Details of the Jena 6 case from Wikipedia

Well I waited and waited to see if a thread would be started on this but nope..nothin. So, here it is. While I criticize Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton for many things, when something like this injustice goes down, I know those brothas will have the back of whoever is involved. This case is a travesty. The whole situation is disgusting and reinforces what I already knew could still take place in the good ole south. A "white tree" at the school? WTF?!!

The boyfriend and I will be one of the estimated thousands who will be appearing at the rally on September 20th to exercise our first amendment rights and voice how outraged we are with the legal system has railroaded these kids. While those involved in the assault were still wrong and should be subjected to some form of legal sanctions, the charges and sentences given in this case are OUTRAGEOUS!!!

I don't know which is more ridiculous: the "white tree" or all the commotion it has generated. Has anyone tried to identify and help understand the individuals who felt it necessary to establish a "white tree"?

Obviously not.

We have a one-size-fits-all solution for social-psychological dysfunction. And that solution generally involves some sort of aggression against the person(s) needing help either by law enforcement or vigilantism.

In this case both seem to have come in to play against both parties.

Maybe they can get South Africa's reverend Desmond Tutu to mitigate a kind of community "truth-telling" without legal retribution - not an official Truth and Reconciliation Committee but something similar.

Or perhaps that entire school and community could reread en mass the words of Martin Luther King, who understood that nothing ever got solved through more violence. More wrong never erases the first wrong, it just magnifies it and makes it worse.

I thought about starting a thread, but thought there'd be few responses. I called the governor and have sent letters of protest to state officials, and while I'm glad Mychal Bell's conviction was thrown out, he could still be charged, and the other young people are still facing charges, even if reduced. It's disgusting, and yet another example that racism is alive and well in the USA.

I see we were thinking along the same lines fantomas. And while more violence doesn't solve the issue, thats not the point. No one is saying that the assault was justified. Whats being argued is the legal injustice that has been brought upon these kids. The kid who was beat up was discharged from the hospital a few hours upon admission and showed up at a ring ceremony that same night. Bell has been held in jail since December with outrageous bail.

The West Virginia case last week where those 6 white people tortured FOR A WEEK that black girl got $100,000 bail. Ummmm...how many patterns must be pointed out? I'm sure Dr. King would denounce the violence but still be right there marching for the unfair sentencing.

Aw, jeez. What year is this, and why do these things only seem to happen in the backwaters of the South?

Maybe the "outrageous" bail set for Bell isn't so outrageous considering he's already been convicted of 4 violent crimes previously.

Yes, he is no saint but umm...the bail given doesn't fit the crime here, NOR does the sentence he was originally given. So are you saying that it was justified? Give me a freakin break! Stevie Wonder can see the ridiculousness of this case.



Ya know I understand that a lot of people say that about this being 2007 and all that but you have to take into account that slavery existed for HUNDREDS of years and we are just now at 50 years of the civil rights movement. Black people haven't been considered equal for that long. So taking it all into the grand scheme of things, it really hasn't been THAT LONG. Many who grew up in that generation who had enough time to spew their hate onto their children and so forth make it quite believable that this is still going on in 2007.

Somehow I don't think racism is limited to the South.

Not limited but this kind of bullshyt you won't find happening in Connecticut or Rhode Island or many of the northern and "blue" states. This is typical red (neck) state nonsense.

All of the 6 charged in this case were given bails set between $70,000 and $138,000. Those amounts were based on the crimes the defendants were being charged with. The judge has no control over what they are being charged with (the DA does that). But the judge must follow bail setting guidelines based on the DA's charges. Considering that Mychal Bell, a 16 year old, had 4 prior convictions and that this was a violent offense, the $90,000 is not unreasonable. The fact that the other 5 defendents had bails set that high should be the real issue here.....unless they too had prior convictions.

And as far as racial issues, I think its a bit naive to think that racism is limited to the South and to rednecks. People from all races and socio-economic levels commit acts of racism, some just do it more subtley. And yes, racial tensions tend to be higher in some parts of the South because of the higher level of diversity. I mean, come on, you never hear about racism in Montana, New Hampshire, or Iowa.....and guess why.

