Two arrested in noose incident near Jena, Louisiana

Friday Sep 21, 2007 – by Clutch

ALEXANDRIA, Louisiana (CNN) — A Louisiana city that hosted many of the “Jena 6″ protesters Thursday became the site of a racially charged incident of its own. Authorities in Alexandria, less than 40 miles southwest of Jena, arrested two people who were driving a red pickup Thursday night with two nooses hanging off the back, repeatedly passing groups of demonstrators who were waiting for buses back to their home states.

The marchers had taken part in the huge protests in Jena that accused authorities there of injustice in the handling of racially charged cases — including the hanging of nooses in a tree after a group of black students sat in an area where traditionally only white students sat. The driver of the red truck, whom Alexandria police identified as Jeremiah Munsen, 18, was charged with contributing to the delinquency of a minor — a reference to the 16-year-old passenger. Munsen also was charged with driving while intoxicated and inciting to riot, according to the police report. As officials were questioning the driver, he said he had an unloaded rifle in the back of the truck, which police found. They also found a set of brass knuckles in a cup holder on the dashboard, the police report said.

The passenger told police he and his family are in the Ku Klux Klan and that he had KKK tattooed on his chest, the police report said. He also said that he tied the nooses and that the brass knuckles belonged to him, the report said. The report, filed by Officer F.R. Drewett, said he and another officer were standing with protesters awaiting their bus back to Nashville, Tennessee, when one of the group told him about a truck driving with nooses hanging off the back.

The truck was circling around town, repeatedly driving past groups of demonstrators, the report said. The officers pulled the pickup over and arrested two after searching the vehicle. At least one of the nooses was made out of an extension cord, according to the police report. The driver and passenger are white, according to the police report. An entry in the report lists “Bias Motive: Racial Anti-Black.” Alexandria Mayor Jacques Roy said those involved were “from around Jena” and not from the same parish as his city. Roy said he is looking into whether the incident was a hate crime.

A photograph of the truck was sent to CNN by I-Reporter Casanova Love, 26, who said he is in the U.S. military. He’s visiting his family in Louisiana and said he witnessed the event. After the arrests, Roy came out to address the crowd and apologized, saying he does not condone racism, Love said. Love added, “If the police had not stepped in, I fear what might have happened.”

Love explained why he sent the photo to CNN: “People need to see this. It’s 2007, and we still have fools acting like it’s 1960.”

Roy said the matter is “not indicative” of Alexandria and that local authorities will look into it “completely, thoroughly and transparently.” Some protesters saw another truck with a noose hanging off it, but authorities did not find the vehicle, according to the police report.

Source: CNN and I-Report

Rich says:

September 21, 2007 at 4:26 pm

White kids smash a bottle on a black kids head causing serious gash and many stitches, nobody is charged. Cops know who did it, its just a schoolyard fight, they say. Black kids punch a white kid for yelling the n-word repeatedly causing minor bruise, he goes to ER for dramatic effect and is release immediately– without treatment –and later that day attends a school sports event. He’s fine. Black kids are charged with attempted murder! One of them is convicted of a felony assault/battery, his conviction is thrown out, but he is not granted reasonable bail. (Where do they think he will run to?) In perspective, white kids placed rope nooses on a tree on school property, provoking many of the ensuing incidents. Principal calls nooses a prank. No prank, — a terrifying threat to any non-white in proximity and a serious harassment to anyone else. Are the white people down there just too stupid to feel shame for this?

↑ Reply

James says:

Drunk kid in a truck, exercising his free speech. Idiot for driving drunk, but unless its illegal to have a rope hang off the back of your truck, I dont see what the big deal is…I get the fact that he may have scared people, or made them feel uncomfortable for his innappropriate display, but many peopel feel those whoare marching are also guilty of scare tactics, intimidation and an innappropriate display,,,If I had thousands and thousands of protestors drop in on my town and I did not agree with what they were protesting, I too would take it upon myslef to stage some sort of counter-demonstration,,,this nation is getting too “black sensitive” and anti-white,,just ask the Duke Lacrosse players,,shameful

Terrible says:

September 21, 2007 at 5:23 pm

Are you serious James! People DIED! DIED! from that kind of “freedom of speech”. It’s so funny how whites say we are too sensitive when they are the ones who have killed us and sprayed us with water hose not to long ago.

