Thousands rally to support "Jena 6"

[gratefuldawg77]

Quote by: Praxius I think this whole protest is a load of BS. Maybe there is an in-equality in the laws between whites and blacks, but this is a piss poor situation to rally up for it.

I agree. From Rosa Parks to Micheal Bell. A tired hardworking woman refusing to obey an unfair law to a teenager already with a rap sheet trying to avoid paying for his crime. Jeeez.

[ruksak]

Quote by: gratefuldawg77 I agree. From Rosa Parks to Micheal Bell. A tired hardworking woman refusing to obey an unfair law to a teenager already with a rap sheet trying to avoid paying for his crime. Jeeez.

Well you can't deny the humor in this situation. A town of 3,000 people, over 2,000 of them being white, caught treating blacks and whites in a grossly disproportionate manner. Then besieged by 20,000 plus black protesters asking questions.

You have to drop the fact that the racist Al Sharpton is in town. You have to forget which "team" you're on. Just think of this in a colorblind and personal aspect.

If your high school child got caught up in a situation like this, made the mistake of joining his friends in an effort to jump and beat up a student who was, in all fairness, asking for trouble.

Do you honestly think its fair for a 17 year old child to spend a great deal of the entirety of his life in prison, for beating up another kid?
Yes it was a vicious attack. Although provoked. No, it there weren't life threatening injuries sustained. The victim attended a party later the same night that he was a victim of "attempted murder".
What if Micheal Bell was your child? Are you willing to say its fair for him to sit in a state prison until the age of 37, for what was in essence, an ass kicking?

[gratefuldawg77]

Quote by: ruksak Well you can't deny the humor in this situation. A town of 3,000 people, over 2,000 of them being white, caught treating blacks and whites in a grossly disproportionate manner. Then besieged by 20,000 plus black protesters asking questions. You have to drop the fact that the racist Al Sharpton is in town. You have to forget which "team" you're on. Just think of this in a colorblind and personal aspect.

I'm not on anybody's team. Just the side of justice. We know the justice system is flawed; its based on humans, and humans are flawed. Its still the best, most fair in the world. when the justice system screws up, you challenge it in the legal arena, not by dragging a small town's reputation through the mud. When the Duke students were being railroaded they didn't blame the whole town, just Mike Nifong. In the end he was disbarred, as should happen to the Jena DA if he is being unfair.Where was Al Sharpton when the Duke rape case was going on, BTW? Why wasn't he standing up for the rights of those students?

If your high school child got caught up in a situation like this, made the mistake of joining his friends in an effort to jump and beat up a student who was, in all fairness, asking for trouble.

I do have a child, who is in elementary school, and I am already teaching her how to solve her problems without using violence. That's the key here. Its not a black or white issue to me. Six students beat one student with a shoe. It might seem comical but I could easily see how being hit hard enough with the sole of anything harder than a flip-flop could cause brain damage. I believe in a philosophy of non-violence and you know who is the model of non-violence for me- Dr. Martin Luther King. If the modern civil rights movement is going to make heroes out of thugs, they are losing alot of valuable allies.

Do you honestly think its fair for a 17 year old child to spend a great deal of the entirety of his life in prison, for beating up another kid? Yes it was a vicious attack. Although provoked. No, it there weren't life threatening injuries sustained. The victim attended a party later the same night that he was a victim of "attempted murder". What if Micheal Bell was your child? Are you willing to say its fair for him to sit in a state prison until the age of 37, for what was in essence, an ass kicking?

That conviction was overturned before these protests began. Its irrelevant. Like i said, mistakes are sometimes made in the criminal justice system but this one was already rectified. All I'm saying is violent thugs are no heroes of mine. The call them the "jena six" like they're som kind of martrys or something. They're just young punks who see their only avenue of social change as violence. They need to be incarcerated. End of story. I was kind of a nerd and picked on at school. I was able to move on.