....oh, and by the way.....you might want to take a look at the initial prosecutor in the Jena 6 case who first made the charges--US Attorny Donald Washington.....
http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/law/usattorney/index.html

More interesting than what he looks like is who he was appointed by. It brings to mind the current Attorney Generals scandal slowly but surely being covered up by the Bush administration.

David Bowie has contributed $10,000 to the legal defense fund.

When they set bail, isn't the general rule that you have to pay 10 percent to be released? So if this kid is in jail and the bail is set at $90,000, he would only have to pay $9,000. Surely one of these celebrities can write a check and get the kid freed?

This whole story is just tragic. Racism is alive and well in the U.S.A. And kudso to David Bowie for donating to the legal defense fund. He rules.

Is it even possible to see this situation without prejudice? $100,000 baili isn't outlandish for a kid who's a repeat violent offender. But because he's black, it's now racism. On the other hand, with our history of racism, I think it's ridiculous that the prosecutor couldn't find a way to charge the white kids who hung the noose from the tree. I believe that's the premeditation to a hate crime: charge the little bastard with something. Let the whole community see how despicable an act that was. But a group assault whatever the severity can't be dismissed or justified especially when you've got a deliquent kid with his criminal record. Obviously the city is revolting and backwards in the worst possible way in some of its behavior. But whenever Sharpton gets involved, it just means there's headlines and public relations to be had.

A concise recap:
It all began a year ago with a black student asking at an assembly if he could sit under the tree where the white kids found shade in the courtyard at Jena High School, which is about 80 percent white. Sure, he was told. But the next day, there were nooses hanging from the tree, the handiwork of three white students, who were suspended.

There were some fights at school in the ensuing days, and LaSalle Parish District Attorney Reed Walters addressed another assembly, trying to restore order. Apparently perturbed by students' inattention, Walters warned: "I can take away your lives with a stroke of my pen." Some black students thought he was looking straight at them.

At the end of November, the main school building burned. The case remains unsolved. That weekend, Robert Bailey Jr., one of the Jena Six, was involved in two separate confrontations with white residents.

In school that Monday, Mychal Bell, according to testimony at his trial, identified another student, Justin Barker, as "that white MF-er that was running his mouth," and punched him once in the face. Barker was knocked to the ground, where he lay unconscious as -- witnesses said -- Bell and the others kicked him wearing the tennis shoes the district attorney would identify as potentially lethal weapons, justifying attempted murder charges. Those were later reduced to aggravated second-degree battery.

Barker was taken to the hospital, but attended a high school ring ceremony that night. The Jena Six were arrested. Bail was high, ranging from $70,000 to $138,000.

You DO hear about "racism" in Montana, New Hampshire and Iowa..or maybe the rest of us do and you don't. Racism is alive and well in every part of this country. The reason it's always highlighted in the South is because...ta dah!...that region's particularly horrible history, first with slavery, then with legalized Jim Crow, lynching, etc.

But keep in mind that the Ku Klux Klan flourished especially in Indiana; that there were lynchings as far west as California; that slavery was first instituted in Massachusetts; that states like Philadelphia wrote laws preventing Blacks from congregating publicly; that there were separate schools in Maryland; that New Jersey didn't free all its slaves until the Thirteenth Amendment (well after the state supposedly ended slavery); that some of the worst racial strife has occurred in northern and western cities like Boston (where a black man was speared with a pole on the steps of the State House during the busing crisis), Chicago (where black families were threatened and burnt out of their homes in Cicero), in New York (one could go from the Draft Riots, where blacks were killed by mobs and a black orphanage was burnt to the ground by rampaging whites all the way to Mayor Ghouliani presiding over a number of terrible police attacks on black people), in Newark, St. Louis, Cleveland, Detroit, Los Angeles (cf. Chief Darryl Gates), etc. The list goes on and on. Just because most of us--and this includes black people as well--are ignorant of this horrible history doesn't mean it didn't happen or shouldn't be remembered and reckoned with.

So while in general the northern states have become bluer and are more progressive than *most* of the South, it's still the case that racism unfortunately exists above the Mason-Dixon line as below it.

