Jena Six – News Stories About Jena Six - Page 1

'Jena 6' Defendants Walk
With No Jail Time

Jun 26, 2009 7:33 PM CDT

'Jena 6' Defendants Walk With No Jail Time

(Newser) - Five black students accused of beating a white classmate in Louisiana pleaded no contest to misdemeanor civil battery today, ending a trial that triggered a huge civil rights demonstration, the Alexandria Town Talk reports. Critics said that the so-called "Jena Six," originally charged with attempted murder, were...

'Jena 6' Teen in Hospital After Shooting Self

Dec 30, 2008 2:33 PM CST

'Jena 6' Teen in Hospital After Shooting Self

Bell couldn't take media attention following new arrest: family

(Newser) - Mychal Bell, one of the “Jena six” who were the focus of a racial controversy in 2006, survived a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the chest and is in a Louisiana hospital, the Monroe News Star reports. Bell shot himself after being arrested for shoplifting on Christmas Eve and said...

Sharpton Insists He Still Has
a Role to Play

Dec 26, 2007 2:34 PM CST

Sharpton Insists He Still Has a Role to Play

Civil rights leader not threatened by new wave of black politicians

(Newser) - Is there a place for Al Sharpton in a Barack Obama world? The first black politician with a serious shot at the Oval Office hardly mentions race, whereas Sharpton is, as one historian puts it, “kind of a racial ambulance chaser.” But Sharpton isn’t worried. “They...

'Jena 6' Teen Pleads Guilty

Dec 4, 2007 3:15 AM CST

'Jena 6' Teen Pleads Guilty

Mychal Bell accepts plea deal on reduced charge, agrees to testify against others

(Newser) - Mychal Bell, one of the "Jena 6" teenagers involved in a racially charged incident in Louisiana, has pleaded guilty to second-degree battery and will serve 18 months in juvenile detention. The teen admitted in court that he knocked out Justin Barker, and he has agreed to testify against any...

Justice Dept. March Targets Hate Crimes

Nov 16, 2007 3:19 PM CST

Justice Dept. March Targets Hate Crimes

Thousands rally in DC for more aggressive prosecution

(Newser) - Thousands of marchers converged near the Justice Department in Washington, DC, today, to protest what they say is a lax attitude toward prosecuting hate crimes. The marchers, led by Al Sharpton and Martin Luther King III, cited the Jena 6 controversy in Louisiana and a subsequent spate of incidents involving...

Back to Jail for 'Jena 6' Teen

Oct 12, 2007 8:42 AM CDT

Back to Jail for 'Jena 6' Teen

Mychal Bell handed an unexpected sentence on earlier charges

(Newser) - Mychal Bell of the "Jena Six" was handed an unexpected 18-month sentence by a judge in juvie court yesterday—on charges unrelated to the attack on a white classmate that drew national attention last month. The charges of battery and destruction of property were pending before the December 4...

Mellencamp Song Enrages Jena Mayor

Oct 6, 2007 5:39 PM CDT

Mellencamp Song Enrages Jena Mayor

Says comparison to civil rights era 'cheapens their sacrifice'

(Newser) - John Mellencamp's song about the Jena 6 sparked the town's mayor to whip off a fax to the AP yesterday: “Jena has for months been mischaracterized in the media and portrayed as the epicenter of hatred,” he wrote. “The Mellencamp video is so inflammatory, so defamatory,...

DA Ends Bid to Try 'Jena 6' Teen as Adult

Sep 27, 2007 4:39 PM CDT

DA Ends Bid to Try 'Jena 6' Teen as Adult

Move could hasten release of key player in Louisiana race case

(Newser) - A prosecutor has given up attempts to have one of the Louisiana teenagers at the center of a civil-rights furor tried as an adult, Reuters reports. Mychal Bell, 17, was convicted in June of battery in the beating of a white classmate, but an appeals court overturned the verdict on...

Anti-Jena 6
Website Calls
for 'Justice'

Sep 23, 2007 4:11 PM CDT

Anti-Jena 6 Website Calls for 'Justice'

Feds investigating hate site listing numbers, addresses of students

(Newser) - The FBI is investigating a white supremacist site that listed the addresses and phone numbers of five of the so-called Jena Six, and “essentially called for their lynching,” the agency said yesterday. “These people need more than an investigation. They need protection,” Jesse Jackson told the...

Jena 6 Teen Denied Release

Sep 22, 2007 5:48 AM CDT

Jena 6 Teen Denied Release

Mychal Bell will stay in jail while his appeal is reviewed

(Newser) - Mychal Bell, the black Louisiana teenager in jail since December for the battery of a white classmate, was not released on bail yesterday, as has supporters had hoped. The day after a demonstration that brought 10,000 civil rights activists to the tiny town to protest the treatment of the...

50K Rally to Support 'Jena Six'

Sep 20, 2007 12:30 PM CDT

50K Rally to Support 'Jena Six'

Huge crowds arrive in tiny town to protest trial of black students

(Newser) - Busload after busload of civil rights marchers alighted in Jena, La., today to support the “Jena Six,” a group of black students charged with felonies after a 2006 fight with a white classmate. An estimated 50,000 mostly-black protesters easily outnumbered the mostly-white population of the town, where...

Jena Braces
for Thousands
of Protesters

Sep 20, 2007 7:35 AM CDT

Jena Braces for Thousands of Protesters

Locals resent activists, fear violence; tiny LA town will shut down

(Newser) - Tiny Jena, LA, is bracing for the tens of thousands of activists expected to descend on the town of 3,000 today to protest the handling of six black high school students charged with attempted murder for beating a white classmate in December. Led by the Rev. Al Sharpton, protesters...