[Praxius]

Quote by: ruksak If your high school child got caught up in a situation like this, made the mistake of joining his friends in an effort to jump and beat up a student who was, in all fairness, asking for trouble.

Asking for trouble or just trying to make a bad joke? Either way, his actions do not give these guys the right to beat him almost to death...... in fact unless in self defense, nothing gives you the right to become physically abusive towards any other human.

Do you honestly think its fair for a 17 year old child to spend a great deal of the entirety of his life in prison, for beating up another kid?

Do you think it's fair this guy who got beaten by 6 guys should have almost faced death for a stupid prank?

Yes it was a vicious attack. Although provoked. No, it there weren't life threatening injuries sustained.

Considdering they beat him unconcious and was in the hospital for most of the day, there could have been more then enough truama to the head to cause the risk, or at least perminant damage which may go un-noticed for years.

The way the situation is explained, he could have been one or two blows away from death.

Regardless.... they interfeered with the physical saftey of his body and mind, and had no self-regard for the safety of this guy they were beating up.

The victim attended a party later the same night that he was a victim of "attempted murder".

So, what's your point? The doctors and police reports are what matter to this case. For all we know he could have been told to stay home and recoup, or to not do anything stressful until he heals, and just went out regardless.

I know after a situation like that, I'd probably want to go out too.

What if Micheal Bell was your child? Are you willing to say its fair for him to sit in a state prison until the age of 37, for what was in essence, an ass kicking?

I would teach my kids to accept the responsibility of all their actions.... therefore if the crime fits, you wear it.

I've been the brunt of plenty of insults, pranks and other crap in my days in highschool..... certainly much worse then seeing a couple of stupid nooses around a tree.... yet I didn't go out and gun down everybody in my school, nor did I go and get several of my friends to beat someone until they no longer moved.

It's called "GETTING A DAM BRAIN!" ~ You commit a crime, don't be suprised if you get arrested and charged.

And getting your ass kicked would be a 1 on 1 situation.... being outnumbers 6 to 1 is not an ass kicking, considdering there is very little chance of actually winning the fight..... they knew this, he knew this, everybody knows this.

If my son was charged for being in a group of people who beat one guy up unconcious and put him in the hospital, those police better keep him locked away, because I'd show him just what getting in an unfair fight is like.

I have no sympathy for these kids, not because they are black, but because of their actions and the pathetic aftermath of so many people fighting for the right reasons, but with the wrong example.

Quite honestly, it looks stupid and does not support their fight for equal rights.... it make the whole collective appear that they just love being angry and making a stink with whatever they can pick at.... and the only thing that continues to fuel racism, is the collective of a race continually complaining about them being discriminated about something, no matter how remote.... they always gotta play the race card to get what they want.

In other words, Races playing the Race Cards, makes other Races Racist.

And what I mean about that, is that society today isn't at that perfect stage where everybody is treated equally or every race loves the other..... that should be a given.... but what also should be a given is the progress of tollerance and acceptance of other races and how it is much much better today then it was about 100 years ago.

Each race still has racism for other races as a collective, and to deny that is ignorance, as this situation proves this to be true.

Everytime a race groups together or gather to protest in defense of their race, they in turn produce the racism they are fighting, for they become a collection of one race to bring attention to their race and how their entire race is still being mis-treated by one or two from another race or how their race is Different from others in some way.

Everytime you have a month devoted to one race in paticular, or you continually fight for the teaching of one race's history over another's, then you produce the racism.

Honestly if Blacks are so pissed about how they are treated in the US... .move to Canada and be done with it.

[Mia]

Quote by: Praxius I think this whole protest is a load of BS. Maybe there is an in-equality in the laws between whites and blacks, but this is a piss poor situation to rally up for it.

Then you haven't read of the details, from the noose hanging, to whites assaulting blacks and not getting charged, even, pulling guns on, and the blacks they PULLED the gun on getting charged,,,,,,,I don't rally up for much, this one is painfully obvious.

