Last fall in Jena, Louisiana two Black high school students sat under what the students called the "white tree". The very next day nooses were hung from the tree. The superintendant refered the noose hanging as a "prank" and dismissed it. That is when Black student started protesting by sitting under this "white tree". The district attorney along with the town police ended the protest by threating the students saying, "I can be your best friend or your worst enemy... I can take away your lives with a stroke of my pen".
After that a series of white and black violence occured and the district attorney did absolutely nothing. But when a white student was beaten up in a schoolyard fight, the district attorney responded by charging six black students with attempted murder and conspiracy to commit murder. With that said from the district attorney many incidents started to occur. The Jena High School main academic building was burned down in a unsolved fire, a black student was beaten up at a party by white students, a young white man threatened a group of black students at a store with a shot gun and was not charged but the black students were charged because they had wrestled with the white man for the gun and they were charged with the theft of the gun. Six Black Jena High students, Robert Bailey (17), Theo Shaw (17), Carwin Jones (18), Bryant Purvis (17), Mychal Bell (16) and an unidentified minor, were expelled from school, arrested and charged with second-degree attempted murder. Bail was set so high -- between $70,000 and $138,000 -- that the boys were left in prison for months as families went deep into debt to release them. So far only one of the six boy went to trial and he is looking at 22 years.
So lastly how do you feel about this situation?
I feel like their goveernment is a piece of crap and people getting beat is a part of high school. Geez! I thought racism was over. I guess not!
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
I do think those boys should be punished for getting in a fight, but for attemped murder...common that is a bit extreme. I don't understand how the school can even have suca thing as a "white" tree. I thought everyone was supposed to be created equal. By the school allowing this, it is bringing us back to the days of segregation. Anyone and everyone should have been allowed to sit under whatever tree they want to. Tboys who said the nooses were a joke, should get in the same if not more trouble then the 6 boys who got accused of attempted murder. They may have thought it would be funny to put the noose is in tree, but that was one of the worst things they could have possibly done.
Racism will forever exist. There will forever be ignorance in the world. People don't accept each other. They don't accept difference. These boys are wrongly accused.
And people just don't care. I also feel that not alot of people are speaking up about this issue.
"In a world where we all can't make up our minds, we are definitely too sure of ourselves."
J for the juicy truth
Yeah I agree with what your saying 100% the world will always be a messed up place and I didn't even hear about this until I watched BET and that is an black station on the TV...sometimes I think our Gov't is so EFFED up that idk what to do or say....all i can say is that KANYE WAS RIGHT!!!
Wikipedia has an excellent and pretty balanced discussion of these events which puts things in the correct chronological order (for example the school arson happened before the beating as did several other incidents) and also includes some details that were ommitted from the account above such as that the white kid was ambushed and hit in the head from behind and knocked unconscious and then while he was helpless and out cold he was kicked in the head until he was bloody and had to be taken to the hospital for treatment of a concussion.
Wikipedia
What I found interesting was that Robert Baily and Theodore Shaw were involved in several of the incidents leading up to the beating including one that involved a shotgun. They seemed to be chronic trouble makers.
Okay I understand the issue with the kid having to go to the hospital for a concussion they didn't try to kill him, if they wanted to kill him they would've shot him seeing how the 2 kids were involved with that situation. No reason for them to get attempted murder that bullshyt. Okay exspell them and send them to alternative school the end. Yes I get your point but this wouldn't have never occured if those kids never put those nooses up and the school not doing anything about it so back to square one its the schools fault and the little white kids for having no brain.
The kid who got ambushed was not in a fight. He was minding his own business and he got hit in the back of the head and knocked unconscious. He was lying on the ground like a sack of potatoes and, for all those kids who ambushed him knew, he was already dead. They then proceeded to give him a stomping which included repeatedly kicking him in the head.
That sounds like attempted murder to me! It also sounds like a hate crime! That is not a school yard fight. That is pure savagery.
As far as I can tell, there is no evidence the kid who got ambushed and stomped had anything to do with those nooses. Whoever put them up deserved to be punished. But the fact that they were not caught and were not punished IS IN NO WAY WHATSOEVER AN EXCUSE FOR AMBUSHING SOMEBODY INNOCENT AND KNOCKING THEM UNCONSCIOUS AND KICKING THEM IN THE HEAD WHILE THEY ARE LYING ON THE GROUND DEFENSELESS AND APPARENTLY LIFELESS.
