Jena 6

[mike p]

People never cease to amaze me. When I was leaving STL I saw a in a big 'ol truck that ha d a confederate flag mounted on the back.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jena_Six


http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/law/09/20/jena.six/index.html?iref=newssearch

[Bucho]

i still don't know what to make of this whole thing yet.

without a doubt, the noose "prank" was (and this is an understatement) tasteless, but i can't justify 5 or 6 people beatin the crap out of one guy, regardless of race, gender, etc.

[MCYD]

those that do not know history are doomed to repeat it.

Havent we figured this out yet. We are a digressing group of people.

[r0t8]

i don't understand... a group of black kids beat a white kid... black kids charged... and the black community is pissed because those kids were charged for doing something they did?? doesn't compute...

[LiquidCrazE]

They were given muder 2 to begin with but it was lowered again and again they won't face many if any charges. The wikipedia also mentions that charges have been dropped for Bell. So 6 people can stand around and kick someone who's already down and they won't get in troubel for it. It's ok to beat people up.
I guess if you call the race card you can do anything you want.

[The Professor]

call a fight a fight... don't run to attempted murder if it is merely assault...

[NorthlandRaveAlum]

People never cease to amaze me. When I was leaving STL I saw a in a big 'ol truck that ha d a confederate flag mounted on the back.

alot of the people in this po-dunk down I live in have confederate flag stickers on their car... and if it's REALLY purely a symbol of hatred, then they put on a good act... people here are so damn nice I often just want to puke...

Others view the flag as a symbol of rebellion against the federal government of the United States. While the Confederate flag is indeed used by some racist and White Supremacist groups, these are not the only ones to fly or support it. Many Southerners who support the Confederate flag see it as a heritage and historical symbol, representing pride and rememberance in their ancestors.

[Bucho]

first off, wikipedia is NOT a verifiable source of information. it's composed by the general public and not really regulated. quote it as a secondary source, but not as a main source of news.

secondly, 5 people getting Murder 2 IS a bad call. a reduction in sentence is prudent on that issue. assault, battery, i'm sure there are a few others, but if i'm not mistaken, murder requires the death of someone to be a viable charge.

[r0t8]

maybe it was just a really harsh judge who would have done that to anyone. 6 people kicking someone in the head could easily kill them. i don't know how many times i've heard of someone dying from "blunt force trauma to the head". what's the difference in 6 boots and a baseball bat? i'm pretty sure that's what was going through the judge's mind... at least as much as those people are sure he was being racist.

they should all get 2nd degree murder just for being a bunch of pussies who have to use a gang to take one person down. i hate that shit, no matter if they're black or a group of skinheads.

al sharpton and jesse jackson are just using all this as a way to get in the limelight. you never see them doing anything productive other than taking advantage of such situations. if they want to promote "equal rights for blacks", they could do it in a much more positive way than always getting people riled up and fighting against eachother. if they are so determined, i'm sure there is some other method.

probably the best thing to do would be to look at the judge's past sentences for comparison...

[J. Phoenix]

First, off the charge would be attempted murder. No one died.
But then, the people involved are minors. Are we going to try them as adults? The victim in question was reportedly able to attend school the next day, as opposed to having been permanently maimed or put into a coma.

The story about the nooses hanging from a tree is relatively unrelated and sensational, especially considering that I read several accounts of this story reported that never bothered to mention the two events are in essence, incidental. Not to mention that while the nooses do revive the memory of lynchings...nothing violent actually occurred, and the perpetrators did receive some form of punishment.

And in turn, all I can come to believe is that this comes down a big PR campaign, a useless rallying point for aging former civil rights leaders to descend upon a small town and set a public example.
A public example that much resembles the cries that OJ Simpson must be innocent because the LAPD was prejudiced against him because of his skin color alone. Looking backwards forty years to '67 when people were actually fighting the good fight for much needed civil rights, this looks like a fabricated farce by comparison.

Rascism exists. But it is fueled by those who would tell you that our skin color has any true relevance, whether the person feeding you this line is black or white.