Maybe you know something the courts don't, because on appeal it was agreed that the charges were excessive, and that he should never have been tried as an adult.:rolleyes:

[Chaossaber314]

Quote by: Mia Then you haven't read of the details, from the noose hanging, to whites assaulting blacks and not getting charged, even, pulling guns on, and the blacks they PULLED the gun on getting charged,,,,,,,I don't rally up for much, this one is painfully obvious. Maybe you know something the courts don't, because on appeal it was agreed that the charges were excessive, and that he should never have been tried as an adult.:rolleyes:

If the victim isn't involved in any of this, beside being a smart ass, it's completely irrelevant in terms of their justification. I can't get chewed out by my boss and then use that as an excuse for why I stabbed a random dude on the street who pissed me off by saying something stupid.

And let's be honest, while you may be justified yourself in wanting to protest the unfair judicial situation, these people aren't there to do that. They want them freed using unrelated racial tension as an excuse, not to have the Jena 6 treated equally.

[Praxius]

Quote by: Chaossaber314 If the victim isn't involved in any of this, beside being a smart ass, it's completely irrelevant in terms of their justification. I can't get chewed out by my boss and then use that as an excuse for why I stabbed a random dude on the street who pissed me off by saying something stupid. And let's be honest, while you may be justified yourself in wanting to protest the unfair judicial situation, these people aren't there to do that. They want them freed using unrelated racial tension as an excuse, not to have the Jena 6 treated equally.

In a nutshell that's what I'm getting at.

You can't pile up all this indifference on this one guy who got beaten up and apparently is being made an example out of.

Guess how many racial remarks and actions I have encountered in my lifetime? Guess how many people I decided to get midevil on because of it?

Also, if there is racism in effect, which there may be.... acting like this, and causing the whole country to devide over it, is just giving those who are racist exactly what they want..... to piss off the race in question.

Only this time the race in question has blown things way out of porpotion and are going about the entire thing the wrong way which won't solve anything.

And to me personally, attacking one person with 6 guys and the condition they left him in, I would think attempted murder would have been a correct charge..... being someone who was jumped by 5 punks a little over a year ago......

And no, it's not about emotion to the relation of this incident for me, it's the actual fact that these types of attacks have become very common now a days, and even if you follow the laws and let justice take it's course, most fighting in this manner usually get off scott free..... I know the ones in my case did, because it was them against me when it came to the courts..... and in the end, they walked.

At least I busted one of their faces pretty good with my foot during the incident..... that will have to be the only justice I get out of this.

[Mia]

Quote by: Chaossaber314 If the victim isn't involved in any of this, beside being a smart ass, it's completely irrelevant in terms of their justification. I can't get chewed out by my boss and then use that as an excuse for why I stabbed a random dude on the street who pissed me off by saying something stupid. And let's be honest, while you may be justified yourself in wanting to protest the unfair judicial situation, these people aren't there to do that. They want them freed using unrelated racial tension as an excuse, not to have the Jena 6 treated equally.

I already stated the previous incidents are irrelevant, but It's not irrelevant that the charges he's facing are enhanced due to his race. I am not about 'freeing' the Jena 6 - they need to face charges for what they did, but for what they did, not what they DIDN'T do. (attempted murder, agg battery.....under LA law, a weapon is required to charge agg battery, and there was no weapon).

I do not agree at all with many of the people who are saying that these boys have to be let off completely for justice. That's not how the legal system works, it's not an exchange. 'OK, you let those white boys off, so you owe us a black acquittal now', lol. That is how some see it, and if you're saying that's not right, I agree with you, but please do not put words in my mouth and assume that's my mode of thinking as well.

[Chaossaber314]

I'm not putting words in your mouth Mia. I was acknowledging that we were more on the same page than we think. We just happen to think different aspects of this injustice are more important.

