I found the Official Jena Narrative v2.5 via NPR's News and Views blog. I'd try to wrap my response in elegance, but I need to write something about taxation (Rep. Rangel is talking about overhauling the tax code and though the image of icebergs in hell leap to mind, there's a couple of issues I can rant about, so I will)

Anyway, the boy, who lives in Jena and identifies with the white community there, says there are twelve “myths” in the media's reportage which can be exposed by ignoring and inflating targeted events. But some of his case is just not knowing how humans work.

Myth 1: The Whites-Only Tree. There has never been a "whites-only" tree at Jena High School. Students of all races sat underneath this tree. When a student asked during an assembly at the start of school last year if anyone could sit under the tree, it evoked laughter from everyone present – blacks and whites. As reported by students in the assembly, the question was asked to make a joke and to drag out the assembly and avoid class.

I remember when the movie The Exorcist opened...the original, Linda Blair one that scared the hell out of the nation. I remember people who told me how scared they were laughing at particularly grisly scenes.

I do not really expect every journalist to be up on the latest neurological research, nor do I really expect someone who identifies with the population whose racism is currently being exposed to do much more than launch a massive self defense effort. But that laughing is NOT a sign the question wasn't serious.

Contrary to folk wisdom, most laughter is not about humor; it is about relationships between people. To find out when and why people laugh, I and several undergraduate research assistants went to local malls and city sidewalks and recorded what happened just before people laughed. Over a 10-year period, we studied over 2,000 cases of naturally occurring laughter.

We found that most laughter does not follow jokes. People laugh after a variety of statements such as “Hey John, where ya been?” “Here comes Mary,” “How did you do on the test?” and “Do you have a rubber band?”. These certainly aren’t jokes.

We don’t decide to laugh at these moments. Our brain makes the decision for us. These curious “ha ha ha’s” are bits of social glue that bond relationships.

It's a sign the social relationships were challenged.

If you want to know if the question was serious, instead of asking students in the assembly, how checking with the student that asked the question?

Oh...we did that. In fact, that's pretty much where this all started.

Myth 2: Nooses a Signal to Black Students. An investigation by school officials, police, and an FBI agent revealed the true motivation behind the placing of two nooses in the tree the day after the assembly. 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.") The committee further concluded that the three young teens had no knowledge that nooses symbolize the terrible legacy of the lynchings of countless blacks in American history. When informed of this history by school officials, they became visibly remorseful because they had many black friends. Another myth concerns their punishment, which was not a three-day suspension, but rather nine days at an alternative facility followed by two weeks of in-school suspension, Saturday detentions, attendance at Discipline Court, and evaluation by licensed mental-health professionals. The students who hung the nooses have not publicly come forward to give their version of events.

Nooses...aimed at their white friends? No...they didn't know about the history of lynching? In Louisiana...no, anywhere in the country?

This is a lie. There's no need to be subtle when the case is so damn blatant.

Myth 3: Nooses Were a Hate Crime. Although many believe the three white students should have been prosecuted for a hate crime for hanging the nooses, the incident did not meet the legal criteria for a federal hate crime. It also did not meet the standard for Louisiana's hate-crime statute, and though widely condemned by all officials, there was no crime to charge the youths with.

AHEM

“Yes, hanging a noose under these circumstances is a hate crime,” Washington, the U.S. attorney for the Western District of Louisiana, told a House Judiciary Committee hearing convened to examine the Jena case. “If these acts had been committed by others who were not juveniles, this would have been a federal hate crime, and we would have moved forward.”

I think that's authoritative, don't you?

Myth 4: DA's Threat to Black Students. When District Attorney Reed Walters spoke to Jena High students at an assembly in September, he did not tell black students that he could make their life miserable with "the stroke of a pen." Instead, according to Walters, "two or three girls, white girls, were chit-chatting on their cellphones or playing with their cellphones right in the middle of my dissertation. I got a little irritated at them and said, 'Pay attention to me. I am right now having to deal with an aggravated rape case where I've got to decide whether the death penalty applies or not.' I said, 'Look, I can be your best friend or your worst enemy. With the stroke of a pen I can make your life miserable so I want you to call me before you do something stupid.'"

Mr. Walters had been called to the assembly by police, who had been at the school earlier that day dealing with some students who were causing disturbances. Teachers and students have confirmed Walters's version of events.

Let's be rational here. Give the actual content of the statements, if you're going to say this aside to the talkative girls

'Pay attention to me. I am right now having to deal with an aggravated rape case where I've got to decide whether the death penalty applies or not.'

and this

'Look, I can be your best friend or your worst enemy. With the stroke of a pen I can make your life miserable so I want you to call me before you do something stupid.'"

are connected rather than just sequential you're going to have to explain the connection. You're also going to have to explain why the D.A. Is telling the girls not to do something stupid, and to call him...how many teenagers have the D.A. on speed dial?

And isn't the idea of telling little white girls they can be disappeared for being rude an extreme stretch of prosecutorial discretion?

Sorry, the construction here is simply not credible.

Myth 5: The Fair Barn Party Incident. On Dec. 1, 2006, a private party – not an all-white party as reported – was held at the local community center called the Fair Barn. Robert Bailey Jr., soon to be one of the Jena 6, came to the party with others seeking admittance.

When they were denied entrance by the renter of the facility, a white male named Justin Sloan (not a Jena High student) at the party attacked Bailey and hit him in the face with his fist. This is reported in witness statements to police, including the victim, Robert Bailey, Jr.

