Abbey Brown was on Hwy. 8 heading for Jena when she called me for this article.  My view of the situation is similar to that of Henry LeMoine, the attorney representing Justin Barker and his family: Yes, Jena has a problem with racism; but, no, the community isn’t uniquely racist.  Jena is a standard issue Southern town.

I knew from my experience with the Tulia drug sting that the media likes to focus on the alleged racism of little Southern towns.  You line up a few, “There’s no racists in this town,” quotes along with several, “this is the most racist community in the whole wide world” statements and, voila! you’ve got yourself a story.

The national media knows that race draws readers.  Moreover, few journalists have the courage (or the background) to relate a story like Tulia or Jena to larger issues like the war on drugs or the School to Prison Pipeline. 

As I told a community meeting in Jena shortly after getting involved in this case, this is a story about the sins of the fathers being visited upon the children (see Ezekiel, chapter 18).  Tragically poor judgment by community leaders (especially the DA and School Superintendent) sent a small group of young people (black and white) into a violent downward spiral.  A fire at the school house provided the spark that engulfed an entire community. 

As usual, the young black males bore the sole responsibility and the city fathers scrambled to dissociate themselves from any responsibility.  As the article shows, they are still scrambling. 

My goal was to place these events in historical context.  Acts of violence are generally rooted in a tragic history and the beating of Justin Barker was no exception. 

I remain confident that when all the facts are on the table America will learn something from Jena.  But as the legal can is kicked farther and farther down the road, I wonder if anyone will be paying attention when the day of reckoning arrives.

In the meantime, race relations in Jena have improved markedly in the past year.  The community’s travails sparked a remarkable religious revival which, in a Bible-belt community like Jena, provided the closest thing to real self-examination we are likely to see.  Racial attitudes forged over centuries can’t be transformed overnight; but the folks in Jena are doing the best they can with what they’ve got.

Finally, it should be noted that the BBC crew that produced a scathing piece about “race hatred” returned to Jena a few months later for a follow-up that was much more balanced and temperate.  Unfortunately, the second program stirred hardly a ripple of interest on either side of the pond.  But, hey, that’s show biz!

 

Jena’s image tainted by controversy

Abbey Brown

JENA – The label “most racist community in America” is one some have attached to Jena – the town in the center of the biggest civil rights demonstration in years.

But the person many blame for that designation – Alan Bean, founder of Texas-based Friends of Justice – said he likes the people of Jena. His intention never was to give Jena the label as an overtly racist community.That outcome, Bean said, is “unfortunate.”

Bean first traveled to Jena in January 2007 after being contacted by parents of some of the black youths who have since become known as the Jena Six.

“I was afraid these teens would be vulnerable to decades in prison if (LaSalle Parish District Attorney Reed) Walters followed through on his stated plan,” Bean said, referring to the original charges of attempted murder for the teens in connection with the attack on white student Justin Barker at Jena High School in December 2006. “Their lives would have been destroyed.”

The goal wasn’t for the teens to go without punishment, he said, but for them to get the justice they deserve as American citizens.

“I knew when I got involved, if the national media attached to the story, Jena would emerge with a black eye,” Bean said. “And I wanted to save them from it.”

But he couldn’t.

Bean tried to talk to Walters to encourage the DA to reduce the charges from attempted murder to a “more realistic level.” He interviewed Jena residents and leaders, researched the events since the discovery of nooses at the school, then wrote up his version of events and sent it to a few media outlets including the Chicago Tribune and BBC.

The BBC came to town and produced a documentary portraying Jena as a community completely divided and full of racial strife, unfairly editing interviews and portraying an inaccurate picture of the community, many residents say.

Walters said the reputation the community received wasn’t deserved. And as far as his actions, he wouldn’t change a thing.

“I think the town and the state were unfairly portrayed,” Walters said. “Not enough research was done by those who came here. They just took the first answers they got and didn’t ask themselves, ‘Is there more here than what I’m getting?’

“Once (area residents) began to see the misconceptions that were being spread, they became reluctant to talk to reporters at all. They were afraid anything they said would be misconstrued.”

‘It’s not just Jena’
Carol Powell-Lexing, one of the attorneys representing Jena Six defendant Mychal Bell, said the reputation Jena has gotten over the past two years was one the town earned.

“I think the picture is an accurate one,” she said. “But it’s not just Jena. There are a number of communities throughout the U.S. and Louisiana where pockets of racism exits. They are everywhere. Jena just got exposed.”

Walters said he isn’t sure why so many assumptions about Jena and his actions were made so quickly.

“People locally have no misconceptions about what happened,” he said. “Somehow outside of LaSalle Parish and in the news media, people got the idea this prosecution was racially motivated, which it absolutely was not. I don’t know where that came from, other than perhaps an assumption because of where we are.”

In a letter to The Town Talk, Jena Mayor Murphy McMillin described the community of Jena as “God-fearing” and “all-inclusive.” He released documents related to the town’s Community Relations Panel – formed after the Sept. 20, 2007, rally so the town could “address barriers that may exist within the community of Jena.”

McMillin refused to do an interview or answer questions.

“Our beloved Jena is a home to friends of different cultures,” the panel’s summary read. “The panel believes this to be an asset to our community life. … While Jena has many cultures, we are one people, one race … the human race.”

James Boren, an attorney representing Jena Six defendant Robert Bailey Jr., said he can’t imagine any community claiming they are free of racism.

“It’s hard for me to believe that people can honestly say there is no racism in any community because it’s everywhere,” he said. “The claims of racism provoke some people more than others. But Louisiana has never really stepped up to address the question of why it is that there are so many African-Americans that believe that Louisiana’s law enforcement and criminal justice system are racist. It seems like the only response I’ve ever seen to those claims is to deny it.”

‘Unjustly accused’
Jena Java owner Evelyn Talley said Jena is a great community that is far from how it has been portrayed in the national media. She moved here from California with her husband, now deceased, about 13 years ago and loves Jena’s small-town, close-knit feeling.

“I could see the frenzy that was being whipped up by people coming in and judging Jena without doing their homework,” she said. “Many came in and prejudged Jena by preconceptions. But because of the faith of the community, we knew we were unjustly accused.”

If the image was deserved or not, Talley said, residents learned a lot and have moved forward.

“This is a nice community,” she said. “It was before this, and it is now.”

Henry Lemoine, the attorney representing Barker, described Jena as a “fine, little town.”

“They have coped with a series of events as well or better than any municipality,” he said. “I think the idea of racial prejudice is very realistic. And we all should be ashamed. I personally am ashamed. But it isn’t just Jena.”