[Mia]

Gotcha. I said myself, that The Response is a whole different topic, and I have a whole different set of comments if that's the point of discussion. The Response is where me and the rally group part ways.

[Mia]

One thing that you overlooked, Tivodan, is that hate crimes are Federal. It's irrelevant that there is not a LA statute that covers it. The US Attorney said he would have been able to charge it as a hate crime if the participants had any kind of record of violence, or other racial incidents.

[Gods_Mercenary]

I hate the whole hate crime thing, it requires you to read the perpatrator's mind, how do you know the white kids weren't stupid teens with messed up sense's of humor?

The charges may be a little excessive, but when the cowardly pricks gang up on one kid and beat him until well unconcious, I don't know what to call it besides attempted murder, so I'm not sure. The whole race thing is completely stupid, I couldn't care less for jackson as it is.

[tivodan1116]

Quote by: ruksak If the prosecutors wanted to prosecute the white kids for hanging that noose, they most certainly could have. At the very least they could have charged them with vandalism or defacing public property..

No, they couldn't have. There are no statutes in Louisiana for vandalism or defacing public property. Vandalism is contained in a few other statutes including criminal mischief, but in all of them an element of the crime is causing damage to property that costs money to fix.


I've said it enough: The DA was correct.
THERE
IS
NOTHING
THE
NOOSE
HANGERS
COULD
BE
CHARGED
WITH.

Period.

The honest truth is, the prosecutor probably found it amusing and just laughed it off. Racism does exist, ya know. In a county of only 3,000 people, only 13 percent are black. Over 1,500 of the residents of Jena are unemployed. This is a hot bed of white trashiness.

White trashiness? What a double standard. Excuse my language, but would you say Harlem is a hot bed of niggers? Why is it acceptable to use terms that connote a negative image of one race but not another?

20 years for kicking a kids ass? Thats way too severe.

Nobody got 20 years. Nobody is getting 20 years. They were initially charged with the highest crime possible, and as evidence was collected the charges were lowered. That is the policy of almost every District Attorney in the United States. There is a huge difference between being charged and being convicted.

Quote by: Mia One thing that you overlooked, Tivodan, is that hate crimes are Federal. It's irrelevant that there is not a LA statute that covers it.

Almost all states have hate crimes statutes. They are not merely federal, although there is a federal hate crimes statute.

The US Attorney said he would have been able to charge it as a hate crime if the participants had any kind of record of violence, or other racial incidents.

What's your point? They are protesting against the county DA, who correctly said there was nothing he could charge them with. That the US DA couldn't charge them with anything either only strengthens my argument that the situation is being handled properly.

[ruksak]

Quote by: tivodan1116 No, they couldn't have. There are no statutes in Louisiana for vandalism or defacing public property. Vandalism is contained in a few other statutes including criminal mischief, but in all of them an element of the crime is causing damage to property that costs money to fix. I've said it enough: The DA was correct. THERE IS NOTHING THE NOOSE HANGERS COULD BE CHARGED WITH. Period.

You're wrong.

Have you ever heard of TP'ing?
Toilet papering - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Toilet papering is an act of vandalism and a crime all around the United States, it also may cause one to go to jail,

Its against the law in all 50 states. Its termed as vandalism. Vandalism is the intentional destruction or defacing of public or private property.
A crime was committed. It was clearly racially motivated. It could have been prosecuted and termed as a hate crime.

Unless you are prepared to tell me that defacing property is legal in LA, then I would suggest you rephrase your above statement.

White trashiness? What a double standard. Excuse my language, but would you say Harlem is a hot bed of niggers?

Yes. I would. You live in NY. What, you've never been to Harlem? Lots of niggers in Harlem. Truckloads in fact.

Nobody got 20 years. Nobody is getting 20 years.

One of the "Jena 6" is still facing attempted murder.

They were initially charged with the highest crime possible, and as evidence was collected the charges were lowered.

