The Jena 6

[AFJF]

I just heard about this story yesterday. From what I've read it seems some white kids made some highly offensive racist gesture that led to one of them being beaten to a pulp by six minorities. Should the minorities be applauded or in prison? Opinions?

[Thai Jet]

I just heard about this story yesterday. From what I've read it seems some white kids made some highly offensive racist gesture that led to one of them being beaten to a pulp by six minorities. Should the minorities be applauded or in prison? Opinions?

IBTL

[Panzer Division Marduk]

IBTL

Those 4 letters don't belong here.

[timbok]

Ok...i'm fed up about this....it was 6 on 1...i don't care who was bad mouting who..wether it was 6 black men vs 1 whiteman...or 6 whitemen vs 1 blackman....they deserve this punishment..and sharpton should keep to his own business..that cracker hater

[shawn306]

A bunch of nooses were hung from a tree where I guess students at the school like to hang out.

Nothing was done to the students who hung the nooses. The taunting continued until a fight eventually broke out. One student was beaten pretty badly.

The problem here is that one of the students involved in the melee was charged with attempted murder and was convicted by an all-white jury and is now facing at least 20 years in prision.

This has been nothing more than an out and out which hunt and a friggin disgrace. They had a couple busloads of folks supporting the Jena 6 drive down from Charlotte earlier this week to show support.

[shawn306]

This is the crux of the story.

http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=07/07/10/1413220

The Case of the Jena Six: Black High School Students Charged with Attempted Murder for Schoolyard Fight After Nooses Are Hung from Tree

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Six black students at Jena High School in Central Louisiana were arrested last December after a school fight in which a white student was beaten and suffered a concussion and multiple bruises. The six black students were charged with attempted murder and conspiracy. They face up to 100 years in prison without parole. The fight took place amid mounting racial tension after a black student sat under a tree in the schoolyard where only white students sat. The next day three nooses were hanging from the tree. [includes rush transcript]

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Jena is a small town nestled deep in the heart of Central Louisiana. Until recently, you may well have never heard of it. But this rural town of less than 4,000 people has become a focal point in the debate around issues of race and justice in this country.

Last December, six black students at Jena High School were arrested after a school fight in which a white student was beaten and suffered a concussion and multiple bruises. The six black students were charged with attempted second-degree murder and conspiracy. They face up to 100 years in prison without parole. The Jena Six, as they have come to be known, range in age from 15 to 17 years old.

Just over a week ago, an all-white jury took less than two days to convict 17 year-old Mychal Bell, the first of the Jena Six to go on trial. He was convicted of aggravated battery and conspiracy charges and now faces up to 22 years in prison.

Black residents say that race has always been an issue in Jena, which is 85 percent white, and that the charges against the Jena Six are no exception.

The origins of the story can be traced back to early September when a black high school student requested permission to sit under a tree in the schoolyard where usually only white students sat. The next day three nooses were found hanging from the tree.

[CrazyCarl40]

Ya, the kid was beaten so badly he attended a school function later that night. There is still quite a double standard in America drawn on many different lines, not just race. A school yard fight in my town resulted in a whole lot of nothing. Except maybe a lecture from your parents.

[Maxman]

Ok...i'm fed up about this....it was 6 on 1...i don't care who was bad mouting who..wether it was 6 black men vs 1 whiteman...or 6 whitemen vs 1 blackman....they deserve this punishment..and sharpton should keep to his own business..that cracker hater

I swear, you have to be 14 years old. There really is no other explanation.

[SouthernJet]

Per JetNation bylaw 6.1.4:

[L.I.MikeBleedsGreen]

Never, and thats the sad part.

[PFSIKH]

Louisiana has racism? Go figure.

[DMaynard]

I just heard about this story yesterday. From what I've read it seems some white kids made some highly offensive racist gesture that led to one of them being beaten to a pulp by six minorities. Should the minorities be applauded or in prison? Opinions?

