Jena 6

[Friz]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/huffpost/20070919/cm_huffpost/065010
 If you don't know who the Jena 6 are, you are not alone. The first I heard about the black high school teens being railroaded through the Louisiana criminal justice system was last week when I received an email urging me to wear black Thursday the 20th in their support.

The first Sean Hannity heard about it was last night when Reverend Al was trying to bring it up and Hannity assumed he was talking about Megan Williams, the young black woman who was tortured and sexually assaulted by those crazy hillbillies in West Virginia. Cryptkeeper Colmes tried to explain but as usual Hannity didn't hear a word he said.

The Jena 6 case began last fall when a new black student to the mostly white, rural Louisiana town of Jena sat under the "white tree," so called because it was the place where the white kids at school congregated.

The next day three white boys on the rodeo team hung three nooses from the tree.

The white boys were only given an in-school suspension, their act deemed no more than a "prank."

The day after that several of the school's black high school football stars organized a peaceful silent protest under the tree. The school freaked, called in the police and the next day Reed Walters, the local D.A., addressed the school. There, he is reported to have looked at the black kids in the audience, waved his pen in the air and said, "With a stroke of this pen, I can make your life disappear."

The football season was a good one for Jena and for a few months there was relative quiet in the town. Then on November 30th, a wing of the high school was burned down. Whites thought it was blacks and the blacks assumed it was the whites.

The always excellent Wade Goodman of NPR reported what happened next:

"The next night, 16-year-old Robert Bailey and a few black friends tried to enter a party attended mostly by whites. When Bailey got inside, he was attacked and beaten. The next day, tensions escalated at a local convenience store. Bailey exchanged words with a white student who had been at the party. The white boy ran back to his truck and pulled out a pistol grip shotgun. Bailey ran after him and wrestled him for the gun.
After some scuffling, Bailey and his friends took the gun away and brought it home. Bailey was eventually charged with theft of a firearm, second-degree robbery and disturbing the peace. The white student who pulled the weapon was not charged at all.

The following Monday, Dec. 4, a white student named Justin Barker was loudly bragging to friends in the school hallway that Robert Bailey had been whipped by a white man on Friday night. When Barker walked into the courtyard, he was attacked by a group of black students. The first punch knocked Barker out and he was kicked several times in the head. But the injuries turned out to be superficial. Barker was examined by doctors and released; he went out to a social function later that evening.

Six black students were arrested and charged with aggravated assault. But District Attorney Reed Walters increased the charges to attempted second-degree murder."

The first black kid to go to court, Mychal Bell, then 16, was tried as an adult and convicted by an all-white jury. He faced 22 years in prison. After an outcry the charges were reduced; however, tomorrow Mychal Bell is to be sentenced on the lesser charges.

The white kids who attacked Bailey the night before have not been charged with anything.

As always happens in these cases, the blacks say of course there has always been racism in this little town, and the whites say their little town is just like any other small town full of good, churchgoing folk.

What white Southerners still fail to realize is their complicity in some of the most vicious and effective terrorism the world has ever seen. Lynchings were only the most visible and brutal embodiments of a system to terrorize the black minority. A noose is a symbol the way a swastika is a symbol. A noose hanging from a tree in that context is an almost unimaginably vicious act. Those white teens, instead of being ashamed of their terrorist ancestry, reveled in the evil. The adults who are charged with the education of all the students deemed it merely a prank.

The scariest part of this ordeal is that you know these boys are the relatively lucky ones for whom publicity might spare them. How many other black lives are still thrown away at the whim of our broken justice system?

[Small Business Owner of Any Repute]

The real problem here doesn't seem to be that the black students were charged with a crime, but that the white students weren't.  Is that accurate?

[Friz]

The real problem here doesn't seem to be that the black students were charged with a crime, but that the white students weren't.  Is that accurate?

That's accurate, but I fully support the Jena 6 in their actions of beating tolerance into the racist's skull.  From what it sounds like, they are double-standard, seeing as they equated schoolyard bullying to attempted murder.

[Small Business Owner of Any Repute]

The real problem here doesn't seem to be that the black students were charged with a crime, but that the white students weren't.  Is that accurate?

That's accurate, but I fully support the Jena 6 in their actions of beating tolerance into the racist's skull.  From what it sounds like, they are double-standard, seeing as they equated schoolyard bullying to attempted murder.

Kicking someone who is unconcious several times in the head goes a little bit beyond "schoolyard bullying."

[Reluctant Republican]

The real problem here doesn't seem to be that the black students were charged with a crime, but that the white students weren't.  Is that accurate?