I remember a high school journalism teacher of mine saying that someday, someday far, far from now, there will be only one race on this planet...the human race. Through inter-racial marriage, eventually, all races will be eliminated. Without missing a beat, she told us not to worry...mankind would find another way to discriminate.

I had always been on the side of the crowd that was completely baffled by how a large portion of the black community were happy that OJ was found innocent. I think the Jena Incident illustrates ample justification for the black community to feel that way. Historically the US justice system has been horribly lop-sided in enforcement and prosecution of law. OJ is the exception. Jena is more close to the rule.

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

..."US Department of Justice survey stated that more than 6.6 million violent crimes (murder, rape, assault and robbery) are committed in the United States each year, of which about 20%, are inter-racial crimes.[24] According to research done by Larry Elder, a radio host and New York Times best-selling author, of the approximately 1,700,000 interracial crimes of violence each year, nearly 1,200,000 involved black-white crime. In 90% of those crimes, African American offenders attacked White American victims.[25][26] African Americans are more than 50 times more likely to commit violent crimes against White Americans than vice versa.[27]"

...maybe those statistics have something to do with it.

Again, it's sort of the point I've been trying to make...Violence never makes things better. You'll never teach those ignorant KKK *ssholes anything by having six black kids beat up a white kid. That just perpetuates the cycle. I understand violence often occurs when people feel there's no where to go, but there almost always is somewhere to go...While they've now stated clearly that the assault of the white kid actually had nothing to do with the nooses under the tree (per the US attorney who was on Larry King Live and coincidently (or not) is black) - imagine how much more powerful and useful it would have been to widely publicize the placement of those nooses. No group assault to distract from the ignorance and revolting nature of that act. The power of bringing that to the light would have accomplished so much more than petty revenge if indeed that's what the beating was about...Sure, I'm partially talking tactics about an incredibly emotionally charged incident..but the assault was not only wrong - it made things worse.
.

And who exactly said violence makes things better? We are talking about institutional racism in the form of legal injustice. You can pull out all the statistics and beliefs you want....THE BOTTOM line is that whats going on here is not fair legally. Amazing (then again maybe not) that it seems as though people are trying to downgrade this and make it seem as though its not a legal injustice thats taking place. That slimy DA also was in that school and made the comment "with the stroke of a pen I can change your entire lives forever" Even white kids who were at the assembly said that comment was clearly directed at the black students. Then when a CNN reporter tried to call him on it he cowardly dodged the question.

And my I just remind people that race was brought into the equation when those boys hung the nooses from that tree. Now it seems as though every day sincew the march I've heard something about some kind of racial incident from someone who was wearing all black this past Thursday to support the Jena 6 or some other kind of foolishness. I really hope this is the beginning of the 21st century civil rights movement because blacks have been far too complacent and its time for more boycotts and marches and rallies to hopefully get some positive things going in our own community while letting the world know that this kind of bullshit will not stand without a fight. I was at the protest and it was wonderful to see that solidarity there, and it was great to see so many young people there.

Again, no one is saying there shouldn't be a consequence for the assault but make it a fair one.

Actually as I read the story, race was brought in to the chain of events preceding this particular incident before then.

For reasons not clearly established some white students, not clearly identified so far as I can tell since they were not charged with serious crime, felt the need to establish a "white tree". Noone seems interested in asking them why they felt that was an appropriate or necessary thing to do.

Where is the media on this question?

Anyone know anything?

Shedding some light on their motivations might go a long way in at least educating the public if not those assumedly white students. I am being deliberately hesitant about even using the description of white since race is more a socially-legally defined characteristic than a scientific one.

And if both the black and white kids involved in this knew a bit more about the science of human categories this might never have happened. Especially in the south where race-mixing has been widely practiced and even more widely denied over generations. Maybe they should all be required to give blood samples to determine who should sit under which tree. What an interesting science project that would be.

My concern with this situation is that I doubt that the majority of the people marching knew the full details of the case and just assumed that there was a complete and total injustice formed on the Jena 6. i.e. Actually being not guilty of the crime versus being charged excessively.

