VALLEY FORGE, PA (ABNS 9/17/07) - In Jena, La., a rural community of some 3,000 people, there is an African American population of about 350. A tree at the high school, known as the "white tree," was symbolically labeled "for white students only." By tradition and practice, only white students sat in the shade of this tree with its branches lifted high into the sky and its roots digging deep into the earth. One day an African American student, new to the area, asked permission from school administrators to sit under the "white tree." Permission was granted, and the next day three nooses, in the school's colors, were hanging from the tree.
For African American students, those nooses brought back images their grandparents lived with on a daily basis, images sung about by Billie Holiday that reflected the prevalent Southern practice, at the time the song was written, of lynching and burning African Americans:
Southern trees bear strange fruit, Blood on the leaves and blood at the root, Black bodies swinging in the southern breeze, Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees.
Pastoral scene of the gallant south, The bulging eyes and the twisted mouth, Scent of magnolias, sweet and fresh, Then the sudden smell of burning flesh.
Here is fruit for the crows to pluck, For the rain to gather, for the wind to suck, For the sun to rot, for the trees to drop, Here is a strange and bitter cry.
On September 20, a judge will determine if 17-year-old African American Mychal Bell will be sentenced to serve 22 years in prison. Bell and five of his fellow African American high school students, ranging from 15 to 17 years of age, are facing lifetimes behind bars for a schoolyard fight stemming from the "white tree" incident. In total, these young men could be sentenced to up to 100 years in prison, with charges of attempted murder. The alleged weapon? Tennis shoes.
Consider these injustices related to this case:
* The school's principal recommended expulsion for the three white students responsible. The school superintendent overruled the expulsion and gave the students a three-day suspension for "an adolescent prank." * African American students organized a sit-in under the tree following the fight; the District Attorney threatened with, "Stop making a fuss over this innocent prank; I can be your best friend or your worst enemy. I can take away your lives with a stroke of my pen." * The school was put on lockdown. A still unresolved fire burned down the main academic building. * An African American student was beaten at a party by white students. A white assailant, who cracked a beer bottle on the African American student's head, received a "simple battery charge." * Six African American Jena high school students were charged with attempted second-degree murder and expelled from school. Bails were set from $70,000 to $138,000.
Jena is the same place where the Juvenile Correctional Center for Youth was forced to close in 2000 due to racism and choking of juveniles by the guards. Jena now joins the historic and infamous line of gross legal injustices against African Americans represented by the 1999 Tulia, Texas, arrests. The Rev. Alan Bean, American Baptist minister and executive director of Friends of Justice, has been at the center of bringing both the Jena and Tulia injustices to national attention.
The Tree of Life is an especially important symbol in the Judeo-Christian tradition. We envision its life-giving and luscious life-sustaining fruit bearing branches that reach into the sky from rich roots digging deep into the dark earth. In every culture, this tree and its gifts of immortality are typically difficult to find, almost invariably guarded. The Tree of Life in the Hebrew Bible is guarded by a Seraph, an angel in the form of a fiery serpent, bearing a flaming sword. There is a price to be paid by those seeking to grasp fruit from this terribly tempting tree.
In Jena, La., sitting under the "white tree" was just as dangerous as confronting a fiery serpent bearing a flaming sword. American Baptist leaders need to bring the Jena 6 to the attention of their congregations.
Facts to Know and Share:
* More than 10,000 youth are presently incarcerated in U.S. adult prisons.
* African American men are three times more likely than white men to face jail once they have been arrested in the United States.
* 24.4 percent of African Americans arrested in 2005 ended up in jail, compared with 8.3 percent of white men.
* African American men receive jail sentences on average 15 percent longer than white men convicted of the same crime.
( State of Black America Urban League Report)
This briefing was jointly created by Dr. Aidsand F. Wright-Riggins III, executive director of National Ministries, ABCUSA, and Dr. A. Roy Medley, General Secretary, ABCUSA. Data was provided by the Samuel DeWitt Proctor Conference.
For more information, visit http://friendsofjustice.wordpress.com/jena-6/.