Jena 6????

I haven't heard all of the details invovlving this case so i will just voice my oppinion and get all of your thoughts on it. From what i've read 6 black kids beat up a white kid and now the black community wants them cleared of alll charges!?! Call me crazy but this is downright insane. I read that the reason people feel this way is because there is a case where 3 white people beat up a black kid and only got battery charges where as these kids are getting attempted murder. Now the main issue is race, it seems ignorant to me to say that because white people got a lesser sentence black kids shouldn't be charged. If you look at it like this, 6 kids beat on 1 kid, ud say thats horrible but all of a sudden when its black kids beating up this white kid, they shouldn't be punished at all. to me this seems like a step back for civil rights. 2 wrongs do not make a right.

wow, yeah, i guess i was wrong. i posted this after reading an online forum. but i just read the thing on wikipedia and it was completely different. sorry.

This is a case warranting public attention but not the way most have portrayed it here. I have attached a link to the SNOPES news story on the incident. If you read it you will see the Jena 6 are not the innocent kids portrayed by many. The white kid was blindside jumped. He was not one of the kids responsible for the nooses either.
As for attempted murder, well, that is a stretch however they are not being tried for attempted murder but for aggravated battery. This is a very common prosecution method of charging high then working down since it is easier than charging low and trying to work up.
Mychal Bell, the 1st convicted of the Jena 6, was already on probation at the time of this incident for another assault and had 3 other pending cases. This was his 5th case in less than a year. As a probationer charged with a similar crime within a relatively short time frame, I can easily see why he was charged as an adult - you do adult type crimes, you get charged with adult type charges.

HOWEVER, there are definite issues in the prosecutor's office for the area. You will also read in the SNOPES article where white defendants were not similarly handled. If the police and prosecutor had been race neutral in all the mentioned cases then the Jena 6 may not have been the publicity incident that it became. Had white defendants been arrested and charged with felonies then there would not have been the same racial inequality problems presented. The Jena 6 should be treated no differently than the white defendants in the prior crimes.

The story could and should have focused on criminals, neither black nor white but simply criminal thugs. Same as the prior incidents where the particular defendants were white criminal thugs. The issue should be identifying, arresting, and prosecuting criminal thugs whether black or white. Race should NOT be the issue. The criminal actions should.

Now the issue is a mess. At some point the county needs to draw a line and declare law enforcement and prosecution actions will be race neutral from this point forward then actually live by that declaration.

Before anyone goes off too wildly, read the article. It is not written by any group with a statement to make or a cause to declare. It includes statements from both sides.

Oh yea, the noose incident was three months before this incident. The media has been playing it up as if the Jena 6 was reacting to the nooses. Three months is not a reaction.

No.. you're wrong. A group of white kids initiated the fight.. and even though they committed a hate crime against the black students, and the school did nothing by the way, they were given a slap on the wrist, whilst the state wants to send the Jena six to prisohn. That's what all the uproar is about.

and half a tick does not make a right

You are horribly mistaken and ill-informed

--Tuesday, July 10th, 2007--
Six black students at Jena High School in Central Louisiana were arrested last December after a school fight in which a white student was beaten and suffered a concussion and multiple bruises. The six black students were charged with attempted murder and conspiracy. They face up to 100 years in prison without parole. The fight took place amid mounting racial tension after a black student sat under a tree in the schoolyard where only white students sat. The next day three nooses were hanging from the tree. [includes rush transcript]
Jena is a small town nestled deep in the heart of Central Louisiana. Until recently, you may well have never heard of it. But this rural town of less than 4,000 people has become a focal point in the debate around issues of race and justice in this country.
Last December, six black students at Jena High School were arrested after a school fight in which a white student was beaten and suffered a concussion and multiple bruises. The six black students were charged with attempted second-degree murder and conspiracy. They face up to 100 years in prison without parole. The Jena Six, as they have come to be known, range in age from 15 to 17 years old.

Just over a week ago, an all-white jury took less than two days to convict 17 year-old Mychal Bell, the first of the Jena Six to go on trial. He was convicted of aggravated battery and conspiracy charges and now faces up to 22 years in prison.

Black residents say that race has always been an issue in Jena, which is 85 percent white, and that the charges against the Jena Six are no exception.

