personal thoughts on the Jena 6

[Universe Prince]

The story, as I understand it, is that some dark-skinned teens asked for permission to hang out by a tree, on school property, where normally a bunch of pale-skinned teens hang out. The dark-skinned teens got permission, but then found nooses hanging from the tree. Nooses painted in the school colors apparently. (I'm sure someone thought that was clever.) This got a mild reaction from the school officials, and, long story short, tempers flared until a pale-skinned teen ended up getting the snot beat out of him by six dark-skinned teens. The local D.A. then decided to charge those six dark-skinned teens with attempted second-degree murder and conspiracy to commit second-degree murder, and the local D.A. thought a good idea would be to try those six dark-skinned teens as adults.

After I read various accounts of this story the other day, my first thought was that I understood exactly why the pale-skinned kid got the snot beat out of him. And to be quite honest I'm having an emotional reaction to this story to the point that I have to say I am thinking the Jena 6 should get off with a slap on the wrist, and the guys who hung the nooses should be publicly humiliated in some fashion.

What sort of person hangs nooses in a tree just because someone with darker skin wants to share the shade of that tree? I don't really know for sure, but my first guess is a low-grade imbecile. And yet, I know the person(s) who hung the nooses is(are) probably not actually that stupid. So why would someone do something that stupid anyway? And charging the teens with attempted and conspiracy to commit second-degree murder? What the frak? I seriously do not understand this. I don't get it. Is it fear? Hate? What causes people to make these choices in A.D. 2007?

[Amianthus]

I think the main reason the six "dark skinned" guys are apparently being held to a tougher standard is that - from what I've read - they continued to beat the snot out of the white skinned guy even after he fell unconscious. Indeed, apparently some didn't even start hitting him until he passed out.

When the guy cannot fight back any longer, and you keep on hitting him, it goes from a simple assault to attempted murder.

[sirs]

I think the main reason the six "dark skinned" guys are apparently being held to a tougher standard is that - from what I've read - they continued to beat the snot out of the white skinned guy even after he fell unconscious. Indeed, apparently some didn't even start hitting him until he passed out.  When the guy cannot fight back any longer, and you keep on hitting him, it goes from a simple assault to attempted murder.

I don't think that supports a "slap on the wrist" prosecution approach, then     

[Universe Prince]

from what I've read - they continued to beat the snot out of the white skinned guy even after he fell unconscious. Indeed, apparently some didn't even start hitting him until he passed out.

I haven't read that. Where did you find it?

[kimba1]

six on one is not a simple beat down
assault is still assualt
but the noose cause should point out the beaten kid formally request to be beaten
it`s the severity that is in question
pretty much nobody is innocent in this case

p.s. the fact these kids needed permission to sit in a shaded tree
colors the claims jena is not racist

[hnumpah]

six on one is not a simple beat down

Nope - it could be considered felony assault, or even attempted  murder.

but the noose cause should point out the beaten kid formally request to be beaten

From what I saw, I don't think he had anything to do with the noose, he was just bragging about something one of his friends had done.

pretty much nobody is innocent in this case

You're right there. In an earlier incident, a white kid 'allegedly' pulled a gun on a group of black kids, and one of them took it away from him and kept it (to show to his parents?). The black kid was arrested and charged with theft of a firearm, while nothing happened to the white kid. I'm not sure what the outcome was, but it does cast suspicion on the prosecutor's decision to press such severe charges in the beating case.

[kimba1]

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

white tree??

that just means fulfilling a prophecy
phfff
and i still say everybody is guilty
thanks hnumpah
in fact not enough people are charged

[Amianthus]

from what I've read - they continued to beat the snot out of the white skinned guy even after he fell unconscious. Indeed, apparently some didn't even start hitting him until he passed out.

I haven't read that. Where did you find it?

Four days after the arson, several students jumped a white classmate, Justin Barker, knocking him unconscious before stomping and kicking him.

http://edition.cnn.com/2007/US/law/09/04/bell.jena.six/?imw=Y&iref=mpstoryemail

"When I heard a black boy say something to Justin, I turned my head and I saw somebody hit Justin," one student wrote in a statement. "He fell in between the gym door and the concrete barricade. I saw Robert Bailey kneel down and punch Justin in the head. ... Then Carwin Jones kicked him in the head. ... Theo Shaw tried to kick him so I pushed Theo Shaw down. I also saw Mychal Bell standing over him."

http://www.thetowntalk.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/99999999/NEWS/70916045

A while later, an African-American student allegedly punched Barker from behind, knocking him unconscious. Then, say white witnesses, a group of black students that included Bailey continued to assault Barker, kicking and stomping on him.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20218937/site/newsweek/page/0/

[Universe Prince]

From your MSNBC link:

The tension culminated back at school the following Monday. Justin Barker, a white student who says he is friends with the kids who hung the nooses, reportedly taunted Bailey at lunch (Barker denies this). A while later, an African-American student allegedly punched Barker from behind, knocking him unconscious. Then, say white witnesses, a group of black students that included Bailey continued to assault Barker, kicking and stomping on him. (Jena High student Justin Purvis and other black witnesses dispute this.) Barker, who was treated for injuries at a nearby hospital, was released later that day, apparently in strong enough shape to attend a class-ring ceremony that evening.

