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'Jena Six' lawyer jump-starts rousing panel on civil rights at NCCU

24 OCT 2007  •  by Matt Saldaña

A lawyer representing one of Louisiana's Jena Six sparked an impassioned dialogue about civil rights and criminal justice at N.C. Central University last week. State NAACP President the Rev. Dr. William Barber and NCCU law professor Irving Joyner drew parallels from Jena to the cases of two black men from North Carolina who spent years behind bars for crimes that evidence shows they did not commit.

"If it could happen in Wilson, it could happen in Durham. If it could happen in Anson County, it could happen in Durham. Even if it happens in Jena, La., it could happen in Durham. We are inexplicably linked, whether we are here or there," Joyner told an enthusiastic, standing-room-only audience.

Last month, 20,000 protesters—including dozens of Central law students—descended on the tiny town of Jena, La., to protest racial bias in the erstwhile charges of attempted murder against six black teenagers known as the Jena Six. One of those teenagers, Mychal Bell, was convicted in June of aggravated battery and conspiracy for his alleged role in the December 2006 schoolyard beating of a white student suspected of hanging nooses in Jena High School's "White Tree."



Louis Scott, lead attorney for Mychal Bell of the Jena Six, addresses a packed moot courtroom at North Carolina Central University School of Law.
Photo by Matt Saldaña

Louis Scott, Bell's attorney, helped overturn the adult charges against his client, because Bell was 16 at the time of the beating. However, the teen has spent only two weeks out of jail this year. Earlier this month, after he was released on bond, Bell was sent to a juvenile detention center for unrelated probation charges, all but one of which surfaced since his Jena Six arrest in December, according to Scott.

"You can see the viciousness of the local prosecutor [Reed Walters], who has contrived a way to get Mychal Bell back in jail, after Scott was successful in getting his release—and that was due in large part to many of you who went down to Jena, to commemorate everyone who had forgotten about Jena, except for you," Joyner said.

Scott compared Jena's "White Tree"—which bore nooses shortly after a black student asked at a 2006 school assembly if black students could sit under it—to the U.S. Constitution.

"Do we all have the right to share in the same rights and privileges as other Americans? It's as simple as that. It's a 1957 civil rights issue—in 2007," he said.

Barber then told the story of James Johnson, a 21-year-old from Wilson, who was recently released on bail after serving three-and-a-half years awaiting trial for murder. Kenneth Meeks, a convicted murderer, admitted in open court that he falsely accused Johnson of committing the crime as payback for Johnson turning him in to authorities.

"Everyone believed—except for a rogue assistant prosecutor [William Wolfe] in Wilson—that James was innocent of that crime," Barber said.

"The problem is, we have a system, from the White House to the courthouse, that does not know how to repent—which is a theological and a legal term," he added.

On Oct. 9, Durham County Superior Judge Orlando Hudson dismissed all charges against Floyd Brown, a mentally retarded man from Anson County who spent 14 years in prison awaiting trial for murder. Brown's attorneys, Kelley DeAngelous and Mike Klinkosum, attended Thursday's panel.

Solomon Burnette, one of several law students to speak passionately before the panel, called these incidents "pandemic and systemic."

"My blood is boiling with these incidents, and it's been boiling for awhile. These are not isolated incidents," law student Denaro Allen added.

"We're in a position where we can strategically fight. We can fight in the courtroom. We can fight the system and change the system, because that's what our predecessors did," he said.