Also, the young man with a background of having multiple offenses- he IS a repeat offender. Yes, the events leading up to the assault were disgusting, but he still committed assault with a history of multiple offenses. You eventually will have to deal with those consequences. People will treat you like shit in multiple situations in your life- you don't assault them unless you want to pay the consequences. Were his bail and sentencing inappropriate? I dont know because I am not aware of the details of his other offenses. Could his attack on this white young man be considered a hate crime?

To me, what should have happened is that the young men known for hanging the nooses on the tree needed to be dealt with more severely. It is ethnic intimidation- a hate crime. My belief with hate crimes is that if you are found guilty- you get the maximum sentence for your crime, no questions asked. If these young men would be found guilty of disorderly conduct or trespassing (depending on when it happened), then they should pay the maximum fine and sentence for their crime. Also, if they are old enough to commit a hate crime and its intent is proven, they are tried as an adult. No questions asked.

I think the focus of the protesters is to some degree erroneous. Racism does exist- but there are many more situations that merit a truer and stronger stance.

I am more apt to be pissed that people do not protest the sentences of the rick- Paris Hilton, Lindsay Lohan, etc, etc. They get special treatment and that is to me a great injustice as well. If we want to improve on the quality of the justice system- it has to be there for all. (I am not trying to belittle the Jena 6 case with this example- just saying that there is bias on other levels as well.)

If we are talking about an inherently racist system, then any statistics would themselves be prone to racist slant. How do we know that the statistic means African-Americans are more likely to commit a violent crime? The statistic just as easily demonstrates that a White-American is more likely to get away with violent crime uncharged.

Wow, White America is more likely to get away with violent crime uncharged? Who knew? Of course, that statement is not racist in the least. Glad to see we're all on the same page.

I guess Hispanics and Asians get away with violent crimes too.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,297840,00.html

You are misinterpreting my post.

Assigning cause and effect to statistics is a perilous endeavor. Someone reported an observed statistic that implies causality; however, the statistic itself demonstrates little about cause and one could think up any number of hypotheses (even contradictory ones!) and use the statistic to support it. Therefore the statistic says very little about the situation either way.

Look at it this way. Statistics are often used to support racial profiling; however, what is often forgotten is that racial profiling causes inflated statistics. If enforcement is more likely to treat black young men as criminals for the same behavior as young white men, then yeah statistically young black men will have a higher incidence of criminal records, but how does one discern between a legitimate difference in incidences and the policy of lop-sided enforcement.
We can't. So the statistic is useless.

Hahahahahaaa.....that's a good bunch of jargon.....

but where is any "cause and effect" in the statistics? Its simply a study of crimes that were committed. That's only the effect part. There was no "cause" part in the statistics.

And even if there is some racial profiling, and I agree that there certainly is, that would not account for a 50 times more likely ratio of black-on-white crime.

No. It is a study of crimes reported. The set of reported actions does not equal the set of committed actions. That is where you introduced cause and effect which one should always do with extreme caution when dealing with statistics.

The statistics can't know that a report is even truthful.

Once again...what do these statistics have to do with the racial imbalance regarding the legal system; particularly in this case? As I said earlier, there should be consequences for whoever was involved in the fight because violence is certainly not the way to solve the issue. However, the charges and original sentence that was given is just something that was so legally unfair that its almost downright arrogance to think this was not going to be protested. But, umm...you are pulling out "stats" and trying to make a point that has nothing to do with why this Jena 6 case is such a big issue. Yes, African Americans are more likely to commit violent crimes. If you want to throw out those stats and open up that broader discussion then perhaps we need to discuss the reason why those statistics are the way they are. Its nice to throw out stats but they don't mean much when there is no explanation as to why they are the way they are.

Well, you can't just say that there is racial imbalance in the judicial system, based on an example of one. Showing some studies and statistics to support that claim, and that demonstrate to what extent that imbalance exists in, would be helpful. I know there has been evidence suggesting that capital punishment cases are often biased against minorities. Does such evidence exists showing that bias is present in cases of all types?

I sure can say there is racial imbalance in the judicial system. The Jena 6 case for whatever reason was the straw that broke the camel's back, and black leaders have already stated that this kind of thing is not going to be tolerated anymore. This is sort of the 21st century Rosa Parks issue. She was the catalyst for something that was going on, and this case is the catalyst to highlight an issue that needs to be addressed.

