Jena: What the National Media Has Gotten Wrong

It's hard to believe that the liberal media cartel would misrepresent a racial incident, isn't it? As Steve Sailer, author of the piece below, says, "The Jena Six weren't poor outcasts but were instead Big Men on Campus -- six football stars in a football crazy town who between them had scored at least 29 touchdowns in the season that had just ended. And they had a long trail of juvenile convictions but nobody would crack down on them and suspend them from the football team because they were stars. So, stomping that white kid was the culmination of a long reign of terror by them. They had finally gone too far and they got the book thrown at them."


As we saw with the Duke lacrosse case [in North Carolina], there’s a powerful hunger in modern America for tales of white violence against innocent blacks. So, on Thursday, the national media descended on the small Louisiana town of Jena as the Revs. Jesse and Al protested a racially charged case in which six young men stomped a high school student into unconsciousness.

Of course, things being the way they are these days, the protesters in Jena were on the side of the stompers, not the stompee.

A local minister, Eddie Thompson (who was one of the earliest critics of white racism in Jena), has posted on the Internet a list of everything the national media has gotten wrong about the Jena story. I’ve taken the liberty of rearranging it and shortening it, so go here to see the original:

- Jena does have racial problems. Jena does have bigotry and prejudice, just like every other town in America, perhaps even worse than some. If there were no racial problems, there would have been no nooses hung from a tree. [According to Stacey M. Chapman of Jena, the nooses were originally hung as part of a football pep rally and had nothing to do with race. Jena was preparing to play a team whose mascot was "Cowboys."] There would not be one white student beaten and six black students charged with attempted second-degree murder. The local ministers would not have hurriedly called a meeting to deal with the issue. The cameras of the world would not have focused their lenses on Jena.

- The actions of the three white students who hung the nooses (on a tree at the high school) demonstrate prejudice and bigotry. [Again, that was not the original intent of the nooses. It was some black adults in Jena who first made a racial issue of the nooses.] However, they were not just given “two days suspension” as reported by national news agencies. After first being expelled, then upon appeal, being allowed to re-enter the school system, they were sent to an alternative school, off-campus, for an extended period of time. They underwent investigations by federal and state authorities. They were given psychological evaluations. Even when they were eventually allowed back on campus, they were not allowed to be a part of the general population for weeks.

- There was no “fight” on December 4, 2006 at Jena High School, as the national media continues to characterize the event in question. Six students attacked a single student who was immediately knocked unconscious. According to sworn testimony, they stomped him as he lay “lifeless” upon the ground.

- Justin Barker, the white student attacked, was not the first white student targeted by these black students. Others had been informed they were going to be beaten, but stayed away from school and out of sight until they felt safe. -->-->-->-->-->--> Read more... [When you get to this page, you'll need to scroll down a little over halfway.]