Opinion

THE JENA SIX

Tempting though it is to automatically dismiss any protest led by Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson, the fact is that the raging revs this time have found a cause with genuine substance.

Indeed, it’s impossible to examine the case of the so-called Jena Six without concluding that these black teens have been the victims of a miscarriage of justice, with a clearly racial double standard at work.

Not that the six Louisiana teens are entirely blameless in this affair: By all accounts, they assaulted a white classmate and beat him senseless (though he was released from the hospital just hours later).

But there was no justification for the decision by District Attorney Reed Walters to charge the six as adults with attempted murder – which could have sent them all to prison for decades.

Such charges are blatantly disproportionate to the offense.

Again, the attack on the white student was serious – whether he was released from the hospital that day or not.

But schoolyard brawls break out all the time in America – and the brawlers generally don’t face decades behind bars.

Indeed, white teens involved in two similar (though less serious) incidents against black victims in Jena itself faced much lower charges, resulting in no jail time.

Such inconsistency leads Americans to lose confidence in the racial impartiality of law enforcement and the judicial system.

And that does no one any good.

A Louisiana appeals court recently voided the conviction of Mychal Bell, the only defendant to have been tried so far, saying he shouldn’t have been charged as an adult (though he remains in prison).

Amid mounting public protest, charges against the other teens have been reduced.

But part of what led 10,000 demonstrators to converge on Jena last week is that the criminal case was the culmination of more than a year of growing racial tensions in the small town.

It began after black teens sat under a tree that was long a traditional gathering spot for white students – only to be met the next day with three hangman’s nooses hanging from the tree.

That, of course, hearkened back to the reign of lynching terror that once permeated the South – as vile a message as it was unmistakable.

FBI agents and a U.S. attorney concluded that the incident had all the earmarks of a hate crime, but declined to prosecute because it didn’t meet the strict federal standards to bring charges.

The local DA did not bring state charges either, saying no Louisiana law covered the offense. And the school board merely ordered the students responsible to serve an in-school suspension, though the principal had urged their expulsion.

That, not surprisingly, fueled even more bitterness – and accusations of a racial double standard.

To be sure, Sharpton and Jackson can be counted on to undermine even this legitimate cause and to futher inflame tensions: Jena is not Selma, Ala. – no matter how much the pair tries to invoke memories of the civil-rights movement.

And Jackson’s accusation that Sen. Barack Obama is “acting like he’s white” for not speaking out more on the case is as ugly as it is stupid.

Nonetheless, no one should remain unconcerned when an out-of-control prosecutor abuses his authority – as Reed Walter appears to have done.

As a “saddened” President Bush rightly noted of the affair: “All of us in America want there to be fairness when it comes to justice.”