No, I haven't. I just responded to you, because you responded to me. I made a mistake in my original and thread and acknowledged it. I just originally asked was the opposing argument saying that the original charges were okay, in general, to anyone. Again, in general, to anyone.
The eyewitness(es?) unrelated to either party in the case backed up the story of the white kid, that he was robbed by the "black folks" during the course of which they took his gun. No one corroborated the story that the robbers told. If you base your understanding of the situation solely on what the people crying racial injustice are saying, then of course it is going to appear that the big problem in the community is racial injustice. According to the local paper, the original comment about sitting under the tree was a joke, the noose thing was a prank, there was a long period without incident, then the school was torched and the fight at the barn happened. Then seven black kids jumped one white kid from behind, knocked him out with the first hit, and then proceeded to kick and stomp on him while keeping people at bay that were trying to stop the beating. The story is not some dumb joke or stupid prank about the tree and the nooses, it is not about a made up story where some people think the victim of a robbery should be charged because he had a gun, and it is not about a fight that occurred because some idiots tried to crash a party. The story is that seven people choose to violently assault one, and because the seven were black and the one was white, the NAACP, the ACLU, Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton want the Jena 6 set free.
This is the kind of thing level-headed black people (such as myself) try to keep in mind. As bad as "racism" might be now; if caucasians feel threatened or annoyed enough, they can always make it whole lot worse. And even if they don't want to, they might do it subconsciously. Furthermore, as a black person who grew up in the South, I have almost no sympathy for these thugs. They should have learned how to cope with racist behavior long before Senior Year. Maybe the best thing adult blacks closest to these kids can do for them is let them take their medicine, and think about their mistakes while hoping, or working, behind the scenes, for an early release or acquittal on appeal. But don't throw them a gosh-darn pep rally.
If it was one incident maybe. But there is a string of incidents here, and the fact that the newspaper claims that hanging the nooses is a prank, casts doubt on their ability to understand and grasp the problem. It is like a burning cross... hahahhahhahahaha what a funny prank that was. The fact that the community, and the newspaper don't understand the significance of the action just helps to show how badly racism and ignorance is ingrained in the community. If you base your belief on the story on a community and newspaper that is willing to call putting up nooses just a prank, and that the prank was really harmless because the nooses were taken down by 7:15 AM then of course you wouldn't understand the serious problem there. I've said that I'm not in favor of setting anyone free who's committed a violent act. But that one violent act is not as serious as the embedded racism prevalent in that community. It is based on the initial charges filed, the failure of the newspaper, community and folks like you to just accept hateful racial inspired acts such as the nooses as just pranks. They are running away from the real problem.
See, I completely disagree with this statement. Unconscionable violence like this against a person is in no way less serious than some perceived prejudice in the minds of a group of people int he community -- the pervasiveness of which is highly disputable from an objective point of view. In other words, I don't give a crap what that white boy said to those kids. You cannot excuse an act like this in any way. There is no worse injustice than when the criminals become heroes and people decide that other people's rights must be trumped in other to champion their own causes. Justice cannot be defined from an emotional standpoint. The fact is that six kids beat a defenseless boy until he was unconscious and blinded in one eye for several weeks. Now if you want to champion the cause against racial prejudice in the community, identify the factual racial crimes that have been committed and talk about those. Don't go marching on the town demanding that these criminals be set free and chanting "Kumbaya", doing even further damage to the true cause of well-meaning blacks everywhere.
The amount of misinformation, race bating trash from Trader Jorge, and just plain ignorance of the details makes this thread not even worth contributing toward. The media has reported this story wrong from the beginning, dismissing the fact at how long it took for the media (and not even the majority outlets) to even run the story, I expected this to happen as soon as I saw the thread was created. Let's just end this thread and start it over.
Because the punishment is excessive. A black guy disarms a white guy and he's charged with theft. Black kids beat up a white kid, and they are charged with 2nd degree murder. It just doesn't smell right. Believe me, and people on this board will tell you - i'm the last person to buy into civil rights b.s or defend the minority point of view....but in this case, it's not right. There's something very wrong and it needs to be corrected.
I don't think we're any more guilty of race-baiting, overreacting, misinterpretation and misinformation than any of the principals, observers, or chroniclers of the story. No reason we should be any less invoved in the debate.
Violence against one person that was released from the hospital after 3 hours is nowhere near as serious as ingrained prejudice, discrimination, and injustice against an entire race over a long period of time. It isn't close at all. Again I'm not suggesting that any criminals not have to pay for their crime. I'm sorry a kid was hurt. But that pales in comparison to injustice, discrimination, against a whole race where the police and power structure are obviously ignore the problems affecting one community, and catering and sympathizing with others. The problem is that blacks whether or not they are well meaning are being ignored and not given a fair shake in a community like this. That is why it is much larger than one person getting a beat down.
Whitlock can play the Bill Cosby card all he wants but that doesn't change racism in America. Your entire post omits why people are pissed off. It's the treatment of kids based on race. White kids who hang nooses to intimidate black kids, it's a prank. Black kids who beat up a white kid, attempted murder. The potential murder weapon? Tennis shoes. That's what has brought the attention here.
