page_title: Jena Six
section_title: Jena Six's subsequent activities
hierarchical_section_title: Jena Six / Jena Six's subsequent activities
caption_attribution_description: English: Self-avowed white supremacist Richard Barrett at the Sept. 20th, 2007 Jena Six Rally in Jena, Louisiana. Photograph by Michael David Murphy
context_page_description: The Jena Six were six black teenagers in Jena, Louisiana, convicted in the 2006 beating of Justin Barker, a white student at the local Jena High School, which they also attended. Barker was injured on December 4, 2006, by the members of the Jena Six, and received treatment at an emergency room. While the case was pending, it was often cited by some media commentators as an example of racial injustice in the United States. Some commentators believed that the defendants had been charged initially with too-serious offenses and had been treated unfairly.
  A number of events had taken place in and around Jena in the months before the Barker assault, which the media have associated with an alleged escalation of local racial tensions. These events included the hanging of rope nooses from a tree in the high school courtyard, two violent confrontations between white and black youths, and the destruction by fire of the main building of Jena High School. Extensive news coverage related to the Jena Six often reported these events as linked.
context_section_description: On August 6, Judge Yeager terminated Beard's probation (he remained under the conditions of his bail release in the Barker incident) so he could attend the Canterbury School in Connecticut. Half of the $39,900 annual tuition was paid for with Jena Six defense fund money. At Canterbury, Beard played on the basketball, baseball, and football teams and graduated in 2010.
  On May 10, Bell was stopped in Olla, Louisiana, for speeding and not having proper vehicle insurance while on a weekend pass from his sentence. In an interview televised on CNN on August 24, 2008, Bell admitted to having struck Barker in 2006 and described Jena as "a real racist town". On August 27, 2008, the Louisiana High School Athletic Association turned down Bell's request for an extra year of athletic eligibility. Marcus Jones, Bell's father, blamed Bell's attorney at the time of the plea agreement for the denial. "If it weren't for his attorney, Mychal would be able to play football", Jones said. "They coerced him into taking that plea agreement. If he wouldn't have taken that plea, he wouldn't be in the position he's in now". In 2014, Bell was attending Southern University in Baton Rouge.
  Robert Bailey attended high school at Shaw High School in Columbus, Georgia, where he was granted an extra year's eligibility to play football.
  Theo Shaw was able to attend classes at another high school and have his credits transferred to Jena. He received a Jena High School diploma although he took part in the graduation ceremony at the other school. On June 3, 2018, he graduated from  the University of Washington's School of Law, having received a full scholarship as a Gates Public Service Law Scholar.
caption: Self-avowed white supremacist Richard Barrett at the September 20, 2007, Jena Six Rally
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