Latest News On The Jena 6 Jena looks for next step after protests

Jena looking for it's next step Now that the protests have ended

Residents wonder if national attention will calm racial tensions

10:46 PM CDT on Friday, September 21, 2007




Chris Johnson, 25, says discrimination has existed all his life in Jena, La. "I think things will change," he said. JENA, La. – There were two main points of view in Jena on Friday, a day after tens of thousands of civil rights protesters effectively closed this fading sawmill town.

Some people believe life will never be the same. Others say things may never change.

And like many issues here, what you think seems to depend on the color of your skin.

Chris Johnson, a lanky 25-year-old black man, said the chanting and cheering crowds awakened the nation's consciousness. Jena can't go back.

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"Now that people have seen what we've had to put up with so long, I think things will change," he said. "I hope they do."

A few doors away, Ron Liles, a 63-year-old white fire inspector, was skeptical. He said it takes time and patience to change men's hearts.

"In a way, this may be good for Jena," he said. "This kind of thing makes you deal with the problem."

On Friday, television cameras were still stationed outside the LaSalle Parish Courthouse as a judge rejected a motion that would have given 17-year-old Mychal Bell a chance at freedom.

Mr. Bell is the only one of the black teenagers known as the Jena Six to be tried so far in the December beating of a white classmate.

He was convicted of aggravated second-degree battery. But the conviction was thrown out by a state appeals court that said he could not be tried on the charge as an adult because he was 16 at the time of the beating.

After the juvenile court hearing Friday, his mother emerged from the courthouse in tears.

Behind the court building, Calvin Hardy leaned against the bed of his maroon Toyota pickup truck, perspiration beading on his freckled brow, and smiled broadly at what he called "a piece of history."

Mr. Hardy chainsawed down the infamous live oak tree at Jena High School this summer. That was the gathering place for white students, under which black students sat in August 2006. Nooses were on the tree the next day, and tensions escalated, resulting in the December attack.

Mr. Hardy pointed to a piece of the tree's severed trunk in the back of his truck.

"It was a beautiful tree; I didn't see no reason to cut it," he said. "They wanted it down to keep the conflict down, I guess."

Mr. Hardy was paid $500 by the school for his work but plans to cash in on the controversy again. "I got seven kids," he said, mentioning that he might sell the log on eBay. "I never got a piece of history before. I figured I better hold on to it."

Moments later, LaSalle Parish Superintendent Roy Breithaupt walked across the street to confront Mr. Hardy about showcasing and selling the log. "It's a shame that people would want to profit as a result of people's discomfort and confusion," he said.

Many people, including a federal investigator, criticize Mr. Breithaupt for under-reacting last year when three white students hung the nooses from the tree.

Mr. Breithaupt defended his decisions Friday afternoon. The three white teens responsible for the hangman's nooses, who were suspended instead of expelled, as the principal had recommended, had not been in serious trouble before. He said there was no evidence to suggest that the group meant to harm anyone.

He said their actions were impulsive and irresponsible. As to the December arrest and felony charges against the Jena Six, Mr. Breithaupt said the case has been handled fairly. "That was a premeditated ambush and attack by six students on one student," he said. "He was beaten down into a bloody, unconscious state."

Jena's schools were closed a second day Friday. Mr. Breithaupt said extra security would be on hand when classes resume Monday.

Tensions continued to run high in the area.

Two teenagers were arrested in nearby Alexandria after police said they were trying to provoke a group of protesters waiting to catch a bus home by repeatedly driving their truck – with hangman nooses dangling off the back – past them.

Jeremiah Munsen, 18, of Colfax, La., was charged with inciting a riot, driving while intoxicated and contributing to the delinquency of a juvenile. A city attorney will decide whether to file charges against the 16-year-old boy from Dry Prong, La., who was in the truck.

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