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As events began to unfold in the late summer of 2006, all of the elements to support racial discord and strife seemed to be there, predicated by three nooses being hung in the Jena High School courtyard, after Black students sat under a tree, with permission, the tree known to the local townsfolk as the 'white tree'.
Some say the hanging of the nooses; a not well thought out prank, with others believing it impossible for anyone to consider that type of act as anything other than a hateful, possibly silent threat.
Against the recommendation of the principal, who recommended expulsion for the three White students who hung the nooses, the students are suspended from school for three days.
Shortly after a planned or impromptu silent protest under the tree, accounts vary on the character of the protest, there is a visit to the school from Jena prosecutor Reed Walters. He warns, it has been said, that he can take away the lives of students with a stroke of his pen. Black students and residents report they felt this threat was aimed at the Black students.   
Tempers flare for months, students clashing along racial lines, culminating in December of 2006, in the beating and bloodying of a White student in the school courtyard, with six Black students arrested and originally charged with attempted murder.
But, is this truly about race? No. This is about a search for justice where race is getting in the way.
In order to level the charge of murder, the prosecutor had to name the weapon. He did. It was the accused students' sneakers.
The student that was beaten, a mean and deplorable act, was released from the hospital within hours, well enough to attend a school function. Did charges leveled against the students charged in the beating warrant a charge of attempted murder?
The charges were ultimately reduced for all, including Mychal Bell, who has been incarcerated since December 2006, with the student being charged and convicted of second degree aggravated battery and a conspiracy charge. This conviction was overturned on September 14, 2007 by the Louisiana Supreme Court, with the court stating in its ruling:
"The defendant was not tried on an offense which could have subjected him to the jurisdiction of the criminal court."

Does there appear to be some type of confusion over what charges should have been brought, given the drastic reduction in charges and the ultimate overturning of the verdict by the court?
The plight of the Jena 6 is a search for equitable treatment for all who may come before the court seeking justice.
For many watching all of this unfold, this is not a Black thing; this is not a White thing. It's a justice thing.
 
Contact the Jena 6 Legal Defense Fund for more information.
 
For a link to a petition to be submitted to the Civil Right Division of the United States Department of Justice, on behalf of the Jena 6, to investigate possible civil right violations, click here.
 
For more articles on the Jena 6, click here.