Honestly I don't think he was unconscious when they first hit him I think he went unconscious after the 6 of the kicked the crap out of him. No it wasn't attempted murder and the kid was not about 2 die because he left the hospital 3 hours after he went in so its not like he was on his death bed. BTW it probably was a hate crime seeing how they started it. Our parents don't tell us how to deal with situations like this because they're not suppost to happen. If I was in that situation I would be doing some serious ass kickin too. I REST MY CASE!
It is all good and well for you to think that he was not unconscious but unless you can cite evidence to the contrary, here are the facts:
According to court documents based on eyewitness testimony and the school and police investigations, someone hit Barker from behind, knocking him out, and then others began to kick and stomp him
If somebody is lying on the ground unconscious it is impossible to tell if they are alive or dead without a close examination. If somebody is violently kicking and stomping on somebody in this unconscious condition then attempted murder is an appropriate criminal charge.
The fact that they did not manage to kill him does not change the fact that their actions could have had that effect. That is why they are charged with attempted murder rather than actual murder. They are extremely fortunate that they were not successful.
Well after they hot him how was they suppose to know he was knocked out. You don't hit someone then pause to see if their dead or not. They just hit him then they started kicking him. Yeah I feel sorry for the little sucker but I don't think he wouldve gotten kicked the crap out of if he wasn't bein an ass....So back to the beginning...it was the school, the white kids, and the police departments fault this all happen. Fast forward to the end...where are they now...Black kids, jail...white kids, thinking another way to break the people down even more (people meaning black folks)
I suppose they should of just shot him too since this vicious behavior was completely justified and everybody's fault but the people who committted the crime. Sheesh!
The black kids are in jail because they tried to kick somebody to death. I totally approve of them being in jail and if they happened to be white or hispanic (my ethnicities) and had tried to kick a black person to death I'd still want them in jail.
Skin color does not excuse crime.
Obviously it does in that town...
The story I read\
This is what I read. Now the kids who did the noose thing did not get in trouble and the police didn't do anything about it. If anything the stupid little kids should be charges with "Conspiracy to commit murder". The kids are showing that the 2 black kids show be hung. The white kids get a slap on the hand and the black kids are in jail for almost the rest of their lives because ignorant people. By the way, Kids get beat up at school all the time, yeah he got knocked unconscious, but he's not dead he wasn't "almost" dead, he just got beat up for being an ass. And yes it happen months later but it's not like people can just forget something like that easily.
Casandra I agree. I am not levying anything against you jackbenimble, but it seems as though you cannot understand the other side. there are school yard fights everyday, and when I was in school even if you got beat up you were at least suspended. no-one just beats the crap out of you for no reason.
Also, the school should really be educated on how to promote intergration. Having a designated "white tree", whether it is a written rule, or just an understanding is enciting whatever violence occurs as a result.
"my first name must be, "He aint sh@t", cause everytime I come through, yall be like "He aint sh@t"!....I'll be dat" --Redman
"Anything that can go wrong, Will go wrong"----Murphy's Law
This thread is getting pinched so I am going to put my response at the very bottom.
Look for my post below with the subject "Now I Understand"
The incident with the shotgun...
From what I understand, the two boys you named didn't have the gun. Someone else came in with the gun acting crazy and one of the boys took the gun from him so nobody got shot. Of course, instead of him being congratulated, he was arrested.
“I hope the departure is joyful and I hope never to return.” - Frida Kahlo
I think we should regress to the beginning
But the police understood it somewhat differently and the two boys were the ones that got charged in that incident. But you are right the shotgun did belong to somebody else.
when the school is run by the same people who run the district attorney's office, guess who's gonna get the short end of the stick......
I think that the white kids should have been expelled for enciting the violence.......what they did shouldnt be overlooked to "throw the book" at 6 high shoolers, no ,matter the race.
Also, news outlets havent given the Jena 6 story any publicity because white people do not want to hear about it.
"my first name must be, "He aint sh@t", cause everytime I come through, yall be like "He aint sh@t"!....I'll be dat" --Redman
"Anything that can go wrong, Will go wrong"----Murphy's Law
What a crock!
If the media is so concerned about offending white folks why did the Duke Rape Case get so much coverag?. Unlike the Jena 6, those white boys were innocent but their lives got destroyed just the same.
And if the media is so slanted against blacks why don't black on white rapes get similar coverage to the Duke rape case? The crime statistics show that a white woman is a hundred times more likely to get raped by a black man as a black woman by a white man. The only white on black rape the media could come up with turned out to be bogus and I can't think of one of the many black on white rapes that has ever captivated the national news for more than a couple of days. How much coverage did the recent black on white rape/murders at UNC and Auburn get? Two or three days? Compared to 6 months in the Duke Rape hoax.
