Jena Six

Johnell Celistan

Jena six was about six African American students that attended a high school in a town called Jena which was located in Louisiana. They were arrested after being involved in a fight that was caused by a racial act that was being performed. There were some white students at the high school who decided it was ok to hang nooses from a tree in the high school courtyard. Two violent confrontations between white and black students had taken place. The threat to free expression in this case was taken too far by the white students who thought it was ok to offend the African American students at the high school by hanging nooses from the tree. Even though they were expressing a freedom of expression that was not ok because it caused problems and it caused a huge uproar in the city of Jena. Freedom of expression applies only if it doesn’t offend someone or can potentially start a riot. In this case the white student’s intentions was to offend the African Americans by being racist towards them. This happen back in 2006, and it hit the media hard, because the black students were being criminally charged for beating up the students who were involved with the hanging of the nooses. They were facing charges of second-degree murder.

http://www.democracynow.org/2007/7/10/the_case_of_the_jena_six