Victim In "Jena Six" Beating Files Suit

Lawsuit In Racially Charged Beating Case Alleges School Did Not Adequately Supervise Students

(AP)  The family of Justin Barker, the victim in the "Jena Six" racial beating case in Louisiana, has filed a civil lawsuit against the local school board, the parents of the six young men accused of beating him and the adult members among the six.

The lawsuit was filed Nov. 29 in state district court, the Alexandria Daily Town Talk newspaper reported.

The case and its racial overtones, sparked by the hanging on campus of nooses, a traditional symbol of lynch mobs, have attracted the attention of U.S. civil rights leaders, who led a large protest and said the original charges against the Jena Six were too strict.

David and Kelli Barker and their son allege that seven Jena High School students attacked Justin on Dec. 4, 2006, as he walked out of the school's gym.

The suit names the attackers as Mychal Bell, Jesse Beard, Theo Shaw, Bryant Purvis, Carwin Jones and Robert Bailey Jr., as well as a seventh student who has not been officially named by law enforcement as a part of the attack.

The lawsuit alleges that school employees were not adequately supervising students or maintaining discipline.

The Barkers are asking for a jury trial.

Bell pleaded guilty Monday to a misdemeanor second-degree battery charge and was sentenced to 18 months in jail. The other members of the Jena Six are awaiting court appearances.

Barker spent several hours in the emergency room after the attack but was discharged and attended a school event the night after the attack.

[hotdoody1997]

I dont understand when will we stand togert as one.No one gets it. only thing these parnts are showing this child is to sue some one, how to get fast buck.Why cant we stand as one and fix this and show kids how to do this,but no no white person could stand next to a black person there that would be say you might what to work on the DAMM proably togert.All iam saying is all of us need to work on this. And cut that dame TREE down.by the way iam white I have raised 4chilren in the south if they would get in trouble they should be in trouble.But the case we we are talking about should not be made a example of.one more thing LAW suit give me a break.

[markus64s]

Just to clarify, the victim here didn''t have anything to do with the noose. As a matter of fact, I think that the noose hanging incident had been a few weeks, if not longer, before the beating. He was beaten up because of his race.

Regarding the harshness of the perps'' sentence, I believe the DA made a public statement explaining the reasoning behind it. If you''re ok with habitually violent students attending to your child''s school, I guess that''s your business. But, considering crime statistics, most crimes are intra-racial. That means Bell''s next victim or victims will probably be black.

The CBS News article doesn''t do anything to elaborate on the perps previous criminal records and it juxtaposes this victims beating with the noose hanging incident. It omits information and leads the reader to draw his own uninformed, incorrect but more exciting conclusions. I guess increasing readership and selling ad-space is more important than presenting all the facts. Who is exploiting whom?

[klingon69]

I agree w/ some of chitown639''''s comments, but his lesson wasn''''t not painful. He didn''''t spend anytime in jail, his record will not be forever tarnished by criminal charges. He''''s able to live his life-business as usual, meanwhile, he was the catalyst in destroying the lives of 6 other teens and their families
Posted by outspken at 10:35 AM : Dec 05, 2007

Mychael Bell is/was a habitual offender. He already had a criminal record, which included assault. As for the other assailants, when you run with dogs, you get fleas.

[klingon69]

Oh, and for those of you just can''''t stand Sharpton and Jackson for taking up the issue, I wish you would protest as much when your white boy hate radio show hosts (i.e. Limbaugh and Hannity) do the same krapp. But no, instead you think they are gods!!
Posted by rudy654 at 02:20 AM : Dec 05, 2007
To my knowledge, these "hate" radio personalities don''t show up somewhere with thousands of their followers, to incite problems with loss of property and possibly life.

[klingon69]

the term "cracker" came from civil war times, when the white slaveholders(mostly overseers) would whip their slaves, so "cracking" the whip.

cracking=crackers.

so you can take it as offensive or not.
Posted by w1de at 11:40 PM : Dec 04, 2007
Well, seeing as how neither I nor any of my previous family has owned slaves(to the best of my knowledge), yes I find it offensive. So, now does this mean I can beat the krapp out of a black person who calls me it, and get Al Sharpton to protest for my release?

[klingon69]

Posted by riseaboveall at 09:20 PM : Dec 04, 2007
Actually, you have proven that you lack the ability to rise above it all and learn the true facts of the case.