That's accurate, but I fully support the Jena 6 in their actions of beating tolerance into the racist's skull.  From what it sounds like, they are double-standard, seeing as they equated schoolyard bullying to attempted murder.

Kicking someone who is unconcious several times in the head goes a little bit beyond "schoolyard bullying."

^^

That said, The guy had it coming. But jail is a little harsh in this case. Just make them all do community service or something, or conflict resolution. The white instigator should have to do something as well. Jail is a big overeaction though, I believe.

[Friz]

The real problem here doesn't seem to be that the black students were charged with a crime, but that the white students weren't.  Is that accurate?

That's accurate, but I fully support the Jena 6 in their actions of beating tolerance into the racist's skull.  From what it sounds like, they are double-standard, seeing as they equated schoolyard bullying to attempted murder.

Kicking someone who is unconcious several times in the head goes a little bit beyond "schoolyard bullying."

The kid got to go to a party the same day.  He's not scarred for life.

[Ban my account ffs!]

Well, why don't we just feed the Stereotype another hardy helping.

Louisiana=garbage pile.

[Eraserhead]

Louisiana=garbage pile.

Pretty much. The whites and the blacks down there live like cavemen.

[7,052,770]

The kid they beat up attended a social function that night, so he obviously wasn't that hurt.

[John Dibble]

The real problem here doesn't seem to be that the black students were charged with a crime, but that the white students weren't.  Is that accurate?

That's accurate, but I fully support the Jena 6 in their actions of beating tolerance into the racist's skull.  From what it sounds like, they are double-standard, seeing as they equated schoolyard bullying to attempted murder.

Kicking someone who is unconcious several times in the head goes a little bit beyond "schoolyard bullying."

The kid got to go to a party the same day.  He's not scarred for life.

What does that have to do with it? If he had suffered brain damage or died from being kicked in the head while being unconscious would your reaction be different? Or let's say someone in school kicked you in the head after knocking you unconscious, would you just pass it off as schoolyard bullying then? As Mr. Moderate said kicking an unconscious person in the head several times goes beyond mere bullying, even if they guy did deserve a punch to the face.

I do agree that an attempted murder charge here is way more than is called for - unless they can prove that they were actually trying to kill them it's assault at best.

[Small Business Owner of Any Repute]

The kid they beat up attended a social function that night, so he obviously wasn't that hurt.

And the Jena 6 are indeed lucky that he was able to withstand being kicked in the head.  It's what makes this a brutal assault instead of a brutal murder.

I don't think this was "attempted murder," but I don't have too much of a problem letting a jury decide that.  It's easily a racially motivated aggravated assault (though I doubt the south is a haven for hate crime laws).  This most definitely deserves jail time, IMO.

[Rob]

These kids should be released. Hopefully that racist learned something from this.

[Friz]

The real problem here doesn't seem to be that the black students were charged with a crime, but that the white students weren't.  Is that accurate?

That's accurate, but I fully support the Jena 6 in their actions of beating tolerance into the racist's skull.  From what it sounds like, they are double-standard, seeing as they equated schoolyard bullying to attempted murder.

Kicking someone who is unconcious several times in the head goes a little bit beyond "schoolyard bullying."

The kid got to go to a party the same day.  He's not scarred for life.

What does that have to do with it? If he had suffered brain damage or died from being kicked in the head while being unconscious would your reaction be different? Or let's say someone in school kicked you in the head after knocking you unconscious, would you just pass it off as schoolyard bullying then? As Mr. Moderate said kicking an unconscious person in the head several times goes beyond mere bullying, even if they guy did deserve a punch to the face.

I do agree that an attempted murder charge here is way more than is called for - unless they can prove that they were actually trying to kill them it's assault at best.

I wouldn't make racially insensitive remarks period, let alone in a school with many black students.  The racist deserved what he got.

[Gabu]

The racist deserved what he got.

A reinforcement of his views?

[Sam Spade]

The usual suspects were out on the ground in Newark today on this one.  Made me feel like hanging up a couple of nooses myself, but then I realized that they'll already do the work for me.

[memphis]

This is the dumbest thing ever, even for the Sharpton/Jesse Jackson crowd. If you beat up somebody at school so badly as to induce unconsciousness, you shouldn't be surprised if you go to jail. As others have said, attempted murder is excessive unless intent can be proven, but I cannot begin to understand the outpouring of sympathy and expressions of victimhood over obviously criminal activity.

[Friz]

This is the dumbest thing ever, even for the Sharpton/Jesse Jackson crowd. If you beat up somebody at school so badly as to induce unconsciousness, you shouldn't be surprised if you go to jail. As others have said, attempted murder is excessive unless intent can be proven, but I cannot begin to understand the outpouring of sympathy and expressions of victimhood over obviously criminal activity.