Much of the happenings that are taking place today relating to oppression and injustice have a historical component to them. Here is a pretty good Harvard Law School article that talks about the history of racial injustice in this country. Its a good read.

Justifying Racial Injustice in America

I guess my whole beef with the protest of the Jena 6 is that there are so many other really, really important things to be protesting or, at very least, discussed, and they are going unmentioned, even unacknowledged. Take my hometown of Gary, IN. A high school graduation rate of 52 percent? We should be in the streets, outraged over this! Three out of four children born in Gary, IN to a single parent, the mother? Where are the fathers? We should be outraged over this! Drugs for sale at any time of the day at 25th and Broadway? We should be outraged over this! A federal poverty rate of 25 percent, far above the national average for a city of its size? We should be outraged over this! Don't even get me started regarding corruption in city politics of the city of Gary. It is at every single level, out in the open, displayed with arrogance. So many cities suffer from the same ailments, but where are the leaders when it comes to the EVERYDAY suffering of average citizens? Where are Jesse and Al on these issues, you know, the ones that affect nearly everyone on a daily basis? What? No television cameras hovering overhead? Well, I guess that's why the gruesome twosome can't be found. Let's spend our energy fighting the battles of everyone, not just a chosen six.

Sorry millerbeach but your statements do not reflect what the protest of the Jena 6 means on a national scale. Rosa Parks sparked a bus boycott that was not meant to just express outrage for her situation, but to serve as a message that enough is enough and we want changes to the system for ALL blacks that had to ride in the back of the bus. The protest of the Jena 6 is just not about getting fair and equal justice for those kids, its also about bringing attention and demanding judicial equality from an institutionally racist system. People in the african american community have been far too complacent on this issue for years and this was the final straw. I fully agree that the issues you brought up are those that are outrageous and need to be addressed. But, I can't argue with such a protest taking place regarding a legal and judicial system that is supposed to be "blind" but clearly isn't. It basically means that as squeaky clean as my record is, because I'm black I have more of a chance of being railroaded. Fortunately, I have money so that if I do get mixed up in some mess...I can afford a good attorney instead of some shitty public defender. Class is mixed up in all of this as well.

Wuh? So we're supposed to ignore problems because of the existence of other problems? That doesn't make sense to me. Even the assertion that other bigger problems deserve more attention is a matter of personal opinion. Who gets to say which issue is most important? You will never get a consensus on that.
"We should be in the streets, outraged over this!"
If it really is that important, then get out there and be outraged. Jena 6 isn't exactly running Gary IN to a halt is it?

MdTerp....that Harvard report seemed to be more on how the imbalance in serving justice has been justified by the perpetrators. However, I was wondering if you guys have any studies or statistics that show how often and to what extent the imbalance is? Something that shows examples of how two people (one white, one black) were treated differently for the same crime under the same circumstances.

The problem with latching onto the Mychal Bell situation is that it will not garnish any sympathy or support for a Rosa Parks-like civil rights movement. The guy was part of a gang that beat up someone for being white (an act of racism in itself) and he had 4 prior convictions as a 16 year old (hardly a poster child for sympathy). Plus, the original attorney was himself black, Bell's defense attorney was black and made no attempts to defend him, and not a single black person reported for jury duty on the case. Anyone could easily point to these and say that the African-American community has themselves to blame in this situation as much as anyone else. If I were looking for a spark for a movement of justice, I'd fine someone that was wrongly accused (and maybe convicted) of a crime that they didn't commit and there is ample evidence to prove it.

I also think what MillerBeach is saying, is that to truly attack a situation you need to go after the root causes that you can control. Addressing issues plaguing the black community--drop out rates/lack of education, extremely high illegitimate child birth rates, and a crime-filled culture--would help reduce the number of blacks who get into trouble with the law, in-turn reduce the perceptions about blacks (especially black male youths), and then in-turn reduce the silent discrimination from those in power. I really wish someone like Bill Cosby was leading the movement instead of Jackson and Sharpton.

I would think that in this world of google that it would be easy to simply look these things up with ease. But, here is one example of racial disparities when it comes to drug use.

