Mychal Bell is back in the news. Shortly after being arrested for allegedly shoplifting shirts at a mall in Monroe, Louisiana, Bell was admitted to a hospital following what his attorney calls a gun-cleaning accident. According to Cassandra Wooten of the Monroe Police Department, Bell shot himself because he was upset over the coverage his arrest received in the local press. Bell has also been charged with simple battery because he allegedly elbowed a mall security guard.
I can’t vouch for the accuracy of any of these allegations nor for the explanations offered by defense counsel. But these reports suggest that, like Britney Spears and countless others, Mychal Bell is the victim of his own celebrity.
The media tend to reduce complex stories to a single personality, a fact that has not escaped media-savvy activists. Al Sharpton transformed Mychal Bell (and his parents) into sympathetic victims of a southern town without pity. When other Jena-6 parents refused to give Sharpton the right to act as their sole media representative, the civil rights leader reached out to Mychal’s parents. Desperate and afraid, the Bell family was more than eager to give Sharpton carte blanche control.
From a legal standpoint, this arrangement worked to Mychal’s advantage. If, as he now says, Mychal knocked Justin Barker unconscious with a sucker punch to the head, he fully deserved to spend a year in a juvenile facility.
He didn’t deserve to spend a quarter century in an adult prison, and that’s where things stood when Friends of Justice entered the picture.
Unfortunately, most of the 20,000 people who flocked to Jena last September were convinced that Mychal was innocent. They latched onto the best case scenario for the same reason the good people of Jena chose to believe the worst: in both cases perception was driven by ideology.
The high degree of scrutiny surrounding this case guarantees that the due process rights of the Jena 6 will be protected. The five defendants yet to face trial are all represented by world class defense attorneys. As a result, the wheels of LaSalle Parish justice are turning very slowly; so slowly, in fact that I believe the outstanding cases will be resolved outside the courtroom.
Meanwhile, Mychal Bell and his parents have been forced to live in a strange twilight zone. Initially, they were greeted as civil rights heroes by enthusiastic supporters across America. In Central Louisiana, however, they were considered dangerous pariahs. The psychological repercussions have been devastating.
Predictably, Rev. Al has moved on to more pressing matters and is no longer there for the Bell family.
This should have been a story about what some call the “school to prison pipeline”: black and white students betrayed by racially insensitive administrators who created a toxic social environment then washed their hands of all responsibility when the floor caved in. This is the way I told the story from the beginning.
It wasn’t the story Al Sharpton told the world. And once the New York civil rights icon got involved nobody was listening to Alan Bean or anyone else. The story belonged to Al. Al forced the facts into the cramped confines of his anachronistic moral vision and talked up Jena as if it was Selma, Alabama circa 1962. Sharpton took this tack because he knew the media would like it. They wouldn’t necessarily buy it, mind you, but they would repeat Sharpton’s shtick word-for-word. It was familiar, it was simple and it made for effortless reporting.
The upside is that the Jena 6 are getting the justice they deserve–nothing more, nothing less. On the downside, a precious learning opportunity has probably been squandered.
‘Jena 6’ figure shoots himself
(CNN) — A teenager whose arrest in a racially charged assault case drew thousands of protesters to his rural Louisiana hometown was in a hospital early Tuesday after a shooting that his lawyer said was accidental.
Mychal Bell was released in September 2007 and later agreed to a plea deal in the beating of a classmate.
Mychal Bell was cleaning a gun when it accidentally discharged, shooting him in the shoulder, his attorney, Carol Powell-Lexing, told CNN. He had surgery Monday night at a hospital in Monroe, Louisiana, and has not yet been able to talk, she said.
Monroe police Sgt. Cassandra Wooten said the wound was not life-threatening.
Bell was one of six black teenagers who faced adult felony charges in the 2006 beating of a white classmate in the town of Jena. The beating followed months of racial tensions in the community of 3,000 after three white students hung a noose in a tree whose shade was traditionally off limits to blacks at Jena High School.
The case of the “Jena 6” drew national attention from civil rights groups who argued that the charges were excessive. An estimated 15,000-plus people turned out for a September 2007 rally in the Louisiana town on the black youths’ behalf.
Bell eventually pleaded guilty to battery in a juvenile court, served several months in a youth home and later moved to Monroe, about 70 miles north of Jena.
