JENA, La. (AP) — This small Louisiana town doesn't
look much different than it did five years ago: The same small businesses open
their doors six days a week, except for Sundays, when most people head to
Jena's many churches. The upcoming high school football season is the main
topic of conversation.
Things have mostly gotten back to normal in this
community of about 3,000 people, which became the site of a massive civil
rights protest that attracted thousands in September 2007, nine months after
six black students who became known as the "Jena Six" were charged
with attempted murder after a white classmate was severely beaten.
It was on Aug. 30, 2006, that a black student asked
if he could sit under a tree on campus or if it was for white students only.
The next morning there were three nooses hanging in the tree. The tension
culminated on Dec. 4, when Justin Barker was beaten. Six of his black
classmates were arrested. Three days later, five of them were charged with
attempted murder.
The town has moved on from the perception of racial
tension that once defined it. So, too, have the Jena Six.
Reed Walters, the LaSalle Parish District Attorney
since 1991, said he believes the incident drew the town closer together,
including the march. Thousands of chanting demonstrators filled the streets
that September day, led by figures such as the Revs. Al Sharpton and Jesse
Jackson. At the time, the town was left to fend off accusations of racism in
the justice system — no one was charged for hanging the nooses, and protesters
derided the attempted murder charges as excessive. The charges were later
reduced.
"The world had been told that Jena was such an
evil place," Walters said. "I think during that march people saw that
was not true."
Members of the Jena Six are determined to move away
— and learn — from their controversial pasts. They say they want to be
something one day: A sports agent, a lawyer, a military man. Those interviewed
said they don't run into problems when they return to Jena to visit family.
"I've tried to wash those memories out of the
back of my head," said Jessie Ray Beard, who was 14 when he was arrested
in the beating. "I have other things to concentrate on."
Beard's attorney's arranged for him to stay with
another attorney's family in New York about three and a half years ago and
attend the Canterbury School, a private boarding school in Connecticut.
"That first year was very, very hard for
him," said Alan Howard, the attorney with whom Beard lives.
"It took a tremendous effort on his part to
make it."
Beard has since gone on to Hofstra, where he earned
an academic scholarship, is pursuing legal studies and business, and plays on
the lacrosse team. He plans to go to grad school on the west coast and
eventually work as a sports agent.
Robert Bailey Jr., who graduated from high school
in Georgia, plays wide receiver at Grambling and is a member of the ROTC. After
he graduates in 2013, he hopes to pursue a military career.
"Because of what happened, I grew up. I
learned things too, like doing things the right way," Bailey said.
Mychal Bell, who was 16 at the time, was the only
defendant to go to trial. He was convicted, but that decision was set aside. He
ultimately pleaded guilty to a second-degree battery charge and received an
18-month sentence. The other five accepted a plea deal that gave them seven
days probation, a $500 fine and court costs.
Bell, a highly recruited football player before the
beating, is a cornerback on Southern University's team. His attorney said it
was best if he wasn't interviewed.
"Every time there's something in the press
about him, he gets a lot of hate mail," said Bell's attorney, Louis Scott.
Theo Shaw, 21, is now studying political science
and history at Louisiana University-Monroe and plans to go to law school. He
has done several internships in the field, he said, including one with the
Innocence Project, a national nonprofit that works to free wrongfully convicted
prisoners. His time in jail sparked his interest in law — he said he spent a
lot of time reading up on the subject so he could file court papers.
"I do think it was a situation that helped me
to develop character and be a better person," Shaw said. "But beyond
that, I don't think of it much anymore."
Bryant Purvis is enrolled in Southeastern
Louisiana. Carwin Jones did not return calls left with his father for comment.
The victim, Justin Barker, is the only one who
still lives in Jena. Now 22, he's an inconspicuous young man: thin, with soft
brown hair and large eyes, a Southerner raised to say "Yes, ma'am"
and "Yes, sir" and stay quiet around strangers. So he's always
surprised when someone asks if he's "that" Justin Barker, he told The
Associated Press in his first media interview since the beating five years ago.
"That's the only time that whole thing comes
up," Barker said, sitting in the dining area of his tidy new trailer.
These days he works on an oil rig in Texas — seven days on, seven off — and
helps his father cut timber when he's home. He recently divorced the woman who
was his girlfriend when he was beaten.
The defendants initially claimed Barker had made a
racial slur, prompting the attack. But they admitted that was untrue as part of
the plea deal. As for Barker, all he remembers is this: He walked out of the
gym and turned left to avoid a crowd when something hit him.
"I don't know why they attacked me," he
said. "No one ever told me, and I don't have a clue until this day."
He woke up in the emergency room, his right eye
swollen shut and his jaw fractured. Both took months to heal, and he still
deals with TMJ — a popping in the joint where the jaw connects to the skull. He
sued the defendants and was awarded $22,000 for medical bills and $7,000 in
damages. Now he says he's put it all behind him.
"I'm just trying to get on with my life,"
Barker said. "I have put all that behind me."
Barker is one of the few young people that stay in
town, as most leave to find jobs, said Mayor Murphy McMillin. These days, town
officials are focused on ensuring there is a high quality of life in Jena. For
the mayor, the term "Jena Six" has taken on new meaning.
"There is a new Jena Six — the mayor and the
five city councilmen," McMillin said.
The town's seven black churches make a point of
getting together and interacting with folks who attend white churches,
"and we have it on a regular basis," said the Rev. Jimmy Young, 70,
pastor of L&A Baptist Church. Young is black.
Walters, the district attorney, won't talk about
the case. But he does have one regret.
"I wish I had been able to explain things
better," he said. "I don't think I did a very good job of that."
Copyright
2011 The Associated Press.
