Jena 6: What's wrong here? I'll tell you!
What's wrong with this picture? Here's selected excerpts from the background story from AP writer Mary Foster:
JENA, La. - Thousands of chanting demonstrators filled the streets of this little Louisiana town Thursday in support of six black teenagers initially charged with attempted murder in the beating of a white classmate.
The crowd broke into chants of "Free the Jena Six" as the Rev. Al Sharpton arrived at the local courthouse with family members of the jailed teens.
The six teens were charged not long after the local prosecutor declined to charge three white high school students who hung nooses in a tree on their high school grounds. Five of the black teens were initially charged with attempted murder, but that charge was reduced to battery for all but one, who has yet to be arraigned; the sixth teen was charged as a juvenile.
"This is the most blatant example of disparity in the justice system that we've seen," the Rev. Al Sharpton told CBS's "The Early Show" before arriving in Jena. "You can't have two standards of justice."
"We didn't bring race in it," he said. "Those that hung the nooses brought the race into it."
Sharpton, who helped organized the rally, said this could be the beginning of the 21st century's civil rights movement, one that would challenge disparities in the justice system.
The white teen who was beaten, Justin Barker, was knocked unconscious, his face badly swollen and bloodied, though he was able to attend a school function later that night.
Bell, 16 at the time of the attack, is the only one of the "Jena Six" to be tried so far. He was convicted on an aggravated second-degree battery count that could have sent him to prison for 15 years, but the conviction was overturned last week when a state appeals court said he should not have been tried as an adult.
Students came from universities across the region, including historically black colleges like Morehouse College, Spelman College, Clark Atlanta University, Howard University, Hampton University and Southern University.
Tina Cheatham missed the civil rights marches at Selma, Montgomery and Little Rock, but she had no intention of missing another brush with history. The 24-year-old Georgia Southern University graduate drove all night to reach tiny Jena in central Louisiana.
In Jena, with only 3,500 residents, some residents worried about safety. Hotels were booked from as far away as Natchez, Miss., to Alexandria, La.
Sharpton, who helped organize the protest, met Bell at the courthouse Wednesday morning. He said Bell is heartened by the show of support and wants to make sure it stays peaceful.
"He doesn't want anything done that would disparage his name — no violence, not even a negative word," Sharpton said."
Ok, now that you've read it what comes into your mind as wrong here?
I'll tell you. This travesty of justice is being addressed as it should, but by mostly black people. In my view it is the white community that should have marched, as it was the nooses that the white children hung on the trees that was the match that ignited this. That single act has shown us all that our white community of which I am a member, hasn't learned much nor taught our children of how WE have created the very conditions which non-whites have to struggle to overcome each and every day. Racism needs to be addressed by whites, not blacks or other non-whites. It's not their fault it's ours!
Until we as a society do something about the conditions we have created over hundreds of years, we will never change these conditions. Tens of thousands of whites should have marched and taken up this cause and not have to leave the blacks to defend themselves for equal justice. We haven't come too far in 200 years from slavery. It would have been great if white students at the school took down the nooses and made those that did it embarrassed and ostracized for their actions and apologized to the black students for the incident. Much would have been accomplished at that school to be proud of. Instead, not even the white teachers, who are entrusted with their learning, took sufficient action. This teaching moment was lost and as usual, it is the black community who has had to point out the obvious to us all. While I am here in California writing this post, in spirit today I am with the marchers and Rev. Sharpton and I apologize to the black students for what they had to endure in now, the 21st century. I thought we had made some small progress over the last 40-50 years but we haven't
Speak out and be involved.
JENA, La. - Thousands of chanting demonstrators filled the streets of this little Louisiana town Thursday in support of six black teenagers initially charged with attempted murder in the beating of a white classmate.
The crowd broke into chants of "Free the Jena Six" as the Rev. Al Sharpton arrived at the local courthouse with family members of the jailed teens.
The six teens were charged not long after the local prosecutor declined to charge three white high school students who hung nooses in a tree on their high school grounds. Five of the black teens were initially charged with attempted murder, but that charge was reduced to battery for all but one, who has yet to be arraigned; the sixth teen was charged as a juvenile.
"This is the most blatant example of disparity in the justice system that we've seen," the Rev. Al Sharpton told CBS's "The Early Show" before arriving in Jena. "You can't have two standards of justice."
"We didn't bring race in it," he said. "Those that hung the nooses brought the race into it."
Sharpton, who helped organized the rally, said this could be the beginning of the 21st century's civil rights movement, one that would challenge disparities in the justice system.
The white teen who was beaten, Justin Barker, was knocked unconscious, his face badly swollen and bloodied, though he was able to attend a school function later that night.
Bell, 16 at the time of the attack, is the only one of the "Jena Six" to be tried so far. He was convicted on an aggravated second-degree battery count that could have sent him to prison for 15 years, but the conviction was overturned last week when a state appeals court said he should not have been tried as an adult.
Students came from universities across the region, including historically black colleges like Morehouse College, Spelman College, Clark Atlanta University, Howard University, Hampton University and Southern University.
Tina Cheatham missed the civil rights marches at Selma, Montgomery and Little Rock, but she had no intention of missing another brush with history. The 24-year-old Georgia Southern University graduate drove all night to reach tiny Jena in central Louisiana.
In Jena, with only 3,500 residents, some residents worried about safety. Hotels were booked from as far away as Natchez, Miss., to Alexandria, La.
Sharpton, who helped organize the protest, met Bell at the courthouse Wednesday morning. He said Bell is heartened by the show of support and wants to make sure it stays peaceful.
