Anti-Jena 6 Web Site under FBI Investigation
By Charlene Israel
CBN News
September 25, 2007
CBNNews.com - The FBI is reviewing a white supremacist Web site that lists the addresses of five black teens called the "Jena Six."
An FBI spokeswoman says the Web site "essentially called for their lynching."
The Web site features a swastika, frequent use of racial slurs and phone numbers for some of the teens' families.
The Reverend Al Sharpton says that some of the families have received "almost around-the-clock calls of threats and harassment." He's calling on Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco to intervene.
The case of the "Jena Six" began last September in Jena, Louisiana when a black high school student sat under a tree traditionally reserved for white students. The next day, three nooses hung from the tree.
Three white students were briefly suspended.
But no legal charges were pressed.
The District Attorney says he couldn't find a state law under which to charge the white students accused of hanging the nooses.
Then in December, the six black teenagers beat a white student unconscious. They were charged with attempted murder.
The maximum sentence: 100 years in prison without parole.
On Thursday, the case drew thousands of protesters to the tiny central Louisiana town to rally against what they see as a double-standard of justice for blacks and whites.
The march was one of the biggest civil rights demonstrations in years.
CBN News spoke with many who traveled from across the country to attend the rally.
One Atlanta, Georgia resident says, "I guess when you live in a big city you forget that there's still change that needs to happen. There's still equality that's not happening in certain places, and we're here to shed some light on the situation."
Dr. Charles Stelle, president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, the civil rights organization co-founded by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., also had something to say about the case.
"It's serving notice to America and the world that we're not free and that it's not something you rest your laurels on - your station in life in terms of success," Stelle said. "It's something you have to fight for on a daily basis."
The six are still in custody or under indictment.
The murder charges were reduced to aggravated second degree battery for all but one of the six.
If convicted, they could face 15 to 22 years in prison.
On Friday, a judge denied bail for Mychal Bell, the only on of the teens jailed after the fight.
Dr. Alan Bean, of the faith-based organization "Friends of Justice," is one of the first to investigate the case. He says many things went wrong with the case, starting with the history of racial inequality in Jena.
"The first thing that went wrong was a long time ago," Bean said. "I mean, there was just an unspoken assumption in Jena that black citizens, black residents, did not have equal status with whites. So long as black residents could adapt to that status, everything was cool."
Click on the video player above for an exclusive interview with Dr. Bean for the latest on the situation.
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