Racial Disparities in the War on Drugs

One thing in particular that has gone on for years is the difference in sentencing when one uses crack cocaine as opposed to powdered. Well...there are race and class differences with this with your low income and predominantly minority users using crack and your upper class mostly white users using powdered cocaine. Its the same product, just done in different ways...and the sentences are not the same.

Are you saying:

(i) because this is not a textbook example w/ an exemplary role model (who deserves jail time, I might add) that this is not an example of a miscarriage of justice worthy of notice and protest; and

(ii) because the people "out front" on this issue are people you personally don't like, the miscarriage and facts underlying the protest are not worthy? (Can you be sure those at the protest were not more focused on their purpose for being there and the "leaders" worth? Mdterp?)

I'll go one step furthter and ask, like I did on a another site discussing "the chosen six" (whatever that's supposed to mean), what leaders, in addition to Bill Cosby, would you choose for Black people to listen to/follow? Read the question very carefully because I want you to be clear about what you're really saying when you answer.

Further, did anyone stop to think that no Blacks showed up for jury duty because, given the culture they live in and what has happened so far, they were afraid and, additionally, might have been threaten to make sure they did not do so? I don't know this to be true, but given that this is a place where a threat can be communicated with impunity (the nooses in the "white" tree) and called a prank, it's not unlikely.

Al Sharpton usually appears the opportunist, more about milking his own fame than anything.

Since none of the six except Bell, the repeat violent offender, are still in jail, where's the beef?

The bails were set high? This looks like a pre-meditated violent assault. Of course the bail was high. An obvious danger to the community - from the court's point of view.

No blacks showed for jury duty? And that's someone else's fault, too?

No one can take full responsiblity for themselves until they stop blaming and complaining. Be the change instead of just the finger pointer. That alone would be a good reason for the African American community to listen to someone like Bill Cosby who actually seems to tell it like it is.

It's alot easier to stay out of jail if you don't do drugs, carry a gun, or resort to violence at the slightest provocation: that goes for every race, creed, color, etc...

"Event + Response = Outcome

If you don't like your outcomes, change your responses."

Where in my post did you discern that I was saying no one is responsible for their own actions by acknowledging that this all took place in Jena, LA, home of some pretty racist and threatening events?

And since you don't like Al Sharpton (and presumably Jesse Jackson) then don't go to any rally fronted by them. Other people, especially Blacks, might want to make that choice for themselves.* Capisce?

Question: have you even lived as a Black person in a community where nooses are a form of communication and intimidation?

* And this is coming from someone who isn't entirely comfortable with everything Sharpton stands for either.

Nooses are despicable symbols, and any deliberate hanging of one is to me a hate crime threat and shouldn't be tolerated for a moment. However, it has now become clear that the nooses hung in August didn't have anything to do with the violent group assault in December, not that it would justify that behavior the assault in any way. Which seems to be fueling plenty of the fire here. These kids are being turned into martyrs for their violent irrational behavior. Their actions say they're not worthy of this acclaim. The Justice system is often full of shit - I won't argue there. If indeed there's a discrepency in this specific case on whether or not the bail amounts fit the crime, I haven't read any proof of that. I've read at least a few posts who indicate, usually in parenthesis and almost as a sidenote, that these kids do deserve some punishment for what they did, and all the attention has jumped to amounts of bail and sentences. These kids aren't innocent by any means and their skin color doesn't justify any of their behavior - and I just don't hear anyone taking responsibility. It's the old "I didn't have a father so I shoot people and deal drugs." And that often gets thrown out there as an excuse no matter what color the persons' skin is...

I feel the same way for the white kids who're responsible for the noose hanging. I hope they are prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. And while they're at it, I wish that their parents and their families should be required to attend seminars, hearings, classes, and perhaps meet face to face with victims of discrimination and prejudice. Obviously they need schooling..

When you say "no blacks showed for jury duty" -- something I've not read anywhere, not that I've looked -- what exactly does that mean? How many people were called for jury duty that day? Of those, how many were black? And are you saying that none of the black people who were called even showed up, or did they show up but were excluded during the selection process, leaving an all-white jury for the trial? I'd like to hear some specifics.