"He doesn't want anything done that would disparage his name — no violence, not even a negative word," Sharpton said."
Ok, now that you've read it what comes into your mind as wrong here?
I'll tell you. This travesty of justice is being addressed as it should, but by mostly black people. In my view it is the white community that should have marched, as it was the nooses that the white children hung on the trees that was the match that ignited this. That single act has shown us all that our white community of which I am a member, hasn't learned much nor taught our children of how WE have created the very conditions which non-whites have to struggle to overcome each and every day. Racism needs to be addressed by whites, not blacks or other non-whites. It's not their fault it's ours!
Until we as a society do something about the conditions we have created over hundreds of years, we will never change these conditions. Tens of thousands of whites should have marched and taken up this cause and not have to leave the blacks to defend themselves for equal justice. We haven't come too far in 200 years from slavery. It would have been great if white students at the school took down the nooses and made those that did it embarrassed and ostracized for their actions and apologized to the black students for the incident. Much would have been accomplished at that school to be proud of. Instead, not even the white teachers, who are entrusted with their learning, took sufficient action. This teaching moment was lost and as usual, it is the black community who has had to point out the obvious to us all. While I am here in California writing this post, in spirit today I am with the marchers and Rev. Sharpton and I apologize to the black students for what they had to endure in now, the 21st century. I thought we had made some small progress over the last 40-50 years but we haven't
Speak out and be involved.
Labels: blacks, Jena 6, Martin Luther King III, non-whites, Rev. Al Sharpton, white community, whites
posted by Charles Amico at 7:23 AM
6 Comments:
Mr. Cafferty, I don't know how many times I have heard Pres. Bush say the reason we went to war in Iraq was to free the Iraqi people from the unjust regime of Sadaam Hussein. The problem I have is why doesn't Pres. Bush go to Jena, Louisiana and free those six young black men from an unjust judicial system? Time and time again, you hear these stories about Blacks in the south getting tried under Jim Crow laws in the new millineum. I think if we can spend one billion dollars a day in another country to try to bring justice and freedom to the people of the Middle East, I think Bush can take a plane ride to Jena and put his arm around those young men and tell them "it's gonna be okay." He can show me and millions of African Americans in this country that justice doesn't just mean you can have it because you have oil in your backyard. Oh yeah, that's right. They do have oil in Louisiana, but the governement already gets all those revenues and the people of Louisiana don't share in it. So maybe that's why he won't go to Jena, but it sure would be nice if he did.
Bush put his arm around them?!!! Why not tell the president that any crime committed by a black person is OK because they're black. What a crock!! If 6 white boys beat up a black boy it would be even a bigger turn out to make sure they were hung! Tell Sharpton and his cronies to put it where the sun don't shine.
Dear Anonymous, first, thanks for the comment on this difficult topic and secondly, I couldn't disgaree with you more. I don't understand why you can't see that these black students were incited by the nooses on the tree. They had asked permission to stand under the school yards tree where only whites had gathered in the past. Don't you find it strange that the students felt that they needed permission to just stand under the shade of the tree? That should speak volumes to you on exactly how these black students felt there. Read the entire story about how this started and come back and write another comment explaining why you feel the way you do. I'll listen and be respectful to you but may totally disagree with your position.
Excellent Post here: http://averagebro.blogspot.com/2007/09/averagebro-blogs-live-from-jena-la.html
Both sides are making this a race issue when it is actually a case of who did worse? The kids who hung the nooses in the tree should have been expelled, or had to perform several hours of community service. They're minors with no prior criminal backgrounds, they deserve a punishment that fits the crime. I think they got off light.
The "Jena Six" however is a whole different story. Six offended teenagers, took the law into their own hands and dispensed their own justice against a single youth. (notice how I didn't use color in this?) They committed an adult crime of violence by beating that fellow student. When the courts look at their individual cases they should be viewed as adults and given adult sentences.
The original charge of attempted murder was a charge of passion. The D.A. was a moron in my opinion. The second degree battery charge is perfect. It fits the crime to a tee. Each person in the "Jena 6" if convicted should serve a minimum of 5 years in a junvenile detention facility.
If this had been one teen against another teen, I would be inclined to say the white kid was a wimp and needs to go eat his vegetables or something, but six of his peers gang beat him. He had no chance.
In closing, I think the college students, special interest groups, hellfire and brimstone preachers, should drop the racial issue, and look at the facts. 6 kids beat up a single kid. Curse the Jena 6 as cowards, and give that one kid the justice he deserves.
The issue should NOT be race at all. The issue is freedom of speech and expression (no matter how disgusting it is). The students who hung the nooses may have done something terrible, but that is no excuse for physical violence. Hanging the noose is awful but should not be used as a justification for violence. The "noose hangers" were not prosecuted most likely not because of race but because of the trivial nature of the crime (really? should we tie up the legal system because someone is an A-hole? It is not graffitti, it is not defacing public property, it does not cost the city money to remove). By stating that the six boys were incited to commit violence is crazy. I dont like to see a "George W" sticker on a car, and it makes me very angry to see, but is that a justification for violence? LEGALLY THERE IS NO JUSTIFICATION FOR VIOLENCE, and no excuse. I am not saying that the teens who hung the noose should have gotten off "scott free," by all rights they should have been expelled from school (and not prosecuted). No matter what someones issue is (race, politics, etc) someone elses opinion (no matter how dispicable it may be) is no excuse to beat someone else.
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