The media is not covering the Jena 6 story because if actual the facts got out, there would not be a lick of sympathy for the kids that ambushed and brutally beat that boy. As it is they have been able to gloss over those and pretend like attempted murder is somehow a civil rights issue and that this beating was justified. The media has stood justice on its head.
Okay I understand the whole rape stuff but come on now let's be real. NOBODY hears about anything that happen to any kind of black person unless their in trouble so people can label us as "Gangsters". And your saying "The media is not covering the Jena 6 story because if actual the facts got out, there would not be a lick of sympathy for the kids that ambushed and brutally beat that boy."...well actually if the "actual fact" got out I don't think those kids would be in jail for attempted murder. I understand what they did is wrong but how exactly are they suppose to act? Nobody taught them how to act in a racism situation because they aren't suppose to happen but then again there are some ignorant people in the world and they just happen to live in a whole town full of them.
The noose incident happened on the 1st of September. The beating happened in December 4th. That is THREE months. This was not a case of spur of the moment anger. There were school assemblies to discuss the noose incident. It was condemned. The kids responsible were punished but arguably not harshly enough. It is a thin excuse and does not nearly justify assualt.
I don't even think that at the time of the arrests that the noose incident was cited as a reason for the attack on this boy. That didn't happen until later when the lawyer tried to make an act of senseless viciousness into a civil rights issue. Here is a quote from the Wikipedia article:
Washington noted that of the more than 40 statements taken regarding the assault, none mentioned the noose incident
These 6 men were obviously very angry young men. But nothing that happened in that town three months earlier justifies ambushing somebody and knocking them unconscious and stomping them when they are helpless.
40 statements were stated, I'm guessing that a majority of them don't like black people either.
I don't know for sure but I assume that 6 of those 40 statements were from the perpetrators and the fact that the nooses were not mentioned in those is the most relevant and the most telling.
why must you keep pitting white against black..........what ever rape statistics you have you should save them for another time.......
All I meant was that the media, politics, etc. they are all controlled by what "those in charge" feel is important. It just happens to be a fact that "people of European descent" have their fingers on the buttons, so to speak. it was not meant as a shot against white people. we are all Americans. we need to start thinking that way.
devisive language, thoughts, rules, etc. Its all anti-American in my book, unless America was meant to be that way. what do you think jackbenimble?
"my first name must be, "He aint sh@t", cause everytime I come through, yall be like "He aint sh@t"!....I'll be dat" --Redman
"Anything that can go wrong, Will go wrong"----Murphy's Law
All I have to say is...
http://www.progressiveu.org/103818-i-do-not-support-the-jena-6
I read the story that you linked above and now I understand why your original post was so slanted and omitted so many of the facts that I have had to bring to your attention in the course of this discussion. You have been a victim of race hustlers who only gave you enough information to inflame your passions and twist your thinking. That article contained some truth but it was completely twisted and omitted most of the important facts. It was nowhere near as complete and certainly not as balanced as what I posted from Wikipedia.
But now you know the facts and yet you are STILLdefending the indefensible. Are you just arguing for the sake of arguing? Those kids were thugs and for no particular reason SIX of them ganged up and they beat the crap out of another human being and even after he was unconscious the continued to kick the crap out of him and stomp on his head. On what basis could such a thing being justified?
SURELY YOU CAN"T BELIEVE THAT SUCH ACTIONS ARE DEFENSIBLE? If you can say honestly otherwise that you believe that black people should be excused of this behavior whenever they feel upset about a racial taunt then every racist fear that people ever had about black people suddenly becomes justified because no rational person can defend those actions.
In a post above you complained about crimes happening to black people. It is a fact that the overwhelming majority of these crimes are committed by other black people. It is incomprehesible that you are defending the vicious acts of thugs just because they are black. It would seem to me that decent people of every color would want thugs of every color in prison. It is irrational and just flat wrong to defend black criminals simply because they are black because more then likely, their next victim will be black.
I understand that you were deceived by race hustlers. They are very good at it because that is their job. They make their living by inflaming race relations. They have no interest in racial justice or racial harmony. They thrive on racial strife. But now that you have been shown the facts in this case and had an opportunity to compare the truth to that swill that was fed you in that article, it is very hard to understand your continued defense of vicious criminals just because they are black.
I see what your saying and no im not arguing just to be arguing. Those six boy yes they shouldn't have beat him up but no they shouldn't be in jail for almost the rest of their lives. Yes they should've been exspelled and sent to alternative schools but 22 years for beating a kid up is ridiculous. Another thing I wouldn't call those kids "thugs" because they beat up one kid. Thug to me someone who is bad on a daily bases.