The Jena 6 Case

[mofi]

Originally Posted by MWC

Both sides are full of thugs, with an overblown sense of entitlement and warped sense of perspective because they're on sports teams.
This is one illustration of why I drum into my girls to never bring home a football player. My brother was a HS player, and some of the party stories I heard were appalling. And this was 30 years ago!

Flame away, but that's how I feel.

There is nothing wrong with football players, unless of course their parents failed to do their job when the player was younger. Yes my brother goes to parties, yes he drinks we he is at home, but he definitely doesn't go out to beat people up nor would he ever raise a fist outside the game unless his life was in danger.

[gingele]

Originally Posted by mofi

There is nothing wrong with football players, unless of course their parents failed to do their job when the player was younger. Yes my brother goes to parties, yes he drinks we he is at home, but he definitely doesn't go out to beat people up nor would he ever raise a fist outside the game unless his life was in danger.

Is your brother in HS??

[nakatrashdude]

You need to know the mind set and the mortally of this small town, I work with some guys from this town and they are very proud of being racial. There has been sevral cross burnings in the parish and not once has a hate crime been issued over the years.

This is not just a small problem that happened at school, this is how they were raised. Rebel flags and white hoods are very common in Jena and LaSalle Parish....You just need to vist this town and find out how closed minded most of the folks are.

[Kricket]

Originally Posted by nakatrashdude

You need to know the mind set and the mortally of this small town, I work with some guys from this town and they are very proud of being racial. There has been sevral cross burnings in the parish and not once has a hate crime been issued over the years.

This is not just a small problem that happened at school, this is how they were raised. Rebel flags and white hoods are very common in Jena and LaSalle Parish....You just need to vist this town and find out how closed minded most of the folks are.

Greg, there's a town about 30 min. South of me that is not too far from this type of behavior. A about an hour past that and I'm in white supremist territory. It's crazy!

[nakatrashdude]

I have to this time support the Jackson / Sharpton protest and march.

[TAPPY]

Originally Posted by nakatrashdude

You need to know the mind set and the mortally of this small town, I work with some guys from this town and they are very proud of being racial. There has been sevral cross burnings in the parish and not once has a hate crime been issued over the years.

This is not just a small problem that happened at school, this is how they were raised. Rebel flags and white hoods are very common in Jena and LaSalle Parish....You just need to vist this town and find out how closed minded most of the folks are.

What you is paint is somewhat true (the racial divide in this town) ...There has always been a serious black vs white gang type related problem in this area that has brought a crime element to this town. This has overlapped into the school system and has caused serious tensions. It comes from both sides of the fence.

[PlayadelSoul]

I have no idea about the guilt of the kid, but can't believe he was tried as an adult. That act, alone, raises my suspicions.

I do notice that this case has given Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson the opportunity to continue questioning Barrack Obama's blackness. As if his not jumping on a Sharpton sponsored cause makes him a traitor to his race. Obama does some impressive things, IMHO. I like the guy. Given Sharpton's history with Tawana Brawley, I would distance myself, too.

[kirbyfan]

The sad thing here is that there is alot of selective dialouge going on everywhere on this, including the mainstream media. I have heard on countless occasions what an angel the boy is, yet those singing his praises fail to include the fact that hes had prior assault charges. If these boys have been unfairly treated, then the people involved should face some justice the problem is that all the facts are hard to come by for the average joe.

[melliedee]

This from the NAACP website, a bit more detail. This march is supposed to happen today; is anyone watching the news? (I'm at work )

THE FACTS:
In a small highly segregated rural Louisiana town of Jena in September 2006, a black student asked permission from school administrators to sit under the shade of a tree commonly reserved for the enjoyment of white students. School officials advised the black students to sit wherever they wanted and they did. The next day, three nooses, in the school colors, were hanging from the same tree. The Jena high school principal found that three white students were responsible and recommended expulsion. The white superintendent of schools over-ruled the principal and gave the students a three day suspension, saying that the nooses were “a youthful stunt.” Black students decided to resist and organized a sit-in under the tree to protest the lenient treatment given to the noose-hanging white students.

Racial tensions remained elevated throughout the fall. On Monday, December 4 2006, a white student who allegedly had been racially taunting black students in support of the students who hung the nooses got into a fight with black students. Allegedly, the white student was taken to the hospital treated, released, reportedly attended a social function later that evening.

As a result of this incident, six black Jena students were arrested and charged with attempted second degree murder. All six were expelled from school. The six charged were: 17-year-old Robert Bailey Junior whose bail was set at $138,000; 17-year-old Theo Shaw - bail $130,000; 18-year-old Carwin Jones--bail $100,000; 17-year-old Bryant Purvis--bail $70,000; 16 year old Mychal Bell, a sophomore in high school who was charged as an adult and for whom bail was set at $90,000; and a still unidentified minor.

On the morning of the trial, the District Attorney reduced the charges from attempted second degree murder to second degree aggravated battery and conspiracy. Aggravated battery in Louisiana law demands the attack be with a dangerous weapon. The prosecutor was allowed to argue to the jury that the tennis shoes worn by Bell could be considered a dangerous weapon.
When the pool of potential jurors was summoned, fifty people appeared, all white. The jury deliberated for less than three hours and found Mychal Bell guilty on the maximum possible charges of aggravated second degree battery and conspiracy. He originally faced a maximum of 22 years in prison.

