Quick recap

This is from a couple of weeks ago and I know you know about it; I mention it only to provide a coda for previous posts.

The Jena 6 case is for all intents and purposes over.

Five members of the Jena Six pleaded no contest Friday[, June 26,] to misdemeanor simple battery and won't serve jail time, ending a case that thrust a small Louisiana town into the national spotlight and sparked a massive civil rights demonstration.

The five, standing quietly surrounded by their lawyers, were sentenced to seven days unsupervised probation and fined $500. It was a far less severe end to their cases than seemed possible when the six students were initially charged with attempted murder in the 2006 attack on Justin Barker, a white classmate.

Two quick things: The "no jail time" is, well let's call it misleading. One of the five, Theo Shaw, spent seven months in jail because he couldn't make bail. And the article refers to growing racial tensions in the months preceding the incident.

Residents said there were fights, but nothing too serious until December 2006 when Barker was attacked.

A few days before the fight that resulted in the Jena 6 case, one of the defendants had his head cracked open by a white armed with a beer bottle. Apparently, that was not "serious."

Footnote: For some reason, the posts that come up from the "Jena 6" link do not come up in chronological order. I've no idea why. So you may have to do some jumping back and forth.