Hello? That's part of the point of the rally. They know who hung the nooses and they weren't prosecuted at all. They had in school suspension, which if it's anything like it is here in Tennessee is paid time off for misbehaving students.



No one is turning these kinds into martyrs. They are protesting the harsh charges they received from the start. If the original charges had been battery no one would have batted an eye. When you charge someone with attempted murder with a deadly weapon (tennis shoes?) for a schoolyard fight where the victim goes to a party the same night, how the hell does that charge fit the crime?

Ah, a schoolyard fight, huh? Six against one. I don't care if they're wearing Nike, Reebok, or Adidas, when six guys are kicking one repeatedly - it's not a big jump to attempted murder. But, if you need to keep minimizing it in order to call attention to the situation, go for it. But, as some other poster mentioned earlier, very few are buying it. Six against one is serious cowardice and the intentions were clear. What the victim did that night doesn't mean much.

Amen, Bryan. Also, it doesn't help that one of them had four, count them, four prior run-ins with the law. No one down there is a saint, and none of us know the whole story, but two wrongs never make a right. It is as simple as that.

Reading comprehension, please. No one said anyone was a saint or that they were innocent of a crime, etc. It is as simple as that.



I'm not sure where you are from or how old you are but when I left high school less than ten years ago, fights were common. Did some happen to have uneven sides? Yes, that's just how some things were. Made you pick your battles a bit better. Does that make it right? Hell no, because I'd be mad as hell if I got jumped. Is it attempted murder? Hell no, because if I'm still ok to go to a party it proves I wasn't about to die. Intentions were clear? I think this shows that YOU are trying to minimize things. Particularly all of the de facto Jim Crowism that was obviously going on in this town. My high school in Atlanta was an international school. The ethnic breakup was approx. 46% white, 30% black, 24% other and we had several fights with multiple people on a side. What it boiled down to was if a friend of yours is in a fight are you gonna stand there or help him out. Again, not the right thing to do but because it was uneven does not make it premeditated or intended to cause death. It's called emotions which were obviously high in Jena. As for the victim, he probably didn't deserve to get his ass kicked. But as someone living in that town, I'm sure he knew what he was doing when he was taunting those kids. His mouth wrote a check he couldn't cash.

"There was a six-member all-white jury, although blacks were included in the jury selection process. The 150-person jury call included black citizens, but none of the 50 potential jurors who showed up were black." --AP (Shreveport News)



NoirDore, just because you're OK afterwards means nothing. If someone shoots a gun at you and misses, you're OK, but they still attempted to kill you. The fact that the Jena 6 continued to kick the guy once he was down and unconscious, could have lead to death and he was unable to defend himself.

Secondly....maybe I'm from a different world, but I went thru all my years of school in a mixed race environment and never participated in or was associated with a fight. The fact that its even slightly acceptable is a sign of the problem.

For the most part I agree with you. However, I think we can agree than shooting someone is a little bit more dangerous than a fight. If it's only about the possiblity of death, shouldn't we be charging everyone that fights with attempted murder because their have been cases of death due to one punch being thrown?

Like you, although I was in the environment, I never participated or was associated with a fight. But they still happened. They weren't acceptable then and they aren't acceptable now, but to ignore the reasons behind them and think they are premeditated and are not fraught with emotions is to be very naive.

I can't help but think that ones individual race strongly affects perception and rationalization of the Jena case. Which, I think, demonstrates that the problem is more a collective 'personal' racism rather than the often stated 'institutional' racism. In Law, discrimination is not tolerated; however, it is the personal bias that nudges things a little bit each way. It wasn't an institution that caused the prosecutor to seek attempted murder charges, it was an individual. And it is the collective personal bias that causes the nation to debate something that we fundamentally all agree upon. We all want equality; we all want justice. It is simply that when we see it, we see different things, and we focus on different things.

One side focuses on the historical and bad behavior of the defendants.
The other side compares the bad behavior of the defendants to the historical precedents set by similar behavior.

Bell is out on bail now. The prosecutor now confirms he'll be tried as a juvenile and the judge ordered he be freed on $45,000 bail. (Still don't know why some rich celeb didn't put his or her money in to get him freed sooner.) Meanwhile, the DA and a pastor are arguing over Jesus.