JENA CASE FAR FROM OVER...

(USA TODAY)
By Abbey Brown, The (Alexandria, La.) Town Talk
JENA, La. — Thousands made the journey to Jena on Thursday to show their support for the "Jena Six." While the day may have remained peaceful during the rallies, the days since have been anything but.
First, it was the two teens who were arrested Thursday night after driving a pickup through downtown Alexandria, where ralliers had gathered, with nooses hanging off the back. Both allegedly had been drinking, and a gun and brass knuckles were found in their truck.

The next day, the FBI announced it was keeping tabs on a neo-Nazi activist in Roanoke, Va., who had posted the names and addresses of the Jena Six on his website proclaiming "Lynch the Jena 6," the Roanoke Times reported. William A. White also listed the phone numbers of the six, urging his readers to "Get in touch, and let them know justice is coming."


INVESTIGATION: FBI looking into website with possible Jena 6 information
White — the leader of a Roanoke-based white-supremacist group — has a penchant for inserting inflammatory rhetoric into racially charged incidents that attract national attention, such as the "Jena Six" case, according to the Times.

The "Jena Six" are the six black teens originally charged with attempted murder in connection with the Dec. 4 beating of white Jena High School student Justin Barker.

Barker was knocked unconscious and then kicked by the defendants, according to court documents. He was treated for three hours in a local emergency room, released and that night attended a class ring ceremony with his family.

Tens of thousands of people from across the nation descended Thursday on Jena to rally around the cause of the group, with specific emphasis on Mychal Bell, the only one of the six to have been tried and remain in jail.

Bell was convicted in June of aggravated second-degree battery and conspiracy to commit the same — the same charges most of the others now face.

Both of his adult convictions have been vacated, one already being tried in the juvenile court system and the other in limbo until LaSalle Parish District Attorney Reed Walters decides whether to appeal.

Bell's attorneys on Friday were hopeful he would be granted bond, but it was denied.

Mark Potok of the Southern Poverty Law Center, which monitors hate groups, described White's actions to the Times as "appalling, but it's not surprising."

Gov. Kathleen Blanco issued a statement Saturday condemning White's website, which she deemed as a threat.

"Harassing families involved in the legal issues in Jena can not and will not be tolerated," she said in the statement. "Public attacks on private citizens done out of ignorance and hatred is appalling, and anyone who stoops to such unspeakable persecution will be investigated and subject to the full penalty of law. I have asked law enforcement agencies to investigate this matter, and as governor I will do everything in my power to put a stop to these cowardly threats to Louisiana citizens."

The Rev. Al Sharpton also issued a statement about the posting of contact information for the Jena Six family members.

"Some of the families have received almost around-the-clock calls of threats and harassment since this website appeared, and to think that some person could actually harm or even continue to harass these families with no effort by law enforcement, will further exacerbate the tensions around this case immeasurably," he said. "Since our massive rally, there have been hangmen nooses found in several cities. The escalation has been met with a stubborn silence by officials in Jena, and we feel the governor must send in state law enforcement to investigate these threats and protect the public."

The actions of the teens in Alexandria, White and the hundreds of others who have been harassing the families are disgusting, the Rev. B.L. Moran said. He said Tina Jones, the mother of defendant Bryant Purvis, has been especially rattled by one threatening caller.

"There have been statements made on these websites saying if (Bell) was released that they'd kill everyone that has anything to do with the Jena Six," he said. "It certainly bothers them. It bothers them enough to get in touch with authorities."

The rallies were held to bring peace and unity, not violence or hatred, he said.

"What they stand for is nooses and murder," Moran said of those threatening the families. "All of this is causing not just Jena and the parish trouble, but trouble all over America. Now when you turn on the TV, you see nooses hanging everywhere. And it all started in Jena."

Alan Bean, director of Friends of Justice, said the actions of the teens in the truck and those making threats represent people trying to provoke fear or anger.

"They are sick individuals trying to get attention for themselves and piggyback on such a peaceful, beautiful event," he said. "They wanted to blemish something that was so completely without incident."

The situation in Jena, Bean said, won't be helped by hurling insults back and forth or, even worse, violence.

"Jena has seen enough violence already," he said.

Sharpton said he and Bell's parents, Marcus Jones and Melissa Bell, will meet Tuesday with U.S. Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich., and chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, to seek federal hearings and intervention.

"At the same time, Mychal's attorneys will pursue state remedies for his immediate release," Sharpton said in his statement. "For a judge to refuse to release him after his conviction was overturned is to hold the system of law in contempt and to further display the raw bias that inspired our involvement and participation in this movement around the 'Jena Six' since early this summer."

Sharpton said he and other civil rights leaders and activists will continue their plans for the next "major effort to protest this continued injustice." Those plans, he said, will be announced after Tuesday's meeting.