Here are my 2 cents. First, the two situations should be separated. I don't care how much tensions were mounting, that is no excuse for violence, especially six against one. On the other hand, the punishment sounds outrageously excessive. Was it really attempted murder? Or just an a$$ kicking?

So, if the protesters want to protest the offensive gesture, fine. If they want to protest the excessive punishment, fine. But don't try to combine the two and make it sound like these six were justified in what they did.

[Bob]

I don't think anybody's trying to justify the beating. The double standard is the problem.

[EM31]

I don't think anybody's trying to justify the beating. The double standard is the problem.

Well hang on a second pardner. If the particular white boy put up the nooses then I think I could make a decent case to myself about not losing sleep because a bunch of black guys turned around and gave him a lil' "group hug".

So long as it did not permanently injure him I think I could be persuaded to be OK with that.

Now if he puts up nooses again in the future I probably would not sanction an ass-kicking that time but I might be in favor of recommending forced steriization or some other means to remove him from the gene pool.

I the black guys just gave a random ass-kicking to the closest white guy because he mouthed off or something then that would be a different story.

[Jet Moses]

First of all, this is a media driven hyped up story with all the oh so played out archetypes ie all the black people are Sidney Poitier and all the white people are a facsimile of the character in the Andy Griffith show who was always throwing bricks through windows (his name eludes me at this point). So the discussion has clearly been compromised since all the information is coming through a media filter that sensationalizes stories like this either because of an agenda and/or because it sells.

And of course, these are the stories that fuel Jesse Jackson and Al Sharptons fire to keep their racial hustle and shakedown enterprise going.

A mob of young black men beat the sh*t out of somebody.

This is news? This happens every day in Jersey City. Read the police blotters if you don't believe me. And more often than not, the victim is black.

And I love the way the media rationalizes the fact that the victim in this case, who was beaten unconscious, "attended a class function later that evening".

Did anybody else notice that? Thats like saying "Sure we beat the sh*t out of him and knocked him out cold, but he regained consciousness so whats the big deal?"

Then we get all the crapola about the "white tree" and the "nooses in the white tree".

So... that entitles a mob of young men to conspire to stomp the sh*t out of somebody?

But since we already went down the slippery slope of rationalization, what inspired somebody to put the nooses in the tree in the first place?

Is it beyond the realm of possibility that blacks engaged in behavior that upset somebody else in the community? I mean, if we're going to justify or excuse a mob beating on somebody for hanging a noose in a tree, then surely we can extend the same courtesy to the person who hung the noose, right?

And then where do we all wind up?

[dickkotite]

Ok...i'm fed up about this....it was 6 on 1...i don't care who was bad mouting who..wether it was 6 black men vs 1 whiteman...or 6 whitemen vs 1 blackman....they deserve this punishment..and sharpton should keep to his own business..that cracker hater

are u on crack??

23 year prison sentences for a 16 year old kid who got into a school fight?

I think the white kid who had the ballls to hang nooses up deserved an even bigger beating. he had it coming, and the kids deserve whatever is appropriate= suspension, misdemeaner charges whatever

right al sharpton is supposed to fly down south to be critical of his fellow blacks for beating a kid who was trying to intimidate with nooses

[NIGHT STALKER]

Louisiana has racism? Go figure.

Some things never change. True story....back in February 1968, me and around 6 other guys are on a weekend pass in Lake Charles, LA. We were like in our seventh week (of 8 weeks) of infantry training out of Fort Polk.

We decided to hit the VFW (Veteran's of Foreign Wars) bar first...hey, might as well have a drink with the vets, right? Wrong! One of the guys with us was black...Jimmie Jefferson. They wouldn't serve him because he was black. We were going to turn that place upside down, but a cooler head prevailed and Jimmie just said come on guys, it's not worth it...Jimmie's name is on Panel 50W, Row 1 of the Vietnam Memorial.

[Jet Moses]

are u on crack??