9 COMMENTS

Your facts are just a bit off.......The fact is there was no 'school yard fight'. Mychal Bell & his friends hit Justin Barker in the back of the head, without warning and continued to hit and kick him while he was unconscious - He never swung a punch. The reason Mychal Bell is still in jail is because when this happened, he was already on probation for 4 previous crimes that he had committed from mid 2005 until his arrest for this attack - 2 for battery and 2 criminal damage to property, as a juvenile -some in his own neighborhood. Obviously juvenile probation is not working for him. If you had done any legitimate investigative reporting, you would have known this fact. This young man is not a saint and these other 5 boys made a bad chose in following him. The truth is Justin Barker had nothing to do with the noose hanging. The 3 boys who were associated with that act (3 months before this attack), were suspended from school and had to attend an alternative school. They had to perform cleaning duty at school and go thru counseling. Fact is the FBI & US Attorney General were called in to investigate whether the noose hanging could be prosecuted as a hate crime - It was their decision and the fact that it did not follow any Louisiana statue to be prosecuted as such. It wasn't just a 'turn and look the other way' decision. They stated it did not warrant criminal charges from either the state or federal government. Because of the actions of these 3 young men, the public assumes the entire town is raciest. You know what they say about assumptions..... Also the tree was cut down to avoid further hurt feelings or discord. The reason this has gotten national attention is the misinformation reported by the media. The people of Jena's belief that they could take care of their own business and not speaking out sooner didn't help matters. Their biggest mistake was in public relations and the fact that when they did speak to reporters, only portions of what they said was put in print. But they knew the truth would eventually come out. I wonder how many of those people would have actually shown up to march if they had known Mychal Bell's criminal history. The Revs Sharpton & Jackson knew, but conveniently left that info out. They saw a photo op and jumped at it. If you are truly interested in the chronological order of events from the local newspaper - The Jena Times, you can go to their website @ www.TheJenaTimes.net. It would be refreshing to see that printed in your newspaper - In Full - No excerpts ! Of course there will be some people who will never believe the actual events because they have already been poisoned with the lies. Also, everyone is reporting the DA of the town is not speaking, but his address to the public on 9/19/07 can be seen on CNN.com at http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/us/2007/09/19/jena.6.da.press.conference.cnn . Now why do you think that has not been televised ? Please take the time to look at both web sites and then make an educated opinion of these events. At least you will know 'the rest of the story'.
by peanut62 • , florida • 25 Oct 2007, 3:15pm • Report this comment
Peanut, As requested, here's a link to The Jena Times' self-described "nearly accurate" time line: http://www.thejenatimes.net/Chronological_Order_of-Events.pdf For discerning readers who don't wish to sift through 20 pages, allow me to excerpt (it's what reporters do-- we're sneaky like that) a few telling moments from "the other side's" reporting. I've added no emphasis or punctuation [except where bracketed], so that the editors' intentions are clear. To use your phrase, our readers can make an "educated opinion" without my commentary. *** August 31, 2006: With so much emphasis on the nooses in the case, LPSB Child Welfare Supervisor Melinda Edwards said it might surprise everyone to learn the three students did not have a knowledge of black history in relation to that [sic] hanging of black citizens in the south during the civil rights movement. The following four days, Sep. 2-5: The event was covered by this area's daily newspaper, which published an article on Wednesday, describing the noose incident as "racial." [...] It should be noted that no law agency, including the FBI, has determined the noose incident to be racial. September 7, 2006: On Thursday, September 7, as the media continued to flame the racial winds, police officers were again at the school as students arrived and stayed throughout the day until they left to go home. August 24, 2007: It was also revealed that Mychal Bell has a violent past as a juvenile, with at least four different violent arrests. September 14, 2007: LaSalle Parish District Attorney J. Reed Walters issued his first public statement on the events of this past year, noting the noose incident did not constitute a federal or state offense, and the attack on December 6, 2006, was exactly that ... and not a "school-yard fight" that has been repeatedly reported in the news media. *** As for your specific critiques of my article, let me address them quickly: -"School-yard fight" was the description I chose to describe the Dec. 6 2006 incident. This isn't a matter of fact or fiction. Your insistence that Justin Parker "never swung a punch," however, is a misleading statement that has no factual basis. -Your statement that "this man is not a saint" is another example of something that is definitely not a fact. I reported the unrelated probationary charges against Bell in my article. -You write, "Because of the actions of these 3 young men, the public assumes the entire town is raciest. You know what they say about assumptions....." Are you assuming I've assumed this? You know what they say...
by Matt Saldana, Indy Staff Writer (msaldana@indyweek.com) • Raleigh • 25 Oct 2007, 5:33pm • Report this comment
I think the point of this article was less a retelling of the facts in contention in Jena and more about the impact on the civil rights discussion *here.* Rev. Dr. Barber, Mr. Scott, and Prof. Joyner all made this much clear: Durham is not so different from Jena that a similar situation could not happen here. What I heard at the meeting was a plea for students, law students particularly, to engage in the civil rights arena by voting, organizing locally, and participating in local government. The radical impact such young adult participation in the community would have is the real story here.
by maverickmaven • Durham • 25 Oct 2007, 9:00pm • Report this comment