Hm. I'm finding myself still more than a bit skeptical of the attempted second-degree murder or conspiracy to commit second-degree murder charges. But those charges have been reduced. And I still seriously question the teens being tried as adults.

But as I said, I'm reacting emotionally. Racism disgusts me. And no, that is not a figure of speech. And I confess a part of my bias here is that I percieve the black teens as defending themselves against the kind of racism that makes me angry enough to want to strike out. There is a part of me that would very much like to gather up the guys responsible for the nooses, and the school district committee that overruled the recommendation of expulsion for those guys, and give them all good hard slap in the face and to ask just what the frak were they thinking? And that's the mild reaction. There is also a part of me that feels they need a good public whipping. This is, I know, an emotional reaction, and not a rational one. What can I say? The story makes me angry.

I considered not saying much if anything about this story, because I usually don't say much here at the Saloon when a story makes me this angry. I don't say much because I know my reaction is mostly emotional. But I feel I need to say something. I do not want to say nothing. I don't want to let this one pass, and have said nothing. So this is me trying express my anger without ranting.

The nooses alone should have gained those responsible expulsions (edit) expulsions for those responsible (/edit). It should not have been tolerated as merely a prank, imo. It should not have been tolerated at all. Maybe I'm wrong, but as much as I try to be patient and understanding of other people, I have very little patience or understanding for that kind of behavior. So I am, rightly or wrongly, biased in favor of the Jena 6. Because if I could be put in their place, I cannot say for certain that I would not have hit someone.

[BT]

One wonders what the outcry would be if this were a white on white beat down or  black on black beat down

Would there be a Jena 6?

Is the noose the figurative trump card for the defense? Is the symbolism of the noose a valid excuse for the anger that culminated in what obviously borders on a racial hate crime?

[Michael Tee]

<<p.s. the fact these kids needed permission to sit in a shaded tree
colors the claims jena is not racist>>

kimba's the only one in this thread who got it right.  The issue isn't the conduct of this teen or that teen.  Teens say dumb, stupid and outrageous things all the time.  I don't think anyone's child should have his head stomped into a permanent vegetal state (which could easily have been the result of the attack) just for saying something stupid, ugly or offensive.  Whoever participated in that assault should be charged with the appropriate offence and prosecuted to the max, subject to whatever defences or mitigation (self-defence, provocation, etc.) are available, if any.  The school administration is negligent not only for not reacting forcefully to the nooses in the first instance, but probably for not being pro-active in combating the endemic racism which must inevitably have seeped into the school from the larger society.  Fighting racism should be one of a public school's primary endeavours in a state like Louisiana.

You have to wonder, of course, about asking permission to sit under a fucking tree.  THAT, coupled with the instances of selective prosecution given in this thread and with the drive-by noose exhibition, indicates the real problem of the South, despite all the denials of the bullshit "New South" variety - - deep-seated, underlying racism, bred in the bone.  Don't tell me that if the past seven or eight generations had it, that this generation doesn't.  That's just insulting the intelligence of anyone who can read a newspaper.

[Amianthus]

I guess everyone missed where the administration told the black students that they didn't need anyone's permission to sit anywhere they wanted.

[Michael Tee]

<<I guess everyone missed where the administration told the black students that they didn't need anyone's permission to sit anywhere they wanted.>>

Nobody missed it.  What YOU missed was the significance of the felt need to ask.

[Amianthus]

Nobody missed it.  What YOU missed was the significance of the felt need to ask.

Guess it's been too long since you were in high school. What with all the cliques and stuff....

[Michael Tee]

Why would they need to ask the PRINCIPAL about sitting in on some clique's turf? That would be very odd.  The way the cliques were organized was that they all seemed to do it themselves.  People just knew not to embarrass themselves by sitting at the "wrong" lunch table.  Besides which, to sit at another clique's table would have been to abandon your own habitual lunch companions.   Most people looked forward to eating with their friends.