Friends of Justice 
Sorry Alan but I have to disagree with you on a couple of points…I don’t think he’s a victim of his own celebrity…I believe he’s a thug and he’s doing what thugs do…beat up people, shoplift, assault law enforcement, etc. I’m sorry but everyone makes excuses for these guys but they fail to look at the core of the problem. Some people are just bad. Correct me if I’m wrong but wasn’t this guy the one that posted pictures of himself with hundred dollar bills in his mouth on MySpace? The families reactions are classics of “Bad people” as well…they setup this account to accept donations from everyone yet they won’t disclose anything about the money. If you’ve been around them though, it’s hard to miss that they starting driving brand new cars after the money started coming in and buying new stuff…sorry, sometimes people are just bad and making excuses for them when they keep showing their true colors just makes you look dumb. Tell me Alan…did you ever get reimbursed for any on your expenses? The last news report out of Alexandria I heard you say that you didn’t…enough said.
Keith: It’s complicated. Bell’s parents weren’t responsible for setting up an account to help Mychal, that was done by others. The account was a good idea, the lack of accountability became highly problematic. Also, none of the families bought fancy cars with Jena 6 money, that rumor is inaccurate to the best of my knowledge. No, Mychal wasn’t the My Space guy, that was one of the other defendants. While it is true that most of my expenses weren’t reimbursed, Friends of Justice, unlike attorneys, doesn’t charge people for our services. Generally, when we get involved, people are too poor to pay us anything. That’s why we ask for private donations and are constantly writing grant applications. I don’t see Mychal as a thug, but he is a deeply troubled young man.
I don’t think it’s easy to categorize people as bad or good. People are multilayered. I think it is unfair to judge people on a few isloated incidents when we don’t have an understanding of the depth and breadth of who they are. We live in a consumption-driven society. Maybe they are just aspiring to live out the American dream as they see it or get a slice or two of the pie at least. I don’t agree with these values but who am i to judge? My experiences have been different.
Pure animal and thug, it’s that simple. Arrested for THREE felonies BEFORE the Jena incident, then arrested for the Jena incident, after that, arrested for slamming a students head on a desk in a rabid fit of fury, now shoplifting, not to mention possession of a firearm by a felon.
That’s SIX arrests and the animal hasn’t cleared being 18. Save the sob stories for some other gullible fools.
To label this boy as a thug is both ignorant and irresponsible. This type of labeling is the reason why much of society is failing to connect to the youth and why so many problems exist among them. I couldn’t help, but feel sad for Mychal after hearing about him back in the news. As long as these boys are living, there are going to be people out there who are going to remind them of what happened in a negative way — and one of these days, when it isn’t the Jena Six, someone is going to be hurt or even killed. I believe this case should have been handled in a much better way than it did. The school system is corrupt. You have young kids from then and now defending themselves, to the point in arming themselves, simply because administration told the kids to simply ignore the taunts and threats by other classmates. No kid should be going to school in danger. Had there been clear understanding and guidance, then we wouldn’t be having any of this conversation, nor would we be labeling those as such “thugs”.
There appear to be two kinds of people in America: those who divide the population into good people and bad people, and those who blame the bad behavior of individuals on society. There is a measure of legitimacy in both perspectives, of course, but the deeper truth is that people like Mychal Bell are (a) responsible for their own behavior and (b) the victims of clueless adults. Both are true and in equal measure. Getting people to see the other side of the equation isn’t easy, but that has always been the goal.
I must also point out that the head-slamming incident wasn’t Mychal’s bad–again, it was another Jena-6 defendant who pulled that unfortunate stunt.
Mychal Bell is an adult who is making adult choices. Both of his parents are thugs. As a child, he committed multiple crimes. As an adult, he’s chosen to follow the family path by assault and stealing.
No sympathy here. He needs to go to jail.
Scribe:
I have a label for (you). “Idiot”. You have no business commenting on this. While I dont believe they deserved 22 years, I do believe that Mychal Bell deserved to do “Hard Time” for at least 3-5. I also believe that if the “victim” was running his mouth, he deserved an ass whipping.
It is clear that Mychal Bell has failed to learn anything from his previous indescresions. To do nothing to teach him that he cannot act that way in society is in fact irresponsible. The next time, maybe he kills the person. What then? Is it attributed to his growing up “hard” or does he get held accountable for his actions? He has been given 5-6 chances.