dear Matt Saldana As someone who wants a Marshall Plan for the Poor here in America, and as someone who is committed to seeing African Americans thrive, I must point out to you that peanut has won this fight with you. What is it about the beating of this guy, a blind-sided knockout and then an assault of kicks on his body while he was passed out, that you think confers hero status on The Jena Six. They were overcharged, and if they did not do it, they should be free. But your argument is that proactive violence is self-defense. You excuse Mychael Bell's precious arrests on multiple misdemeanors, including some where his victims were back, as if somehow that prior behaviour still makes him a hero. It is sadder than tragedy that we have come so far in America that 50 years ago we were celebrating young black kids who wanted to get an education so badly that they braved hatred and assault to break the color line in Little Rock, and today we Liberals are supposed to celebrate a beating, because "the victim had it coming to him" and "the beating was not that bad--the kid is still alive isn't he?"
by tjproudamerican • , northeast, usa • 26 Oct 2007, 1:36pm • Report this comment
I'd have to say, bringing up the fact that racial slurs may have started the school fight is both relevant and necessary. People would like to think that racism doesn't exist anymore, or that it is not as bad as it used to be. But, it is apparent in the case of the Jena 6 that racism still exists. Racial slurs incite both hatred and violence, and bring about emotions that someone who not is a minority, specifically Black, wouldn't understand. To see a noose hanging in a tree is no laughable "prank." It, along with racial slurs, evoke many extreme emotions, both by the persons who commit the act, and by those who it is directed towards. Racial slurs, if they were in fact used to provoke a school fight, deserved retaliation. The retaliation did not have to be violence, but when you are talking about juveniles who haven't even developed the part of their brain that can comprehend some consequences, it is a possibility that violence will occur. That is why it must be brought out that racial slurs incited this behavior. It is not simply an excuse, but a mitigating fact that the court would want to hear.
by notaknowitall • NC • 26 Oct 2007, 2:34pm • Report this comment
"You excuse Mychael Bell's precious arrests on multiple misdemeanors, including some where his victims were back, as if somehow that prior behaviour still makes him a hero." Mychal Bell's trial is not about whether he is a "hero" or a "saint" (or the opposite, as Peanut implied). Certainly, a defendant's character may be considered in court, but Louis Scott's point was that Reed Walters entered previous, unrelated charges against Bell after he was arrested for the Dec. 2006 beating in order to paint the defendant as violent. This is par the course in the criminal justice system, of course, which is what a lot of the furor over the Jena Six is all about. As you pointed out, a district judge ruled that Bell was overcharged-- determining why exactly that happened, while noose-hangers were not, opens up a dialog on race and civil rights today. Some people think defendants have rights, too, even if they don't conform to a standard of heroic pacifism.
by Matt Saldana, Indy Staff Writer (msaldana@indyweek.com) • Raleigh • 26 Oct 2007, 2:52pm • Report this comment
Matt, I have to say I think you're heading further and further down the wrong road with this argument. You claim that "Reed Walters entered previous, unrelated charges against Bell after he was arrested for the Dec. 2006 beating in order to paint the defendant as violent." Well, just to be clear these charges were for violent crimes that Bell committed. That being the case, I think that they are related since they show a history. I would also say that Bell's previous actions go much further towards "painting the defendant as violent" than anything the DA is doing. You seem to want to know why Bell was overcharged and the noose-hangers were not. First off, I don't think anyone should be overcharged, even noose-hangers. In addition, regardless of whether the student assaulted in this case "threw a punch" (I've seen no evidence that he did but its irrelevant), this was a violent 6 on 1 attack which continued to beat and kick the young man on the ground into unconciousness. And the "overcharge" was that the one 16 year old involved in the attack was charged as an adult just like the 17 and 18 year olds. Looking at the facts of the case, the decision of whether to try Bell as an adult would seem to be one that could either way even in situations where there is no racial element. My point being that all things considered, this doesn't sound to me like anything remotely close to the horrible miscarriages of justice that it's being compared to by Barber and Joyner.
by JohnD • Raleigh • 27 Oct 2007, 6:13am • Report this comment
I went to the Justice in Jena! website just to make sure that I really understood what the "injustice" is that's occuring in Jena. That site claims "A major injustice is unfolding in Jena, LA as six black young men are railroaded in a case that reads like one straight from the era of Jim Crow." But what I don't see is how they're being 'railroaded'. They did it. The site doesn't even begin to claim that any of the teens involved are innocent. It basically just says that 6 black kids beat up a white kid who was asking for it and that shouldn't be tried for attempted murder cause of that. Well, that's not getting railroaded. They did it! Whether it's attempted murder or not is clearly a decision for a jury. Seriously, this doesn't even come close to the cases from the Jim Crow Era.
by JohnD • Raleigh • 27 Oct 2007, 6:32am • Report this comment
I would agree that the case of Floyd Brown, in particular, was a more egregious miscarriage of justice than that of Mychal Bell. (However, I think it's safe to say that 22 years-- the maximum charge Bell faced before his conviction was overturned--was clearly excessive for a fight whose victim recovered later that day.) We could argue endlessly about this, but the point-- as maverickmaven noted-- is that the Jena Six case galvanized thousands to protest inequities within the criminal justice system. The forum at NCCU showed that there are worse things happening within that system than Jena (though we don't know yet how those trials will end). If the events in Jena can start a critical examination of the role race plays in the criminal justice system today, then in many ways the 20,000-strong protest was a success.
by Matt Saldana, Indy Staff Writer (msaldana@indyweek.com) • Raleigh • 27 Oct 2007, 7:25pm • Report this comment
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