When President George W. Bush finally commented on the furore over racial injustice in Louisiana, he said events there had "saddened" him. It was a telling choice of word, indicating resignation and dispassionate distance from what had occurred. Less sadness and more anger would have been appropriate. The events in Jena are not just a local scandal, but a reminder to the American nation of how far it has to go in achieving racial equality, including equality before the law.

Anger in Jena first flared months ago, when black students defied custom by sitting under a shade tree hitherto used only by white students. That the school should ever have tolerated this "white tree" was bad enough. Some of the white students then responded by hanging nooses from it. School authorities failed to take even this seriously. After a series of fights and scuffles, including one in which a white student threatened black students with a shotgun, six black students beat up a white student, sending him briefly to hospital. For this they were charged, at first, with attempted murder - and hence faced the prospect of spending the rest of their lives in jail. The charges have since been reduced, but their offence is still being treated as a serious crime.