Tina Jones of Jena, La., stands under a tree at Jena High School where three nooses were found dangling last year.
La. Town Fells ‘White Tree,’ but Tension Runs Deep
Black Teens’ Case Intensifies Racial Issues
JENA, La. — Here in the woodsy heart of Louisiana, town leaders were looking for a fresh start, a way to erase the recent memory of Jim Crow-like hangman’s nooses dangling from a shade tree at the local high school. So they cut the tree down…
A few weeks after the nooses were discovered in September, an arsonist torched a wing of Jena High School. Race fights roiled the town for days, culminating in a schoolyard brawl that led the LaSalle Parish district attorney to charge six black teenagers with attempted murder for beating up a white teenager who suffered no life-threatening injuries.