23 year prison sentences for a 16 year old kid who got into a school fight?

I think the white kid who had the ballls to hang nooses up deserved an even bigger beating. he had it coming, and the kids deserve whatever is appropriate= suspension, misdemeaner charges whatever

right al sharpton is supposed to fly down south to be critical of his fellow blacks for beating a kid who was trying to intimidate with nooses

Dickie, "the kid" has been arrested once before for batter. The "appropriate suspension, misdemeanor chargers whatever" obviously didn't teach him anything.

I agree, attempted murder is ridiculous for several reasons, one of which of course is it's pretty hard to get a conviction on that. Charging him as an adult is questionable, of course I don't know the details behind his first conviction for battery.

[Jet Moses]

I think the white kid who had the ballls to hang nooses up deserved an even bigger beating. he had it coming

So you are saying that people who do stupid things deserve to be beaten unconscious by a vigilante mob?

[SoFlaJets]

Some things never change. True story....back in February 1968, me and around 6 other guys are on a weekend pass in Lake Charles, LA. We were like in our seventh week (of 8 weeks) of infantry training out of Fort Polk.

We decided to hit the VFW (Veteran's of Foreign Wars) bar first...hey, might as well have a drink with the vets, right? Wrong! One of the guys with us was black...Jimmie Jefferson. They wouldn't serve him because he was black. We were going to turn that place upside down, but a cooler head prevailed and Jimmie just said come on guys, it's not worth it...Jimmie's name is on Panel 50W, Row 1 of the Vietnam Memorial.

that one gave me chills

[NIGHT STALKER]

that one gave me chills

Jimmy, he was a good kid. We were all around the same age 19/20....and he was way more mature at the time than we were.

[DMaynard]

I don't think anybody's trying to justify the beating. The double standard is the problem.

Maybe not justifying, but it would be enouraging to hear at least one of the protesters say "what the six did was wrong, but ...". No they go right from the hanging nooses to the punishment injustice, completely ignoring what happened in the middle as if it did not happen. If you want to evoke sympathy for a cause, it is always best to be completely honest about all of the details.

[PFSIKH]

Some things never change. True story....back in February 1968, me and around 6 other guys are on a weekend pass in Lake Charles, LA. We were like in our seventh week (of 8 weeks) of infantry training out of Fort Polk.

We decided to hit the VFW (Veteran's of Foreign Wars) bar first...hey, might as well have a drink with the vets, right? Wrong! One of the guys with us was black...Jimmie Jefferson. They wouldn't serve him because he was black. We were going to turn that place upside down, but a cooler head prevailed and Jimmie just said come on guys, it's not worth it...Jimmie's name is on Panel 50W, Row 1 of the Vietnam Memorial.

NS I have a similar story from two months ago.

I do not know what the town is outside Fort Polk, but we were at the Walmart getting some supplies. A young white girl was walking towards a friend and me. An elderly black woman walks from behind us and across the path of the white girl. The white girl then says, "What are you looking at *****?" I could not believe it and it was so blatant.

[dickkotite]

Some things never change. True story....back in February 1968, me and around 6 other guys are on a weekend pass in Lake Charles, LA. We were like in our seventh week (of 8 weeks) of infantry training out of Fort Polk.

We decided to hit the VFW (Veteran's of Foreign Wars) bar first...hey, might as well have a drink with the vets, right? Wrong! One of the guys with us was black...Jimmie Jefferson. They wouldn't serve him because he was black. We were going to turn that place upside down, but a cooler head prevailed and Jimmie just said come on guys, it's not worth it...Jimmie's name is on Panel 50W, Row 1 of the Vietnam Memorial.

thats a f'ed up story. jimmy is da man!

[dickkotite]

So you are saying that people who do stupid things deserve to be beaten unconscious by a vigilante mob?

im saying that there are times where making a stand is appropriate. if you accept the consequences.

if your at a bar and a drunk guy grabs your wifes titties and calls her a "DIRTY WHORE" do you hit him? knowing that it would be an arrestable offense? maybe you should, knowing that the possible civil suit might be more troubling than the criminal charges.