Skin color matters as much as eye color or hair color. Still, I don't see flocks of blondes organized to descend upon a given situation where a blonde was beaten up by redheads to protest blonde rights.

The fact that the kid that was beaten up was white and the people doing violence were black is irrelevant as is any situation where we attempt to bring a racial overtone into the story. If the racial aspect were reversed, and white kids had beaten a single black kid, I somehow doubt the NAACP would have issued a public statement and drawn great attention to the plight of the aggressors.

There is no true black on white crime, no white on black crime, no black on black crime. These are all human crimes, committed by human beings on other human beings.

Race is only going to matter as long as we allow and encourage it to become an issue. The day we quit believing there is any difference between any of us and that we are all equal will be a great day indeed.

[mikemcgrath]

First, off the charge would be attempted murder. No one died.
But then, the people involved are minors. Are we going to try them as adults? The victim in question was reportedly able to attend school the next day, as opposed to having been permanently maimed or put into a coma.

The story about the nooses hanging from a tree is relatively unrelated and sensational, especially considering that I read several accounts of this story reported that never bothered to mention the two events are in essence, incidental. Not to mention that while the nooses do revive the memory of lynchings...nothing violent actually occurred, and the perpetrators did receive some form of punishment.

And in turn, all I can come to believe is that this comes down a big PR campaign, a useless rallying point for aging former civil rights leaders to descend upon a small town and set a public example.
A public example that much resembles the cries that OJ Simpson must be innocent because the LAPD was prejudiced against him because of his skin color alone. Looking backwards forty years to '67 when people were actually fighting the good fight for much needed civil rights, this looks like a fabricated farce by comparison.

Rascism exists. But it is fueled by those who would tell you that our skin color has any true relevance, whether the person feeding you this line is black or white.

Skin color matters as much as eye color or hair color. Still, I don't see flocks of blondes organized to descend upon a given situation where a blonde was beaten up by redheads to protest blonde rights.

The fact that the kid that was beaten up was white and the people doing violence were black is irrelevant as is any situation where we attempt to bring a racial overtone into the story. If the racial aspect were reversed, and white kids had beaten a single black kid, I somehow doubt the NAACP would have issued a public statement and drawn great attention to the plight of the aggressors.

There is no true black on white crime, no white on black crime, no black on black crime. These are all human crimes, committed by human beings on other human beings.

Race is only going to matter as long as we allow and encourage it to become an issue. The day we quit believing there is any difference between any of us and that we are all equal will be a great day indeed.


well said.

[r0t8]

But then, the people involved are minors. Are we going to try them as adults?
that should be one of the main points of protest. too many kids these days are tried as adults and given unduly harsh sentences... no matter their race. i think the fact he was able to go to school the next day is irrelevant though. one more kick could have meant a coma...

[cQuence808]

It all started with this tree in Jena,Louisiana, a town of about 4,000 residents,85%of whom are white. A student asked if he could sit under the tree for "Whites Only." The African-American student was then told by school administrators that he could sit wherever he chooses to sit. So the student sat.

The next day students arrived to see three nooses hung on the tree for "Whites Only." The message was clear to the African American students:you do not sit under a tree "marked" for "Whites Only." The boys who hung the nooses on the tree were suspended for a few days,yes a few days. School administrators didn't feel it imperative to expel the young white males; the superintendent felt that the incident was merely a harmless prank. The black students,however,did not take the "prank" so lightly;they staged a sit-in underneath the now infamous tree. For the remaining part of September and October, tension rose between the blacks and whites. Fights broke out and part of the school was lit on fire.