Months later, Bailey contended he was hit in the head with a beer bottle and required stitches. No medical records show this ever occurred. Mr. Sloan was prosecuted for simple battery, which according to Louisiana law, is the proper charge for hitting someone with a fist.

I try not to speculate. I would like someone to just check Mr. Bailey's head for scars. I will believe that over official documentation.

Myth 6: The "Gotta-Go" Grocery Incident. On Dec. 2, 2006, Bailey and two other black Jena High students were involved in an altercation at this local convenience store, stemming from the incident that occurred the night before. The three were accused by police of jumping a white man as he entered the store and stealing a shotgun from him. The two parties gave conflicting statements to police. However, two unrelated eye witnesses of the event gave statements that corresponded with that of the white male.

Can I point out the irony of the charge...”jumping a white man”? I doubt that was what was put on the paperwork. My problem here is twofold. The shotgun was in Matt Windham's truck. This presentation makes it sound like he was jumped and the weapon was taken. Windham escalated a fist fight to a fire fight. Part of “the incident that occurred the night before,” from the Jena Times' assembled time line:

“Sometime later that night, there was another incident near the fair grounds but there were no arrests made in connection with that,” Smith said

The other problem I have is more general, but this point is a good place to raise it. All the mainstream media myth-busting is aimed at supporters of the Jena 6, yet those who decided these young men are the scum of the earth spread a more pernicious myth...that any of their complaints reduce any of these young men's due process and equal protection rights.

Myth 7: The Schoolyard Fight. The event on Dec. 4, 2006 was consistently labeled a "schoolyard fight." But witnesses described something much more horrific. Several black students, including those now known as the Jena 6, barricaded an exit to the school's gym as they lay in wait for Justin Barker to exit. (It remains unclear why Mr. Barker was specifically targeted.)

When Barker tried to leave through another exit, court testimony indicates, he was hit from behind by Mychal Bell. Multiple witnesses confirmed that Barker was immediately knocked unconscious and lay on the floor defenseless as several other black students joined together to kick and stomp him, with most of the blows striking his head. Police speculate that the motivation for the attack was related to the racially charged fights that had occurred during the previous weekend.

It is reported that Mr. Barker was inciting a riot. That is my rather incendiary phrasing

The following Monday, Dec.4, a white student named Justin Barker was loudly bragging to friends in the school hallway that Robert Bailey had been whipped by a white man on Friday night.

But under the circumstances I feel it apt. And he got his ass kicked for it. Yes, it was a schoolyard fight, and that it should have been handled as such is now well established, no matter how badly it jacks the new narrative.

Myth 8: The Attack Is Linked to the Nooses. Nowhere in any of the evidence, including statements by witnesses and defendants, is there any reference to the noose incident that occurred three months prior. This was confirmed by the United States attorney for the Western District of Louisiana, Donald Washington, on numerous occasions.

No direct connection. True. But that association was made by the anti-Jena Six crew. The standard media narrative has been “Nooses were hung, white kid gets jumped.” Correcting that error has been a major undertaking and I'm glad to see one of these points actually hold up.

Myth 9: Mychal Bell's All-White Jury. While it is true that Mychal Bell was convicted as an adult by an all-white jury in June (a conviction that was later overturned with his case sent to juvenile court), the jury selection process was completely legal and withstood an investigation by the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division. Court officials insist that several black residents were summoned for jury duty, but did not appear.

You gotta know the South (where the rules are different) to know how facetious that myth is.

Myth 10: Jena 6 as Model Youth. While some members were simply caught up in the moment, others had criminal records. Bell had at least four prior violent-crime arrests before the December attack, and was on probation during most of this year.

Another irrelevant point. Not only is Mychal Bell's record simply not the point, those with no record were treated exactly as Bell was.

I defy ANYONE to find someone supporting the Jena 6 who claims any of them are flawless. What you will find is massive numbers of haters saying things like, “Oh they think he's innocent? Well...”

Myth 11: Jena Is One of the Most Racist Towns in America. Actually, Jena is a wonderful place to live for both whites and blacks. The media's distortion and outright lies concerning the case have given this rural Louisiana town a label it doesn't deserve.

Myth 12: Two Levels of Justice. Outside protesters were convinced that the prosecution of the Jena 6 was proof of a racially biased system of justice. But the US Justice Department's investigation found no evidence to support such a claim. In fact, the percentage of blacks and whites prosecuted matches the parish's population statistics.

These myths, presented as myth-busters, are beyond my ability to dispel quickly. I urge you to read the full explanation of why we still have race problems, even though we have all these anti-racist laws on the books.

Why are there dead zones in U.S. law? The answer goes beyond the simple expense of enforcement but betrays a deeper, underlying logic. Tolerated lawbreaking is almost always a response to a political failure—the inability of our political institutions to adapt to social change or reach a rational compromise that reflects the interests of the nation and all concerned parties. That's why the American statutes are full of laws that no one wants to see fully enforced—or even enforced at all.

This political failure can happen for many reasons. Sometimes a law was passed by another generation with different ideas of right and wrong, but the political will necessary to repeal the law does not exist. Sometimes, as we'll see with polygamy or obscenity, the issue is too sensitive to discuss in rational terms. And sometimes the law as written is a symbol of some behavior to which we may aspire, which nevertheless remains wholly out of touch with reality. Whatever the reason, when politics fails, institutional tolerance of lawbreaking takes over.

I have never seen anti-racism laws, in both the United and the Confederate States of America, so well described. And because there is a consensus about who has the power and who has the limitations those with the power think everything is fine.

But the town's Black population sees problems. And this explanation fits the conditions much better than the alternative...that all the white people are saints and all the Black people are paranoid.