1. Black student asked school administration if he can sit under a tree that had been traditionally a "whites only" tree. He receives permission.
2. Three nooses hung. Perpetrators caught and suspended. Justin Barker was NOT one of the noosers.
3. Incident occurred at a local store involving a white male and 3 black males in which the white male pulled a gun and was taken away from him by the three males who ran off with it and were charged with theft.
4. At a party a black male was assaulted with a bottle over his head, and called racial slurs. Barker may have been part of this. Still no info on the whys and wherefores of the party.
5. After leaving a schoolbuilding, Justin Barker is blindsided, assaulted, kicked by 6-7 black males. He was pummelled into unconciousness, treated at local emergency room and sent home, he attends some school function that night, no indication on what it was. Assailants are arrested and charged with attempted murder tried as an adult.
6. Al Sharpton leads a protest march through Jena to win the freedom of Mychael Bell, one of the assailants. Charges lessened and moved to juvy.

Mychael Bell is a habitual criminal. This was not his first offense, nor will it be his last.

[chitown639]

Most school fights are spontanious outbursts, and don''''t involve 6 kids waiting for 1 kid, sucker punching him, and then kicking him in the head repeatedly after he''''s knocked out. Not one black "kid" was actaully harmed in the whole of the ordeal.

Posted by shirk3

Your point is irrelevent. The real issue is that the town fathers of Jena are exacting severely harsh punishment on the black students, because the victims were white. Expulsion from school, not jail, would have an appropriate punishment for those involved, including those that provoked this racial incident.

[riseaboveall]

Its like the 10yr old white boy who started the California wildfires, was told several times that he''s not to play with fire, his parents knew that he played with fire, he ruined millions of dollars in homes, people died, and thousands were displaced, but he got a slap on the wrist. The 10 yr old black boy who was wrestling and playing with his neighbor and the neighbor accidentally died, he was sentenced as an adult for murder. See the difference.

[riseaboveall]

For the Christmas issue, the purpose of Christmas is not to receive gifts, that was a superficial belief brought on by the market, hince the reason why it is called Season Greetings and so forth. The media is sugar coating the whole issue and not really revealing the true details of the case, just the fight, so a lot of you are misinformed. And for the person who stated that problems with being a white Christian in America, the fact that you separated race in Christianity shows how strong your faith really is, there is no color in the eyes of God, so take a step back and reflect on your religion, what has the Bible truly taught you. For all of those who just believe they were gangbangers and thugs you need to take a step back from the world of entertainment and snap back into reality just because someone is black does not depict them as thugs and gangbangers, they were a bunch of students that was tired of Barkers *** and stood up for themselves instead of letting him and his friends continue to belittle their beings. You can only take *** for so long. It was a school fight and truth be it told if it were 6 white students maybe suspension, detention, or expulsion, but none of them would have been prosecuted.

[riseaboveall]

To the person who asked where I received the information about the things that Barker and his friends did that led to the fight. There was a website, a month after the fight, made by the students, and they werent black, that exposed all the ignorant things they did that led to the fight, how they pulled a shot gun on the black kids, the true story about the hanging of the nooses, the daily harrassment that black students received at school, and etc. They had been messing with blacks for a long time and the boys involved just got fed up because Barker was one of the ring leaders. This fight happened in 2006 and if it wasnt for Rev. Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson going down there and bringing it to the public''s attention most of you would not even know about it, it would have been swept under the rug and the boys would be doing 15 yrs for a school fight. The media is protraying it as if they fought Barker just because he had something to do with hanging the nooses, but that was just the needle in the haystack. Like I said let it had been some Caucasian jocks (6 or 7) beating up a nerd, they would have not been sentenced to 15 years in prison, they would have never seen a court room because of it. The punishment was too harsh, PERIOD. For all of those who keep making ignorant references to Rodney King, you''re stepping on thin ice. HELLO, he was beat to death regardless of whatever he has done, how many Caucasians have you heard being beat to death period by law enforcement.

[shirk3-2009]

"A school fight involving white and black students, resulting in jail time for the black students only. This incident is just another example of the disparities that exist in our society. Most school fights don''''t result with students being entered into the crimminal justice system."