Did you read the article?  Most of it was not mentioned on CBS tonight (such as the racist remarks that caused the beating or that he went to a social function that night).  The problem at hand is the double standard in the justice system.

I agree with Reluctant Republican (!) that they should have all just gotten community service.  Of course, it's the south, so logic won't prevail ever.

[memphis]

This is the dumbest thing ever, even for the Sharpton/Jesse Jackson crowd. If you beat up somebody at school so badly as to induce unconsciousness, you shouldn't be surprised if you go to jail. As others have said, attempted murder is excessive unless intent can be proven, but I cannot begin to understand the outpouring of sympathy and expressions of victimhood over obviously criminal activity.

Did you read the article?  Most of it was not mentioned on CBS tonight (such as the racist remarks that caused the beating or that he went to a social function that night).  The problem at hand is the double standard in the justice system.

I agree with Reluctant Republican (!) that they should have all just gotten community service.  Of course, it's the south, so logic won't prevail ever.

I really don't care about the he said/she said crap. If you physically attack somebody, you should serve time. It doesn't really matter what race the students are. Community service ought to be reserved for very minor, non-violent offenses.

[Small Business Owner of Any Repute]

Did you read the article?  Most of it was not mentioned on CBS tonight (such as the racist remarks that caused the beating or that he went to a social function that night).  The problem at hand is the double standard in the justice system.

Contrary to what you clearly believe, saying something racially insensitive is not justification for aggravated assault.

[Gabu]

Did you read the article?  Most of it was not mentioned on CBS tonight (such as the racist remarks that caused the beating or that he went to a social function that night).  The problem at hand is the double standard in the justice system.

Contrary to what you clearly believe, saying something racially insensitive is not justification for aggravated assault.

There's also the part where Bailey got beaten by white people, to whom nothing was done, and when he was threatened by a white guy and took the gun away in self-defense, resulting in him being charged with theft of a firearm while the white guy, obviously intending to threaten him with the gun, had, again, nothing done to him.  Both whites and blacks did equally bad things here, but the black people get criminal charges while nobody seems to care about the white people.

If the events described in this article are fully accurate, I don't think it can really be argued that there isn't some sort of double-standard going on.

[Queen Mum Inks.LWC]

The real problem here doesn't seem to be that the black students were charged with a crime, but that the white students weren't.  Is that accurate?

That's accurate, but I fully support the Jena 6 in their actions of beating tolerance into the racist's skull.  From what it sounds like, they are double-standard, seeing as they equated schoolyard bullying to attempted murder.

Kicking someone who is unconcious several times in the head goes a little bit beyond "schoolyard bullying."

But even aggravated 2nd degree battery (what the charge was reduced to) - requires a weapon.  And in LA, for 2nd degree battery, a minor can't be charged as an adult.

I think the blacks should be punished, but so should the whites - and this scum of a DA has to actually legitimately charge the blacks.  There's a post on my blog about this - which some guy keeps commenting on - and we've gone back and forth (inkslwc.wordpress.com).  He claimed that the battery charge was legit - but there was no weapon involved.

[Small Business Owner of Any Repute]

Did you read the article?  Most of it was not mentioned on CBS tonight (such as the racist remarks that caused the beating or that he went to a social function that night).  The problem at hand is the double standard in the justice system.

Contrary to what you clearly believe, saying something racially insensitive is not justification for aggravated assault.

There's also the part where Bailey got beaten by white people, to whom nothing was done, and when he was threatened by a white guy and took the gun away in self-defense, resulting in him being charged with theft of a firearm while the white guy, obviously intending to threaten him with the gun, had, again, nothing done to him.  Both whites and blacks did equally bad things here, but the black people get criminal charges while nobody seems to care about the white people.

If the events described in this article are fully accurate, I don't think it can really be argued that there isn't some sort of double-standard going on.

I think I started my discussion off by stating that it's clear there's a double standard going on.  But the double standard is not correctly resolved by letting the black kids off the hook too.

[Ebowed]

But the double standard is not correctly resolved by letting the black kids off the hook too.

Self-defense.  The racist scumbags hung nooses from a tree.  They can't expect that to be considered "saying something racially insensitive."

[they don't love you like i love you]

Two guys in Minnesota were actually arrested and jailed for hanging a noose at a construction site they worked at obviously aimed at a black co-worker.

[Friz]

Two guys in Minnesota were actually arrested and jailed for hanging a noose at a construction site they worked at obviously aimed at a black co-worker.

Well Minnesota isn't part of the south, so racism isn't tolerated there.