On September 4, 2007, the District Court granted Bell's Motion in Arrest of Judgment as to the Conspiracy charge. On September 14, 2007, the Third Circuit Court of Appeal in Louisiana vacated Mychal Bell’s conviction for aggravated battery. Mychal Bell may be tried in Juvenile Court. The rest of the Jena 6 await similar trials. Theodore Shaw and Carwin Jones are scheduled for trial on January 28, 2008.

• Read Circuit Court ruling vacating Mychal Bell's conviction

NAACP LEADS MARCH ON JENA - SEPTEMBER 20, 2007

[kirbyfan]

Originally Posted by melliedee

This from the NAACP website, a bit more detail. This march is supposed to happen today; is anyone watching the news? (I'm at work )

THE FACTS:
In a small highly segregated rural Louisiana town of Jena in September 2006, a black student asked permission from school administrators to sit under the shade of a tree commonly reserved for the enjoyment of white students. School officials advised the black students to sit wherever they wanted and they did. The next day, three nooses, in the school colors, were hanging from the same tree. The Jena high school principal found that three white students were responsible and recommended expulsion. The white superintendent of schools over-ruled the principal and gave the students a three day suspension, saying that the nooses were “a youthful stunt.” Black students decided to resist and organized a sit-in under the tree to protest the lenient treatment given to the noose-hanging white students.

Racial tensions remained elevated throughout the fall. On Monday, December 4 2006, a white student who allegedly had been racially taunting black students in support of the students who hung the nooses got into a fight with black students. Allegedly, the white student was taken to the hospital treated, released, reportedly attended a social function later that evening.

As a result of this incident, six black Jena students were arrested and charged with attempted second degree murder. All six were expelled from school. The six charged were: 17-year-old Robert Bailey Junior whose bail was set at $138,000; 17-year-old Theo Shaw - bail $130,000; 18-year-old Carwin Jones--bail $100,000; 17-year-old Bryant Purvis--bail $70,000; 16 year old Mychal Bell, a sophomore in high school who was charged as an adult and for whom bail was set at $90,000; and a still unidentified minor.

On the morning of the trial, the District Attorney reduced the charges from attempted second degree murder to second degree aggravated battery and conspiracy. Aggravated battery in Louisiana law demands the attack be with a dangerous weapon. The prosecutor was allowed to argue to the jury that the tennis shoes worn by Bell could be considered a dangerous weapon.
When the pool of potential jurors was summoned, fifty people appeared, all white. The jury deliberated for less than three hours and found Mychal Bell guilty on the maximum possible charges of aggravated second degree battery and conspiracy. He originally faced a maximum of 22 years in prison.

On September 4, 2007, the District Court granted Bell's Motion in Arrest of Judgment as to the Conspiracy charge. On September 14, 2007, the Third Circuit Court of Appeal in Louisiana vacated Mychal Bell’s conviction for aggravated battery. Mychal Bell may be tried in Juvenile Court. The rest of the Jena 6 await similar trials. Theodore Shaw and Carwin Jones are scheduled for trial on January 28, 2008.

• Read Circuit Court ruling vacating Mychal Bell's conviction

NAACP LEADS MARCH ON JENA - SEPTEMBER 20, 2007

You honestly think that the NAACP website is a reliable source for unbiased facts on this case???

[melliedee]

Originally Posted by kirbyfan

You honestly think that the NAACP website is a reliable source for unbiased facts on this case???

I'm just trying to find facts online, as this story is new to me. Feel free to post any that you find. I was looking for a timeline of events and this seemed pretty detailed.

[kirbyfan]

Originally Posted by melliedee

I'm just trying to find facts online, as this story is new to me. Feel free to post any that you find. I was looking for a timeline of events and this seemed pretty detailed.

Ok, didnt mean to imply you werent being impartial or anything just stating that that view is likely to be skewed to one side. Post any other good links you might find on it as I am interested in it as well.

[Just Lucky]

Originally Posted by kirbyfan

You honestly think that the NAACP website is a reliable source for unbiased facts on this case???

I'm having a hard time with this. Why wouldn't the NAACP be a reliable source in this or any other case?

[kirbyfan]

Originally Posted by Just Lucky

I'm having a hard time with this. Why wouldn't the NAACP be a reliable source in this or any other case?

Youre joking right...

[nakatrashdude]

Fair Justice in the Jena city / parish goverment is the main focus here, even our surounding state leaders have said. Every news cast station has said sevral time in the news that the State leaders allowed Jena to become the Vacuum. Yes the whole picture is wrong here, segregated shade trees, pulling a shotgun, ass beating, ect.. but use of a noose along with the Deep South's history of lynch mobs is just as racial.

Evidence of racism is alive in that town / parish/county, and casued the VACUUM for the naacp along with state goverment and others to protest the jena 6 unfair trial. This could very well be happening in anyother town or city but its not because they practice fair justice. With all that had happened after the hanging nooses, the school had a assembly where the DA lifted a ink pen and and illustrated his point. "With a stroke of a pen, "I can make your lives disappear."

What you just read is right, it's been on local news for a year, and you can tell there is a slant in the news hoping that state goverment would look at this case.

We will always be a world devided by race, but we don't need the Justice be .