Jena 6

[angrybellsprout]

My biggest problem with the issue of what happened in Jena is that nobody seemed to lift a finger when I was in high school over the 'black' tables that we had. If a white student dared to sit at one of these tables, they would be threatened or attacked. I wonder if all the people making the fuss over the white tree would care at all over the black tables that I got to see in high school.

Then again, in jr. high I was threatened by some blacks for sitting with one of my black friends at the black table there too.

 

[Bill3000]

Yeah because only the south has racists. They just don't exist up north or out west do they.

They do - they're the ones holding up the anti-immigration signs.

 

[MobBoss]

Big whoopee. Look folks, racism exists and most likely will always exist in our society to some extent.

My main problem with this is that this is precisely the sort of frenzied feeding ground that will attract any and all race baiters from all corners of the USA. Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson, et al. are already on the move and sharking in on this as we speak.

There are always, and I mean always two sides to a story and chances are both sides are probably guilty of racism in this to some degree. Its classic 'push me, shove you' mentality that just makes seeing the clear picture all that more difficult.

Take for example the kid who took the shotgun away from the other kid. Not a wise move. A far smarter move would have been to simply go back inside and just call the police and let them handle it. If he had done that, he wouldnt have been charged for stealing the firearm. Plus, in a racially charged situation like this, how can you tell who is telling the truth if you havent seen it with your own eyes? Answer: you cant. However, the only piece of hard evidence is the gun, which was indeed taken.

People make stupid decisions when emotional. Keeping the gun after taking it was stupid. They should have just called the cops to begin with and none of that would have happened.

 

[Bill3000]

Lollerskates at mobby defending bigots.

 

[JohnRM]

I'm surprised I haven't heard about this, ever. I am constantly on CNN. I read the Southern Illinoisan and the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. I watch CNBC for about two hours a day. No one has said a word about it.

Here is the background story:

Jena 6

It seems very confusing to me, but some points stand out. Allow me to highlight them.


Was the board right to reduce the punishment for the noose hangings from expulsion to three days of in-school suspension (whatever in-school suspension is)? Who were the belligerents?

No! They should have sentenced the white kids to being beaten half to death by 6 black kids!

 

[MobBoss]

Lollerskates at mobby defending bigots.

I am not defending bigots. I am saying that its not entirely clear exactly what is going on from our standpoint, and to point fingers one way or the other is just stupid when you dont know the facts.

People will say and allege anything in a racially charged situation, so it is incredibly hard to ascertain truth based upon witness testimony. In those instances, you have to go off of hard evidence, like the shotgun in the story. If the allegation is the kid took the shotgun...and it is in his possesion when found...guess what...he probably took it illegally. Or rather, to be clear, he took it in self-defense, which would be fine, but proceeded to keep the weapon instead of turn it over to the police.

And I assure you, there are more than enough bigots on both sides of this that if you do choose a side, you in turn are defending bigots as well.

 

[Masquerouge]

regardless of what really happened, this just shows the race issue is far from dead in the US.

 

[JollyRoger]

My main problem with this is that this is precisely the sort of frenzied feeding ground that will attract any and all race baiters from all corners of the USA.

Plus, in a racially charged situation like this, how can you tell who is telling the truth?

I would think you could start out by giving little credibility to the side that iniated the baiting by hanging nooses.

 

[JohnRM]

regardless of what really happened, this just shows the race issue is far from dead in the US.

It never will be, and if you are implying that it is only a problem in the US, then you are extremely naive, but I think you know better. I am probably just jumping the gun with that statement.

 

[MobBoss]

I would think you could start out by giving little credibility to the side that iniated the baiting by hanging nooses.

I am not giving them crediblity at all. My only comment in regards to anything like that was the viewpoint of law enforcement over the stolen gun issue.

Do I view hanging nooses as racist? Of course I do. Was it wrong? Yes. Do I think the kids who did it should have been punished more harshly? Probably. Do I give them more credibility? Hell no.

 

[skadistic]

They do - they're the ones holding up the anti- illegal immigration signs.

Since when is illegal immigrant a race? I also fixed your dishonest characterization.

 

[CurtSibling]

'Racism' is so overused these days.

What people call racism can usually be passed off as good old idiocy.

Something like the Warsaw Ghetto is racism. Calling names is not.

(my personal view)

...

 

[Patroklos]

How are the nooses and that gun theft related again?

 

[angrybellsprout]

Since when is illegal immigrant a race? I also fixed your dishonest characterization.

Don't forget that most people in the north have never seen a black person before.

 

[Stewbert 08]

Big whoopee. Look folks, racism exists and most likely will always exist in our society to some extent.

My main problem with this is that this is precisely the sort of frenzied feeding ground that will attract any and all race baiters from all corners of the USA. Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson, et al. are already on the move and sharking in on this as we speak.

*Stewbert dons a very faux Southern accent*

See heer folks, the problem ain't that there's still racism, the problem's that these durn libruls won't stop paying attention to it. Gol-dangit!

Moderator Action: That's over the line.
Please read the forum rules: http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=422889

 

[IglooDame]

Moderator Action: Discuss the topic, not the poster.
Please read the forum rules: http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=422889

 

[DaveShack]

There are many morally wrong actions which are not illegal. I think the noose incident should be left out of it, and look at the assault on its own merit.

Prosecutors should, and usually do, charge the highest crime the evidence supports. This is often used as leverage to get a guilty plea to a lesser offense. That's what probably would have happened in this case, if the defendants hadn't been turned into civil rights poster children. If guilty, they are thugs and deserve whatever sentence they get.

If Sharpton and team were comparing apples to apples, with an accusation that a white defendant got lighter treatment for a similar offense, then it would be different. Even so, it would not mitigate against these kids -- if you're willing to beat someone unconscious, you'd better be willing to do the time.

 

[QuoVadisNation]

On June 26, 2007, the first day of trial for defendant Mychal Bell, Walters agreed to reduce the charges for Bell to aggravated second-degree battery and conspiracy to commit aggravated second-degree battery.[19] A charge of aggravated battery requires the use of a "deadly weapon", which, according to the Colorado Supreme Court, can be any object.[20] Walters thus argued that the tennis shoes that Bell was wearing and used to kick Barker were deadly weapons, an argument with which the jury agreed. Despite conflicting witness accounts on whether he was involved in the attack,[21] Bell was found guilty and faced the possibility of up to 22 years in prison when he was to be sentenced on September 20, 2007.

Wikipedia is giving a much clearer picture of the situation than any of the news programs or college protests are giving. The article in wikipedia give interesting context. But about the tennis shoes?

My brother was in a case in NJ where the jury had to debate whether a cell phone could constitute a deadly weapon. People who serve on juries are idiots.. and I'm really wouldn't put it past them to genuinely believe a tennis shoe constitutes a deadly weapon according to its definition, regardless of which race was involved. And about the policemen charging the kids with theft of a shotgun? Again.. the police aren't exactly rhode scholars.

Also: About Al Sharpton, this is a guy who thinks a man calling people 'nappy headed hoes' is a race crime. I don't really can't conclusively determine whether the judicial ruling was unjust, or discriminatory. Hell, according to wikipedia, even "U.S. Attorney Donald Washington, who is black, has expressed the opinion that although discipline was mishandled by the school, he found no reason to believe that there was any unfair judicial action"

 

[Trajan12]

None of this ever had to get to this point. Expel the white students. Expel the black students. Problem solved. Without all the extra BS.

 

[angrybellsprout]

I'd love Jessie Jackson to come to my school and give the newer generation of white kids the right to sit at the black tables without threats of violence.