On Decmber 3rd 2006,another incident of racial tension occurred at this gas station pictured above. An argument ensued between one of the boys of the Jena 6 and a young unidentified male. A brawl followed in which the young white boy drew a rifle gun at Bailey,a Jena 6 male,and a couple of his other friends.The three teenagers were able to fight off the young man and were able to take the gun away.Bailey,the the black male, ran away with the gun and was later charged with theft of a firearm,second-degree robbery, and disturbing the peace


Then it happened. On December 4th,yet another fight broke out between a black and white student. Justin Barker,who had been racially taunting some black students, was beaten unconscious. Justin,the alleged victim in question, was rushed to the hospital in which he was discharged after two hours of observation. This now historical fight resulted in the apprehending of six males. So it became that these six black men would be known as the Jena 6. The Jena 6 are 17-year-old Robert Bailey Junior whose bail was set at $138,000; 17-year-old Theo Shaw - bail $130,000; 18-year-old Carwin Jones--bail $100,000; 17-year-old Bryant Purvis--bail $70,000; 16 year old Mychal Bell, a sophomore in high school who was charged as an adult and for whom bail was set at $90,000; and an unidentified minor.


--------------------------------------------------------------

Ok.
that being said,...
it is my belife / experience that if you are bold enough
to go around a group of black kids & taunt
them for being black, with guns & nasty words, by yourself,
your going to get the shit kicked outta you.
Everyone knows that.
ESPECIALLY in the south!!
If there are any fed up black folks in the
world,... its black folks down south.
Thats like some idiot neo-nazi going
around a bunch of Jews, by himself, and screaming, " HAIL HITLER!! "
Seriously,... who does that kinda shit?
Aparently Justin Barker.
Now why would that kid do that?

And WHY is there STILL a " WHITES ONLY TREE "
anywhere in America in 2007!!!.
And why does anyone have to ASK to sit under it???

He got his ass beat,... and he kinda asked for it.
Did he really think that these ( KIDS ) were gonna
be the bigger " men " and turn the other cheek?
NO. Thats not what kids do.
Hell,... thats not what most ADULTS do.

So yea 2 wrongs dont make a right,...
but dont go stirring up shit if you
cant handle the OBVIOUS consequence.
i think all these kids,
black & white should
be forced to do some
therapy sessions together.
and figure out why they
hate each other soo much.

But it seems to me like all this started over
a few white kids thinking they were bad ass,
and it ended with them getting thier ass beat.


just my .02 cents.

[cQuence808]

well said.

yea.

[djnegator]

This whole situation screams of ignorant parents. On all sides. Unfortunate that it is still being propagated in 2007, but it is not just in the south. In these small rural areas, where people have never seen an integrated society or had any secondary education it is rampant still. Ignorant and prejudiced parents breed ignorant and prejudiced kids. Hopefully the next generation of whites and blacks figures it out....

since they will be minorities to mexicans and asians...lol.

[timmyruckus]

He got his ass beat,... and he kinda asked for it.


shoot, he did more than kinda ask for it. kid is lucky he is still alive. personally, the only reason i don't wish this jackass to be dead is because of the consequences to the guys who whooped this kids ass.

it's the same thing i feel about the kid at the John Kerry thing. If you act right, you'll be fine. As soon as you start acting like a jackass, no matter the degree, you need to be prepared to accept what the hell is potentially coming to you.....this situation is especially dangerous because you have a racist who is also unintelligent, ultimate ignorance needs to be closely monitored imo....bad news from that

[cQuence808]

This whole situation screams of ignorant parents. On all sides. Unfortunate that it is still being propagated in 2007, but it is not just in the south. In these small rural areas, where people have never seen an integrated society or had any secondary education it is rampant still. Ignorant and prejudiced parents breed ignorant and prejudiced kids. Hopefully the next generation of whites and blacks figures it out....

since they will be minorities to mexicans and asians...lol.


Couldnt have said it better.

[cQuence808]

If you act right, you'll be fine. As soon as you start acting like a jackass, no matter the degree, you need to be prepared to accept what the hell is potentially coming to you.....


TESTIFY!!!

preach it brother.

http://www.theologian.org.uk/images/worshippers.jpg

[timmyruckus]

TESTIFY!!!

preach it brother.


fer serious.....that dude prolly would've caught an ass beating from me personally had i known who dunnit