You're either lying or ignorant of the facts. They didn't lower the charges until the outside world heard tell of the racial inequality being exercised so grossly in Jena. Thats when they had their "change of heart".

There is a huge difference between being charged and being convicted.

Mykal Bell WAS convicted, BY AN ALL WHITE JURY. That fact alone, is messed.

Look, I'm a god damn Indiana redneck, easily termed as "white trash". Even I see this whole thing as blatant racism.

[Mia]

Tivodan, typing in bold font doesn't make you right. I can see you feel strongly, however.

The fact remains that if the DA could stretch the meaning of 'weapon' to make a tennis shoe constitute one, he could have construed a statute to cover noose hanging as a crime.

Mychel Bell was convicted of agg battery, and conspiracy to commit agg. battery, which requires use of a weapon, facing 20 years. He had been facing 80-100 when he was initially charged with attempted murder and conspiracy to commit attempted murder.

An appeals court threw out his conviction, stating that he should never have been in adult court. The aggravated battery charge is what bumped him into adult court, thus the appeals court was essentially saying that charge was not appropriate.

Simple battery or assault would have left him in juvenile court where he belongs.

Ruksak, the appeals court was all-white jury too :-), and blacks were offered the opportunity to be a part of the first jury that convicted him, but none showed up. I still see your point, though, that didn't help matters.

I have read about this case from several different viewpoints, and done my best to separate the facts from the spin.

Bell is not a great poster child - he has priors, some claim those are a result of the racist DA, etc., but a black man in Jena was interviewed, and his complaint was that on his side of town, he'd call the police on Bell for disturbances and property damage, and the police would take too long to respond

It doesn't matter to me - I'm not trying to make him a hero or a martyr,,,,,I can just see plain as day that there is a disparity here.

[Mia]

update: nothing to worry about in Jena, folks....:rolleyes:

JENA, La. — Thousands made the journey to Jena on Thursday to show their support for the "Jena Six." While the day may have remained peaceful during the rallies, the days since have been anything but. First, it was the two teens who were arrested Thursday night after driving a pickup through downtown Alexandria, where ralliers had gathered, with nooses hanging off the back. Both allegedly had been drinking, and a gun and brass knuckles were found in their truck. The next day, the FBI announced it was keeping tabs on a neo-Nazi activist in Roanoke, Va., who had posted the names and addresses of the Jena Six on his website proclaiming "Lynch the Jena 6," the Roanoke Times reported. William A. White also listed the phone numbers of the six, urging his readers to "Get in touch, and let them know justice is coming."

Jena protest ends but tensions are simmering - USATODAY.com

[spudnicks]

I am probably younger than alot of you, and thus know a lot mroe about High School these days. I think all students involved deserve the maximum punishment. This was obviously a black gang that beat this white student up, and the white students that hung the nooses is obviously a gang. Im guessing that these students have bullied/beat up and harrassed other students in the school for some time. When these kids grow up they are going to be trash. I think they should all be put away for a long time.

[Gods_Mercenary]

The white kids should have definitely have gotten a stiff kick rather than a slap in the wrist, especially with all this white supremacist talk, but that doesn't make the assaulters any less criminals, nor does it make 6 on one beating until unconcious any less attempted murder.

[Mia]

6 on 1,,,,,I think if they wanted him dead, he's have been more severely injured. He was released from the hospital in 3 hours, and attended a school function that evening.

Attempted murder has been dropped, and the conviction for aggravated battery was overturned. I don't know what the current charges are in juvenile court.

[Gods_Mercenary]

They didn't exactly have all the time in the world, it was in a crowd, from what I've read, and the injuries were enough, his face was extremely swollen and he suffered a concussion, I don't know about you, but I wouldn't do that kind of damage to someone, excluding in self defense, unless I intended to kill them. Of course, it could've been meant to simply intimidate him or whatever, but I would still charge the highest level of assault I can find.