Spin Cycle

The student they assaulted, Justin Barker, was treated and observed for two hours for a black eye and a concussion. Then he went to a school Ring Ceremony. The six students didn’t get to attend that ceremony – they were arrested and eventually charged with second-degree attempted murder. Bail for the six students ranged from $90,000 to $138,000.

The assault occurred after a series of escalating events that began when white students at Jena High School hung three nooses in the “white tree” on campus after a black student asked to sit under it. So the black students are charged for attempted murder for punches and kicks, while the white students faced no repercussions for the hate crime of hanging nooses in the tree.

The case has drawn national attention to an area that is already dealing with racial tension. Jena, with a population of less than 3,000, is the largest town and county seat of LaSalle Parish. There are about 350 African Americans in the parish –12 percent of its population of slightly more than 14,000 people. Jena was also home to a Juvenile Correctional Center for Youth that closed two years after it opened, due to brutality and racism.

LaSalle Parish District Attorney J. Reed Walters reduced the charges against five of the Jena Six as the case drew national attention, and with the overturn of Mychal Bell’s conviction, I have been given hope that there is justice in this country. I am reminded of Micah 6:8: “What does the Lord require of you, but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?”

Mercy is not a passive thing. There’s a reason it’s called works of mercy. We must do something to help others, whether it’s signing a petition, donating to the cause, or attending protests to show our outrage and make a demand for justice.

I have to thank God that the people of this country love justice and kindness enough to stir themselves and act for the rights of these six students, so much so that there is hope that they will be exonerated.