[Jet Moses]

Maybe not justifying, but it would be enouraging to hear at least one of the protesters say "what the six did was wrong, but ...". No they go right from the hanging nooses to the punishment injustice, completely ignoring what happened in the middle as if it did not happen. If you want to evoke sympathy for a cause, it is always best to be completely honest about all of the details.

Exactly.

Based on everything we know from this case, if it had been a mob of white kids who beat the sh*t out of a black kid, no matter what the charges, Sharpton would be crying it wasn't stiff enough.

[Jet Moses]

im saying that there are times where making a stand is appropriate. if you accept the consequences.

if your at a bar and a drunk guy grabs your wifes titties and calls her a "DIRTY WHORE" do you hit him? knowing that it would be an arrestable offense? maybe you should, knowing that the possible civil suit might be more troubling than the criminal charges.

Dickie, if anybody layed a hand on my wife or my daughter, I would kill them. And yes, I would have to suffer the consequences. I wouldn't have Al Sharpton or Jesse Jackson to somehow make it about race and turn it into a circus.

Whoever put up the noose is a POS. I think the person who did that was suspended from school. If somebody had their feelings hurt, they were offended et al that doesn't give them the right to beat the sh*t out of somebody. Thats the social contract. We agree to live in a civilization, we have to follow the rules (or suffer the consequences).

This kid had a prior arrest so he's got nobody but himself to blame for this mess he's in.

[dickkotite]

Ill tell you guys what. ALL OF YOU!

When reading these kinds of posts, you can always pick out the guys who are closet racists. are they terrible people? no. But theres "something" going on with racism even though they would argue that they are not racists.

I need to rule this world....

OK lets change the scenario around:

There is a hebrew high school. A bunch of jewish kids like to talk on this bench after school. Here comes some wise guy white supremest kid from the school down the road. He paints a swastika on the bench in a **** uniform that he bought on ebay. The jew kids get furious and (rightfully so, imo) beat the idiot pretty badly, but he was seen bowling later on that night.......

Now, the jewish kid(s) is facing 23 years behind bars.

WOULD THIS EVER HAPPEN? not in a million years and that highlights the ever-obvious unjusticies of our culture.

WAKE UP WHITE PEOPLE

[dickkotite]

Exactly.

Based on everything we know from this case, if it had been a mob of white kids who beat the sh*t out of a black kid, no matter what the charges, Sharpton would be crying it wasn't stiff enough.

moses if you were black, youd be al sharpton

[dickkotite]

This kid had a prior arrest so he's got nobody but himself to blame for this mess he's in.

so your saying that 23 years is justifyable?

and forget al sharpton and jesse jackson they HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH THIS

[dickkotite]

what was his prior arrest? marijuana? shoplifting? MURDER?

[dickkotite]

Dickie, if anybody layed a hand on my wife or my daughter, I would kill them. And yes, I would have to suffer the consequences. .

its funny how you ask me what right the "mob" had to hurt someone, while you are saying that you have the right to kill

thats a double standard;)

[Jet Moses]

moses if you were black, youd be al sharpton

Dickie, the kid isn't facing 23 years I don't know where you are getting that from, but sensationalizing this and then calling people "closet racists" is just silly.

[Jet Moses]

its funny how you ask me what right the "mob" had to hurt someone, while you are saying that you have the right to kill

thats a double standard;)

I didn't say I had the right to kill anybody, I said I would have to suffer the consequences.

Hey Dickie, here's a more accurate analogy, I don't like people burning the flag-

Is it ok for me to organize a mob and stomp a flag burner?

[Jet Moses]

Now, the jewish kid(s) is facing 23 years behind bars.

WOULD THIS EVER HAPPEN?

No, and neither is Mychal. Stop sensationalizing.