Where is Johnny Cochran when you need him? I think it's ridiculous that they could hang nooses like that and it be treated as a prank given this country's violent, racist past which involved public lynchings. Three days suspension for that? What a joke! That's not something to kid around about or to be taken lightly. If the jackass in charge would have imposed the correct punishment for that (which wasn't so lite), then this situation might not have even escalated to where it did. That person should be fired because I would tend to defer he wasn't doing his job fairly...maybe because he has a racism problem of his own. It should have been treated with zero tolerance. I do kind of find this whole "murder by boots" scenario to be flawed. I have to wonder what the charges would have been had it been white boys pummeling a black student. Would they have drawn the same inference that it was attempted murder then? As far as the town itself, I'm not sure what to make of it. Is it just being publicized in a negative light unfairly? Or, are they still living in the 50s with a self-imposed segregation? I guess we send in Dateline NBC undercover to find out. Something stinks about the whole situation though.
seems to be a bunch of separate, but related incidents. hard to look at the fight/beating on its own, but that's how it should be done as it relates to Michael. And there, the problem doesn't seem to be the all-white jury (though I could see how it could be an issue), or being tried as an adult (again, I can understand it being an issue, but people this age have been tried as adults bunch of times before), but a lack of competent defense lawyers. Were these attorneys appointed to him? Not knowing the complete facts, it seems, from this story at least, impossible to know if this kid was involved; so, unless we are missing some of the story, how a defense lawyer couldn't get this kid off seems ridiculous. EDIT: Just watched the video. If the other allegations not in the story but in the video are true, I take back my all-white jury / judge comment. It shouldn't be an issue, but in an area as seemingly corrupt as that one, I don't see how it isn't. The case needs to be tried elsewhere, imo.
I might be off, but the white student who beat up the black student had a bail set for 5,000 on the other hand the black students was set at 190,000 and charged with second degree murder both were fights, only difference was who started it no idea why this isnt all over the news....
I wouldn't even mention an all-white jury if this wasn't a backwards-assed town whose citizens admit that the town is more or less segregated.
