This is the problem of the modern civil rights movement. When they go after guys like Imus for stupid comments like "nappy headed hoes" it wreaks their legitimacy when they now there is a true injustice like what we are seeing here with jena 6. So when they can actually serve a purpose, they become associated with just taking the black man's side no matter what. It's like crying wolf too many times, now the wolf is here.
By the way, all of you people who think you know about this case because you've been watching Fox 26 and CNN, I would urge you to take some time to read the facts surrounding this case: Wikipedia Page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jena_Six Chronological Order of Events from the local newspaper: http://www.thejenatimes.net/home_page_graphics/home.html
Whitlock is sort of a "Black people need to change" black advocate. He isn't denying the racism or anything like that, but he's saying that black people need to worry about their children before they are involved in 6 on 1 assaults. I think his point is valid, but it is sadly not going to be heard. 6 kids attacked 1 kid from behind. FROM BEHIND. One of those kids had two priors in the last two years or something. A black prosecutor determined it WASN'T related to the noose incident. So what do we hear? We get to hear the story of 6 sad black children terrorized by a racist community, forced to fight back against the oppression of the man. Is there racism in Jena? It certainly sounds like it. Are things there WAY out whack? Sounds like it. Are these six kids who attacked one from behind the victims? No. From the sounds of it, the one sitting in jail that's getting all this attention is a bad apple. A violent bad apple at that with 3 assault charges already in his young life. Why do we as a culture seek to excuse black on white crime (unless a woman is involved) yet leap at the chance to prosecute white on black crime? 6 kids attacked 1 from behind because he was white. That folks is a hate crime. If six white men attacked one black man from behind, what would Al Sharpton say about that?
Again we should be hearing the story of the racism in Jenna. That story is far more important than the beating of the one kid. When a system is run in an unjust racist manner that is far more important than one beating. It isn't even close really. Your conclusion of what society is doing now is contradictory to what actually happened. Nobody leapt at the chance to prosecute whites for attacking blacks. The fact is a white kid pulled a gun on some black folks who managed to get the gun away from the white kid. The minorities were charged with stealing the gun, and the white kid walked with no charges filed. So don't sit there and pretend there is a rush to prosecute whites, but not minorities. The facts go directly against what you are claiming. There is no example of a culture rushing to excuse blacks for crimes but rushing to prosecute whites. There is a clear cut example of the opposite happening here.
Maybe the media makes it seem that way, but the way things play out in court (ie convictions, sentencing) is statistically in favor of the white man.
The Jena Six deserve justice, but it must be fair justice. And there are multiple indications that fair justice will not be rec'd there. And the school board and superintendent are total failures and need to go...
I meant the media. I didn't mean literally prosecute (I struggled with the word), my point was that the media wants to hang whites for white on black crime but wants to justify black on white crime.
The racism should be heard about. The school board members who let those idiots off for their noose incident should be heard about. But these black kids who jumped the guy are not sympathetic figures in this. You want to talk about the racism that seems to be going crazy in that town? Let's talk about it. It's ridiculous. That doesn't mean I want some violent kids to get easy treatment though. And as I mentioned in a different post, when I was referencing culture wanting to prosecute whites more than blacks, I meant the media perception. White on black crime gets incredibly sensationalized for the nation and all the racism claims gets to come out.
People talk about the hostile environment that whites created for blacks in Jena. How about the hostile, heck, downright dangerous, environment blacks create elsewhere with crime rates the way they are. Total double standard. And the noose thing was how many months earlier than this incident? How is it even related? Sounds like an excuse.
how is it a double standard? blacks who commit crimes get prosecusted. what more do you want other than to simply race bait.
It was three months prior and as Whitlock mentioned, a black US District Attorney determined the noose incident did not have anything to do with the attack.
Two wrongs don't make a right. If there is hostile environments towards anyone based on skin color - that must be addressed. The noose thing is related because the crime those six are accused of is based on racial tensions - tensions that were significantly aggravated by a noose hanging from a tree. It's important to keep in mind that some acts are very violent symbols. Hanging a noose from a tree is akin to burning a cross in front of a Christian's house in a Muslim neighborhood. It's an act of intimidation and meant to provoke anger and fear. It is an act of psychological violence.
See, the problem is that I'm not even convinced that there was this whole "hostile racist environment" in the first place. Like, for example, it has been pretty clearly established that the noose incident, prank or not, had absolutely nothing to do with this case. Absolutely. Nothing.
You keep mentioning that. He's not white, so maybe that decision of his was not racially motivated. But, he is a prosecutor. He can best build his case by downplaying elements that might make the perpetrators look less bad. Looking at the timeline, I'd say I can believe the nooses didn't generate the attack. But, it does seem to be another episode in a long string of racial conflicts. The beatdown seems to be more directly related to the fight at the Fair Barn, but I don't get much of an idea of what started that ordeal.
Really? You aren't sure there was a hostile racial environment? Why would a minority feel he had to ask a principal's permission to sit uner a tree? Why would hanging nooses which is clearly a hate crime be treated as a joke instead of as a hate crime. If there was an incident where a white pulled a gun on a group of black people, and the group wrestled the gun away from the white youth, but the police charged the minorities with theft, and the white kid wasn't charged with anything, that would seem to show there was a racially hostile environment. Add to that the fact that initially the charges brought against the defendants were that of attempted murder!!!??? Look at all of those events. It paints a clear picture of racist power structure there. I guarantee you if a non-racist, responsible principal had a student ask if he could sit in an area that he believed was reserved for whites only, the principal would found out why such a culture existed in the school and taken steps to fix it. The fact that it starts there and goes up into the police department, and justice system in that community shows clearly there was a hostile racial environment. Whether or not that environment was the cause for the beating is a seperate issue. The fact is that the racially hostile environment is far more important than the fact that one kid was beaten.
I think there's plenty of evidence for that. After the noose incident, there were numerous inter-racial fights. The fact that there was all of a sudden numerous fights between blacks and whites in the months following the noose indicated two things: 1. the noose was indeed a aggitator 2. there is significant racial hostilities at least after the incident what does that mean? not entirely sure to be honest. But the charges levied, the fact that blacks were tried for fights but none of the incidents in which whites instigated fights resulted in severe punishments, and the way the trial was conducted (did they even have the right people?) is highly questionable. 2nd degree murder? Wow. Talk about excessive. What farce of justice could come up with that for a guy with a black guy who was able to attend an event later that evening. But the guy did go to the hospital and was knocked unconscious - so certainly those involved should be put in jail, but not 10-20 years.