The origins of the story can be traced back to early September when a black high school student requested permission to sit under a tree in the schoolyard where usually only white students sat. The next day three nooses were found hanging from the tree.

please read further --

Look, It is a crazy situation, but you have to look at the facts. Down south, it's still for the most part segregated, and racism is very much alive. I do not think that 2 wrongs make a right, but there is a such thing a common sense and being fair. There should have never been an attempted murder charge, and to me, It just was not that serious.

The problem was.......

Some kids had hung NOOSES on trees on campus, it lead to racial tension on campus. When white kids on campus fought with black kids nothing happened, but when the black kids started the fights, they faced stiffer charges, one of them attempted murder.

Noone should have EVER allowed the Nooses to continue to hang, and all those kids, white or black should not face any harsher crimes than the next group.

JUSTICE SHOULD BE BLIND, IT SHOULD NOT MATTER THE COLOR OF ONES SKIN JUST THEIR MORAL CHARACTER. " DON'T DO THE CRIME IF YOU CAN'T DO THE TIME".

clearly you haven't heard/read all of the details.
the white boys were suspended; the black boys were charged with attempted murder. The white kid who was beat up attended a school function the same night he was beaten up. There were nooses hanging from the tree and no one was charged with anything....even though that is a hate crime. 2 wrongs don't make a right, but the fact is not that the black kids shouldn't be punished, but that the punishment should fit the crime. At most this was a misdemeanor assualt....not attempted murder. Further, if the school had done the right thing in the first place and held someone responsible for the noose, perhaps the black kids would have felt vindicated and not have acted out in a negative way.

You really shoulod read more about the case before commenting. The entire thing was started by the white kids who are now throwing up their hands saying "We didn't do anything!" with their best inniocent faces on. It doesn't help that the white D.A. made questionable comments in public!! He said "I can make these kids disappear!" The bottom line is THESE ARE KIDS! Kids do stupid things! Should any kid lose their entire future for fighting? The white kids did worse a year ago and got nothing! These white kids are trouble makers because they have grown up in a climate of racial hatred making them believe they are better and deserve to be treated better than any black. I heard some of the black parents on TV and NOT ONE of them expected the black kids to go entirely unpunished. They all know these kids were in the wrong. But attempted MURDER for a fight! That's life in prison! Come on! Short of murder itself no kid deserves to spend their life in prison for a stupid thing they did at 15.

my problem is with this bell kid. everyone is getting behind him and hes acting like some kind of civil rights hero...he already had a conviction and was on probation for a prior VIOLENT offense. i dont know about the other 5, and yes attempted murder is too hard a charge, but why oh why would the black community rally behind this particular kid? hes been a troubler maker and law breaker for years and he needs to not be visited by celebrities like jesse jackson, this kid only learned that he can keep getting away with every thing if he just uses the race card.

there was never a black kid beat by whites. never. this story was made up to make the attack on barker seem justified.

barker is an innocent victim that was attacked at school. my child witnessed the attack. it was horrific. if you know anyone that is going to march on mlk day. tell them to get the facts. the six need to be prosecuted.

al sharpton and his zoo are trying to clear these 6 blacks of committing a crime. that would be like giving them a free pass to whoop my a$$ville.

here is my opinion and i voice it rather frequently. the parents of the jena six should be the ultimate to blame. they have failed their children miserably. they have allowed their children to run amuck. mychal bell, had many juvinile priors. it is sad, because the kid had and may still have a great football career. now, his dad came into the picture recently, marcus jones, he was living in texas most of mychal's life. that my friend, is called abandonment. now, he is traveling around begging for donations. for what?! the lawyer is probono. the court house is only a mile from where marcus jones lives. give me a break people. al sharpton is trying to portray our community as racist, bottom line and will not stop at nothing....he will and has lied on several occassions. the reverend brian moran the one that al sharpton was sitting next to talking to congress about equality, just pulled a loaded pistol on a couple outside of a local resturant. the couple had their newborn baby with them........


how sick it that???

racism, favoritism.... that 1 white kid hung up six nooses that is why he got his *** stomped!!! yes i do feel they need to be punished: house arrest or probation