamp out the sin of racism. Remember, Jena is a long way from the Garden of Eden.
About the writer:
D. Anthony Everett is a fourth-year MDIV student at Perkins School of Theology. He can be reached at [email protected].
