personal thoughts on the Jena 6

[kimba1]

I got no problem with the attemted murder charge though
6 0n 1 just doesn`t ring as a simple beat down
and teenagers simply do not know how to hold back
I grew up with a guy who learned karate and it`s really a miracle he never saw jail
their wasn`t a week he didn`t try a sleeper hold on somebody.
he`s not a safe guy to be around
he`s a police instructor now and i still don`t know how he never got a sexual harrasment charge on him yet
he still never learned self-restraint

[Universe Prince]

I think you gotta look at the nature of the assault itself.  How serious was it, what degree of violence was employed by the perps and what was the actual damage done to the victim?  Those are the only considerations that should determine what charges are laid because no matter what kind of ass-hole racist pig the victim was, the assailants had no right to take the law into their own hands.

I'm sure under other circumstances I would agree. By that I mean, if I were not still reacting to this on an emotional level, I'd probably have said much the same thing as you did. But there is still a part of me that is going, "yeah, but they were angry because they were being subjected to overt, hateful racism." So I'm having a hard time assessing this objectively.

... at the same time the power of the law to discourage ALL violence is not weakened so that no one is encouraged even marginally to commit violence on his own against racist provocateurs.

Yeah, that is a good point. One I should certainly consider more, I know. Unfortunately, every time I think about this case, I also think I'd certainly have been angry enough to take a sock at the guy. And part of me still thinks the racist bastards deserve a public whipping. I know that really would be the wrong response, but I'm still reacting emotionally to the case.

[Universe Prince]

I'm realizing my response to this case is wrong, but I'm still angered by the level of racism involved. I'm not the sort of guy who sees racism lurking behind every interaction between pale-skinned folks and dark-skinned folks. I know racism is still an issue in our culture, but I really just don't see it all the time or even a lot of the time. For me personally, skin color has the same significance as eye color or hair color. Where some people see racial diversity, I just see people. I don't think in terms of skin color diversity any more than I think of hair color diversity. And while there are very few things in this world that I genuinely hate, racism is one of those things. And a case like the one in Jena, well, it just makes me, literally, disgusted and angry. I guess I'm directing my hate at the racists, even though I know I shouldn't. My emotional reaction is skewing my perspective, and I know it, but I don't feel that my reaction is wrong even though on a more detached intellectual level I know it is.

[kimba1]

racism is very bad
but try being in my parents country(china) which by being  born in a particular village means nobodies life will improve ever
the term chinese is much too general a term
here in this side of the pacific pretty much any healthy relatively bright person can get a mcdonalds job.
people here have no idea how incredibly amazing that is.
That is not a option in most of the world
racism is bad and should be stopped ,but most of those kids are still able to get a mcdonalds job.
with some money everybody CAN go to community college.
I`m no way saying everybody in america can make it here
just that the options here are extremely high.
my option here are limited by racism but I still can get an education and live a fairly decent life.