Most school fights are spontanious outbursts, and don''t involve 6 kids waiting for 1 kid, sucker punching him, and then kicking him in the head repeatedly after he''s knocked out. Not one black "kid" was actaully harmed in the whole of the ordeal.

Get the facts. CBS,NBC,ABC, FOX and all the rest aren''t interested.

[chitown639]

The lop-sided disipline the students received along racial lines is the primary reason for the outrage. A school fight involving white and black students, resulting in jail time for the black students only. This incident is just another example of the disparities that exist in our society. Most school fights don''t result with students being entered into the crimminal justice system. It''s apparent that the school and local government officials are doing something special FOR the white students. And by the same token, the officials are doing something special AGAINST the black students. But is this something new? This unequal treatment, for whites and against blacks, is something that occurs in our society everyday of every year since the beginning of our great nation. This preferencial treatment exist everywhere in society, but it should not be tolerated in government. All citizens should be afforded equal protection under the law. But in reality local and government officials see their most primary duty is to protect white life and interest first. The officials duties also include keeping blacks in their place, and severely punishing thoses blacks that interfere with white life and interest.

[cheddarboy82]

good and I hope he wins. Those jena 6 are pathetic. Need 6 of them to beat one kid up. That is assault and assault is breaking the law. they should pay

[iceman_1960]

RE: "...the crudely constructed nooses were not aimed at black students. Instead, they were understood to be a prank by three white students aimed at their fellow white friends, members of the school rodeo team..."

Those creeps who were arrested recently for painting swastikas on public buildings could have used this "defense"...

"No, we meant the ancient Tibetan swastika, not the Nazi one, your honor. We were trying to make fun of the Dalai Lama..."

Yeah, that would"ve worked.

[outspken]

I agree w/ some of chitown639''s comments, but his lesson wasn''t not painful. He didn''t spend anytime in jail, his record will not be forever tarnished by criminal charges. He''s able to live his life-business as usual, meanwhile, he was the catalyst in destroying the lives of 6 other teens and their families

[outspken]

oopps...I mean hate crime

[chitown639]

True, Justin Baker is a beating victim in the Jena 6 or 7 case. The students involved in the beatings or brawl, white and black, should ALL receive disipline. But, Baker shouldn''t be allowed to profit from his involvement, as he was instrumental in contributing negatively to the deteroiating racial environment in the school. Baker and a few of his classmates were attempting to segregate a particular area on school property to whites only. Baker and his buddies may have been surprized to learn this, but the days of hanging nooses to terrorize black folks are over. I''m sure it was a very painful lesson for him. Unfortunately, in schools, fights aren''t that uncommon. Youths fight. Add this to country''s decade after decade old struggle with race relations, in particular with African-Americans where it''s a very sensitive issue. Hanging nooses or using racial slurs and attemping to enforce segregation in high schools just may encourage violence.

[outspken]

OK...when is this victim going to prosecuted for a hating crime? Isn''t that what started the incident to begin with? Hanging nooses from a tree? When is that issue going to be addressed?

[ov442]

Everybody knows what a noose means, unless youre a moron. A noose means whitey is going to lynch blacky. period. no other meaning.
This just goes to show again that whitey can do anything they feel like to blacky and not face any repurcussions, yet blacky will get the book thrown at them for a fist fight. Kid was fine, barely injured. Wasnt even serious enough to keep overnight for observation.
I have never heard of a school fight resulting in jail time until now. Racism abounds.

What about that big fat white Chicago Cop that beat the he11 out of that tiny little blond bartender on video? whats he get? suspended with pay during an "investigation" -- whats he do? while hes suspended, he and his buddies threaten to kill the owners of the bar and the bartender if they testify.
Wow.
Teenage boys slugfest at school....vs. adult cop beating a tiny woman and then threatening multiple lives after the incident. = of course. oh wait, the cop is still getting paid, the kids are all in jail with their lives ruined because a white kid that threatened them had to go get stitched up for a couple hours.

[iceman_1960]

RE: Post by shirk3 at 06:28 AM : Dec 05, 2007

From posted link:

"According to the expulsion committee, the crudely constructed nooses were not aimed at black students. Instead, they were understood to be a prank by three white students aimed at their fellow white friends, members of the school rodeo team. (The students apparently got the idea from watching episodes of "Lonesome Dove.")"

.....Yeah, right.....