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.

The Jena, LA controversy isn't over. I didn't expect it to be over this quickly, but a couple of things have happened since the recent demonstration that make me genuinely concerned about how it will eventually be resolved. What put my concerns over the top was the recent statements by the District Attorney and Mayor of Jena that indicate their sympathies are far too closely aligned with those of white supremacist organizations. But what first made me concerned was the reaction of progressive white folks...something I thought we might adjust over time by filling in the huge gaps the mainstream media has left in the story. The more I read on the Jena controversy the more I feel like the drowning guy who keeps getting water balloons lobbed at him.

I've had my emotional reaction to it already. Thinking about the entire situation I conclude I have a snowball's chance in hell of changing the minds of the Mayor or District Attorney. They are taking the hardest line possible, and as I said, there was those recent statements...

I've realized though that there are several issues conflated in most Black folks' reaction, and teasing them apart might help those progressives among you that find yourselves troubled by the Jena demonstration feel more at ease.

The New York Times pulls out the big guns, and Black folks are in the cross hairs. Orlando Patterson gathers issues Black folks have ben trying to get action on for a long time, fearts of white folks and O.J. Simpson to undermine the demand for equal protection under the law in Jena, LA and by extension the whole Confederate States of America (“Sir, this is the South. We have different laws down here”).

Jena, O. J. and the Jailing of Black America
By ORLANDO PATTERSON

What exactly attracted thousands of demonstrators to the small Louisiana town? While for some it was a simple case of righting a grievous local injustice, and for others an opportunity to relive the civil rights era, for most the real motive was a long overdue cry of outrage at the use of the prison system as a means of controlling young black men....

How, after decades of undeniable racial progress, did we end up with this virtual gulag of racial incarceration?

You really want to help, Mr. Patterson? Start with the absolute truth. This "gulag of racial incarceration" did not take place after decades of undeniable racial progress. It took place as a part of decades of undeniable racial progress...which means we've been in denial all this time. Every time you talk about "decades of undeniable progress" you deny the reality of a HUGE fraction of Black constituencies. Every time you talk about "decades of undeniable progress" you speak of the experience of a fairly well defined subgroup of both Black and white folks.

This is a fact. The situation in Jena exposed this with undeniable clarity. I think this knowledge is...maybe correctly...seen as a threat to the peace. Hence the effort to obscure it beneath other legitimate concerns.

I saw this editorial in the Los Angeles Times.

Soul-searching in Jena
Residents of the Louisiana town must take a hard look at their racial problems.

My first thought was, "those who can, do; those who don't, preach."

You've noticed I've been following the media coverage of the Jena 6 demonstration. I've also been thinking about white folks' response to it. The blogification of online media has enabled me to work with actual evidence of their reactions. In fact, the lack of possibility of physical confrontation means you'll often find out things you'd never be told of face to face.

[Crossposted from Zuky.]

When I stopped blogging not too long ago, the Jena Six case was one reason among many that I decided to quit. I was disheartened a little, even as the petition kept growing and the images were spreading. I was worried that the case wasn't sexy enough, and I was afraid to do more work because it seemed like my work among those I considered my peers wasn't honored. If I casually did something reckless or made myself scarce from a project, it eventually got done. I felt like one of those armchair revolutionaries, obsolete, and I wanted to celebrate finishing my first year of law school, but I couldn't. I wanted to run down to Jena and play Perry Mason after a tan and a sex change, but I couldn't. At the same time, I felt knots in my stomach because of how late the U.S. seemed to pick up the case in its own backyard.

Senator Obama: Call for an End to All-White Juries!

AfroSpear's Francis L. Holland Blog

and Electronic Village Blog on MSNBC