More Nooses In Louisiana

September 22nd, 2007

White teens hang nooses from truck in Alexandria, after Jena 6 March

So as I was saying in my last post, this incident happened to my group from Nashville.

Nooses From Truck In Alexandria

Here in Nashville Tennessee, an adhoc coalition of community activist came together and raised approximately 17,000 to take 5 community buses for free; plus helped to organize at Tennessee State (my alma mater) and Fisk to get those schools to provide 5 more buses for their students to go for free.

Anyway the schedule had gotten messed up and we had to allow our bus drivers to get the rest of their sleep. Different buses of the 10 left at different times and their remained the passengers of two of the buses; about 112 of us. It was almost time for them to come back from their hotel to pick us up. We where on Main Street, across from the town square amphitheatre where Michael Baisden did his live radio show from Alexandria earlier that afternoon.

It was approximately 9:30 central time. I missed this first part, but according to my fellow riders; they circled the block once. Then they circled a second time showing a noose out the window, then they circled a third time with the nooses hanging from the back of the truck. This is when I first noticed them.

On this third time around they got stopped by a red light. What’s kind of retarded on their part, there was an officer in uniform standing on the corner the whole time, as well as one in an unmarked car that they would not have seen (but I knew he was there from earlier when I crossed the street behind him). How the kids didn’t see the cop on the corner, and how he didn’t see them the first two times I don’t know (maybe he had his backed turned) But by the time the truck came back the third time, some of my fellow riders had alerted the cops there. The unmarked car pulled in front of the truck while at the light.

Other officers came over, they talked to the teens while in the truck; then brought them out and searched them out of the truck. Found in the truck was beer and a rifle. An Alexandria resident standing over with us said he thought it looked like a 30 alt 6 rifle. They are 18 and 16 or 15 according to officials on the scene. I’ve since heard CNN say 16.

Also according to officials on the scene, first Public Works Director Merriell Lawson, a Black woman, and then by Mayor Jacques Roy, a white man; the two were not from Alexandria, which is Rapides Parish. They are from Grant Parish, in which Colfax is the Parish Seat.

Having been called about the incident by his chief of staff while preparing to for bed, he Mayor rushed over from his nearby home, still in his pajama bottoms, slippers and a collared top.
The Mayor quickly disavowed the incident. Promised to take strong action against the teenagers, saying he hates to have to go after kids like this, but 16 and 18 year olds knows what a noose represents. Going on to say, when kids act this way, “it has to come from their folks”. He said that hate crimes and anything that could be applied, would be looked at.

That was the only incident we had, or anyone that I can tel; in Alexandria all day. In Jena some white folks stood around staring trying to look intimidating, and a pick up truck with a big Confederate flag waving from the Antenna drove up by the marchers; but I saw nothing more.
By coincident, while waiting for the drivers to get some sleep in Alexandria earlier that evening, I and some other riders went over to a bar about a 2 blocks up, and one block over from where this incident happened to watch coverage of the march on CNN. We sat down In a lounge area an introduced ourselves to two locals who were friendly. They were both in business attire so I asked if they worked downtown, and one of them said, “well, I’m the police chief”
Chief Coutee would go on to notify us that the only incidents he’d heard about all day were the state police telling him that there had been some talking back and forth down in Jena, but that was it.

The city of Alexandria treated us well, including their police escorting ours and other buses. No doubt, at least in part, because we spent the last two days dropping tens of thousands of dollars on their economy; but in general the average person was nice as well, and every thing had gone lovely until the noose incident to end the night

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  • D. Yobachi Boswell

  • Yobachi Boswell is creator and publisher of BlackPerspecitve.net. I’m a writer, activist and political watcher based in Nashville, Tennessee. I’ve also been know to do some spoken word and MCing in my day.

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