I don't know that that is necessarily the case. Depending on which report you read, the black people in the community may be getting a fair shake. The three incidents that are pointed to in support of the culture of racism are: 1. The noose thing. The kids that did it said it was a prank they copied from a movie. The school investigated and determined it was not a racist gesture. The FBI investigated and said it was not a hate crime and no charges would be filed. The kids were suspended for doing something that was stupid and had the potential to hurt people's feeling. The nooses were taken down immediately when they were reported and only a couple of people even saw them. Those people were not involved in any of the violent incidents. (The asking permission to sit under the tree thing could fall under this incident. The comment was reportedly made in jest, and the principal replied that the students knew that they could sit wherever they wanted to). 2. The convenience store incident. The only eyewitness account submitted by a neutral party corroborated the story of the white victim, that he was robbed and during the course of the robbery his gun was taken from him. There is no evidence aside from the testimony of the convicted robbers that he threatened them with his gun prior to being robbed. Brandishing a weapon in self defense is not a crime. 3. The severity of the charges brought against the so called Jena 6. These miscreants attacked an unsuspecting victim from behind. They knocked him unconscious. They then proceeded to kick and stomp on him. Some of them kept other people from coming to his aid and from trying to break up the attack. Maybe attempted murder is too harsh a charge and maybe it isn't, the charge was reduced before trial. Either way, the fact that the victim was out of the hospital the same day is irrelevant to what the charge should have been. If they had tried to strangle him and he had survived, he probably still would have been out of the hospital the same day. Would that not be attempted murder? Is it not possible to kill someone by kicking and stomping on them? Overall, the evidence that this community has institutionalized a racist regime that discriminates against blacks with blatant disregard for justice is flimsy at best. In fact, according to nearly everyone in the town that I have seen statements from, the media has created that perception out of this air.
Ridiculous. 7 people jumped 1 from behind. He was knocked unconscious and then beaten while on the ground out cold. Maybe you don't know much about death, the human body, violence, etc. but here is a quick lesson. People CAN DIE that way and often DO die that way. Were the charges severe? I don't know really. But I do know that often times a DA charges a higher crime than he wants to convict for and then works a plea arrangement. I also know that the one still sitting in jail is on his third assault charge in the last 2 years or so. It sounds to me like some violent kids got arrested for a violent act and are trying to get away with it. We want to clear up racism in that town (if it exists), by all means have a discussion about it. March about it. Etc, etc, etc. But that isn't relevant to the issue of the Jena 6 being innocent or not.
Just dealing with the noose incident alone, the FBI determination was made based on the fact that they were juveniles correct? The fact that the authorities, kids, and newspaper can all report that it was a prank and not a hate crime goes to showing part of the problem. They are too ignorant to understand the significance of a noose like that. Add to that the noose was placed by whites directed towards a black minority and it is ridiculous to accept that it was just a prank. That kind of ignorance that leads people to believe it is just a prank is part of the problem right there. The one neutral witness in the gun case was which color in a community rife with incidents of alleged racism? Certainly it could be a situation where his perceptions of the incident were affected by his perceptions of race. I'm not saying that is definitely the case but it could be. The initial charge was definitely too harsh. I only mentioned the victim getting out of the hospital the same day to illustrate that it wasn't as serious as racism and injustice in the community. Asking to sit under the tree was a joke according to some. The fact that a child thought to ask that should probe the principal to do more than just a flat statement. To me the noose is the biggest indicator. The fact that nobody could understand why a noose placed by whites directed at African American minorities would be more than just prank speaks volumes about their ignorance.
Actually, the story behind the "prank" is that there was an upcoming football game with a rival school whose mascot was a cowboy, and it was intended to poke fun at that school - "hang them up high!" -- it was never directed at black students and had no relationship to the joke about who gets to sit under the tree. Either way, it should have never happened, and the students behind it were disciplined. There are varying reports on the amount of discipline they received -- indications are that they actually got a longer suspension and were made to attend counseling sessions with their families. And because the media wouldn't stop calling it "the white tree" and stirring up racial tensions in the school community, the school decided to cut down the tree into firewood -- months before the assault took place. Previous poster has it slightly wrong ... from what I've read, there were multiple neutral witnesses who corroborated the white guy's story, and the stories given by the defendants did not even line up with each other. Also, there are medical records showing that the guy received treatment for wounds after the incident. And some of these guys had previous criminal records/were on probation etc. Frankly, outside of a desire to paint a picture of racist treatment, it is pretty hard to see any reason why we should believe that these guys were innocent here and that some white guy just randomly pulled a gun on them for no reason. Come on, let's get our heads out of the ideological clouds and be real for a minute. Why does it seem out of the ordinary that black kids usually hang together and white kids hang together? What is so strange about the fact that there was some natural social segregation going on? Kids will always hang out with others that look and talk like them. Are you now going to, in the name of political correctness, force them to mingle during lunch time -- "Hey, you have less than 2 blacks at your table. Go sit somewhere else!" If it was directed at African Americans, then it certainly is more than just a prank. But like I said, the claim is that it wasn't directed at them and had absolutely nothing to do with the question that was asked the previous day. Now you can dispute that ... it's perfectly fine to. After all, that's what the media was doing for weeks after it happened, fanning racial tensions that didn't exist previously and eventually forcing the school to cut down the tree. And in the end, all this is irrelevant to the case -- seeing as how it had absolutely no connection to the assault in question. This story is not worth all this nonsense. It really isn't.
