Quote:
Originally Posted by melliedee
All this lead up to an incident involving nooses being placed under the schools' "white" tree when a black kid sat under it. Guess you didn't read the link?
The always excellent Wade Goodman of NPR reported what happened next: "The next night, 16-year-old Robert Bailey and a few black friends tried to enter a party attended mostly by whites. When Bailey got inside, he was attacked and beaten. The next day, tensions escalated at a local convenience store. Bailey exchanged words with a white student who had been at the party. The white boy ran back to his truck and pulled out a pistol grip shotgun. Bailey ran after him and wrestled him for the gun.
After some scuffling, Bailey and his friends took the gun away and brought it home. Bailey was eventually charged with theft of a firearm, second-degree robbery and disturbing the peace. The white student who pulled the weapon was not charged at all.
The following Monday, Dec. 4, a white student named Justin Barker was loudly bragging to friends in the school hallway that Robert Bailey had been whipped by a white man on Friday night. When Barker walked into the courtyard, he was attacked by a group of black students. The first punch knocked Barker out and he was kicked several times in the head. But the injuries turned out to be superficial. Barker was examined by doctors and released; he went out to a social function later that evening.
Six black students were arrested and charged with aggravated assault. But District Attorney Reed Walters increased the charges to attempted second-degree murder."
The first black kid to go to court, Mychal Bell, then 16, was tried as an adult and convicted by an all-white jury. He faced 22 years in prison. After an outcry the charges were reduced; however, tomorrow Mychal Bell is to be sentenced on the lesser charges.
The white kids who attacked Bailey the night before have not been charged with anything.
Trey Ellis: The Jena 6 Case is History Written in Lightning - Politics on The Huffington Post |
That is an extremely one sided account of this incident. I am not taking sides and am admitting that I dont know all the specifics in the case but the problem is there are a lot of injustices implied yet no facts behind them for instance, why havent the white kids who allegedly attacked Baily been charged? Is it racism or is there just not enough evidence, racism is impled IMO but that might not be the truth. It is also stated as though it is fact that a group of white kids attacked Bailey, if there isnt enough evidence(asumption by me) to prosecute how do we know it is even true?
There are plenty more questions that are unanswered in this that really need to be answered before one could make a call either way.