JUST IN: Jena 6 Member Arrested

Blacks will be blacks!

A member of the “Jena Six” was arrested and charged with assault today, according to an official at a Carrollton, Texas, jail.

Bryant R. Purvis, 19, now living in the Dallas area, was charged with assault causing bodily injury and is being held in the city jail with no bail pending a Thursday morning bond hearing, the jail official said.

Broadcast media have reported his arrest was in connection to an assault on a fellow Hebron High School student after vandalism to Purvis’ car.

Calls to Tina Jones’, Purvis’ mother, went unanswered today. Information about the arrest wasn’t immediately available, and messages left for a public information officer for the Carrollton Police Department were unreturned.

Purvis and five other black teens were arrested and initially charged with attempted murder in connection with a Dec. 4, 2006, assault on a fellow Jena High School student, Justin Barker, who is white.

Soon after Purvis’ arrest, his mother said she sent him to live with his uncle, Dallas Cowboy defensive lineman Jason Hatcher, so he could stay out of trouble and out of the limelight.

Purvis had stayed out of the limelight for most of last year following the high-profile case, but he did appear on Black Entertainment Television’s Hip-Hop Awards. Purvis and fellow Jena Six defendant Carwin Jones helped present the video of the year award during the October awards show.

A message left for Darrell Hickman, Purvis’ attorney, went unreturned. But during a December interview, the Alexandria attorney said he was hopeful that LaSalle Parish District Attorney Reed Walters would drop the charges against Purvis.

“I still feel that Bryant is totally innocent in this case," Hickman said. "Only one person out of a number of witnesses indicated they saw Bryant involved. I don't think they have a strong case against him at all."

The case of the Jena Six has caught attention worldwide and led to what many have called the biggest civil rights demonstration of the new millennium on Sept. 20, 2007, when more than 20,000 marched through Jena.

18-year-old indicted for hate crime

An 18-year-old Colfax man accused of hanging nooses from the back of his truck and driving past Jena Six marchers in Alexandria in September has been indicted on a federal hate crime.

Jeremiah Munsen faces up to 11 years in prison and a fine of $350,000 if convicted on the hate crime and civil rights conspiracy violation, according to the United States Department of Justice.


“This indictment accuses the defendant of conduct that constitutes a federal civil rights conspiracy violation and a federal hate crime,” said United States Attorney Donald Washington on Thursday. “It is a violation of federal law to intimidate, oppress, injure or threaten people because of their race and because those people are exercising and enjoying rights guaranteed and protected by the laws and Constitution of the United States. Our civil rights laws protect the civil rights of all Americans, and they remind us that we are all members of one particular race -- the human race.”

On Sept. 20, thousands of people from across the country came to Alexandria and to Jena for a march in support of six high school students known as the Jena Six.

The six Jena High School students were arrested accused of attacking a fellow classmate, Justin Barker. The six arrested are black and Barker is white.

The arrest and case garnered nationwide attention after the Rev. Al Sharpton and the Rev. Jesse Jackson made visits to Jena, claiming the treatment of the six teens was unfair.

One of the six has pleaded guilty in the attack. Others are awaiting trial.
Following the marches in Jena, many of the marchers came to Alexandria and gathered in downtown.

According to the indictment, Munsen and a 16-year-old boy, who has not been identified, conspired to threaten and intimidate the African Americans gathered in downtown Alexandria.

The indictment alleges the two fashioned nooses out of extension cords while talking about the Ku Klux Klan and the Jena Six rally then tied the nooses onto a truck.

They came to Alexandria where they allegedly drove slowly past a group of marchers waiting for buses to return to Tennessee, according to the Department of Justice.

Alexandria police arrested Munsen, who was driving, on charges of driving while intoxicated, inciting to riot and contributing to the delinquency of a juvenile, according to the police report.

The 16-year-old passenger was arrested on charges of underage drinking and probation violation, Alexandria Police Chief Daren Coutee said.

According to the police report, the 16-year-old told police he had a “KKK” tattoo on his chest and he had relatives who are members of the Klan.

According to Alexandria police, an unloaded gun was found in the vehicle and a set of brass knuckles.

The case is being prosecuted by the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice and the United States Attorney’s Office.