Stop trying to make us think “oh – that was SO LONG ago” NO – it wasn’t….. My parents and grandparents went through it and they are still living – so it can’t be that long ago. Stop trying to down play the massive HATE most whites have. No ones anti-white – we are anti – hate – it just happens to be whites that are still causing us this mess.

Calvin says:

September 21, 2007 at 5:34 pm

James, I take it that you don’t understand or see the fact and the reason for the display of expression. Like always and in anything it doesn’t matter until it is your turn! Please understand, if the noose was never hung from the tree, we would have NEVER heard of JENA Louisiana. This is not about Black and White, it is about RIGHT and WRONG! OBTW, what is the legal drinking age in Louisiana? Is it different from the rest of the States? Lets see ,18 & 16 years old and drunk, with a GUN BRASS KNUCKS looking for a fight! So what should happen to them? I am sure that your answer would be it depends! As you said “SHAMEFUL!”

Maxine says:

September 21, 2007 at 5:59 pm

You know it’s really funny to me when non-blacks bring up cases like the Duke Lacrosse, O.J. Simpson or some other case where they didn’t get their way at first. And I say at first, cause they always find a way to get off or make someone pay. Case in point O.J., they are throwing the book at him and we all know why. Ask yourself how many of our friends and family members have went through similar situations like Jena 6 or who got pulled over and harassed for no reason and are in jail or have a mark on their record because of people with racist attitudes.

Whites always have an excuse – you know that was wrong and you stated you would do something similar right?…you and these young men are lucky you haven’t come across or encountered a black person who really doesn’t care – cause it’s would be a scary sight – but that would just be a scare tactic huh.

Mlle Smith says:

September 21, 2007 at 6:43 pm

James: Apparently you need a lesson in Constitutional Law and Civil Liberties. “Freedom of Speech” is not unlimited…there is something called “incite to riot”, for example.

You do not yell “fire” in a crowded theater, as there is a high likelihood of incident and/or harm. This is a classic example Supreme Court justices point to when detailing the limits on “free speech”.

The same applies in this situation. One would not drive through the March on Washington with a noose hanging from their vehicle (not even taking into account how low class, tacky, and barbaric that is), as there is a very high likelihood of incident and/or harm.

The intent is what is at question here, and in this case, the intent was to incite a riot or incident. This is why they have been charged (and rightfully so) with “inciting to riot”.

If you decided to stage a similar “counter-demonstration” as you mentioned earlier, you would quickly land yourself in prison.

tremaine says:

September 21, 2007 at 11:39 pm

Living as a non-white in this country will continue to be a never-ending struggle. Nothing’s getting easier, and it probably never will. All of these events sadden me, and the worst part of it all, is that this is probably just the beginning; the tip of the ice-berg, if you will. *sighs* this is certainly AmeriKKKa…

sherry heyl says:

September 22, 2007 at 2:22 pm

First I am thankful to see that we are not hiding the fact that these occurrences are still happening. Things get ugly when we turn a blind eye. Second, James is correct that people have the right to make total asses of themselves, which is exactly what the people in this truck were doing.

Instead of responding with fear and anger, I would like to think the we are progressing this country and that the few who would like to try to hold us back will reveal themselves as the weak links and ultimately be rejected by a society who no longer entertains their ignorance.

On that note, those who continue to play the victim and insist that things are getting worse, show themselves as people not only holding themselves back but attempting to spread hopelessness, and I personally reject that attitude as well.

Sdot says:

September 24, 2007 at 12:23 pm

James is clearly on that…BLOW b/c that abysmal display ignorance is beyond a BIG deal. Clearly you’re the reasons why people are extra sensitive and anti-whateva b/c if everyone felt a certain way as opposed to apathetic about the clear display of disrespect we would not be in said situations in 2007! Unless those people felt pain, disgust, outrage & discomfort when they saw those nooses then I don’t give a damn what them folk feeling. They had no reason to be afraid…afraid of what?! A lot of BLACK folk in one area??? I mean we’re not trying to say that everybody in Jena or Alexandria is racist…we’re just saying that if ONE person is…its NOT okay…BOTTOMLINE! What you saying James?!