 | Free the Jena 6? No. Charge as Adult? No. Attempted Murder? No. |
I’ve been following the “Jena 6″ issue for a few weeks now, and I haven’t posted on it because I believe the situation is more complicated than the way in which either “side” portrays it.
“Free the Jena 6″ is the slogan being bandied around by marchers and protest organizers, and there are explicit calls by organizers to for the legal system to respond by “immediately dropping the charges against all six young men.” But a kid was beaten hard enough to be knocked unconscious and with head injuries and lost vision in an eye for three weeks. That’s a violent attack carried out six-on-one. Free the Jena 6? No. Drop all charges? No. I’m disturbed by the lack of mention of the seriousness of the injury by protest groups.
On the other hand, these were six kids, and they were charged as adults. That’s not right. They were charged with attempted murder. That’s not proportionate. In the same town, a white kid threatened black kids with a gun, and when the black kids wrestled his gun away and walked away from the scene, who was charged? The black kids, for theft, not the white kid, for threatening the black kids with his gun. That sounds like a clear case of injustice to me.
I’m going to continue to read, and consider, and think about this, and I can’t agree with those who say the case of Jena is simple. It’s complicated. I don’t fit snugly onto either “side,” and I think there’s more territory to sit on than on one or the other “side,” and I won’t be pushed onto either one.
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I’m glad you posted this. I’ve been feeling the same way. This is a complex situation and it is never going to be able to be easily reduced to one side or the other, as much as the media or those on each side may want and try to do so.
Comment by Scott S — 9/21/2007 @ 3:42 pm
I’m still trying to figure out the original incident. The white students were used to congregating under a tree and the black students were used to congregating by the gymnasium. Then one day some black students decided to stand by the tree. It wasn’t the white students trying to stand by the gymnasium.
What was that about?
Comment by Iroquois — 9/21/2007 @ 6:04 pm
Looks like Jesse Jackson is rushing down there to make excuses for the blacks, whatever they did, and Al Sharpton is going to get in his two cents worth too.
People here are not happy with Jesse since he came to the defense of four hooligans who were throwing beer bottles and being rough at a school game. Jesse said they were just being picked on because they were black, poor dears, and used his influence to get them transferred to other schools. They ran afoul of the regulations there too and got thrown out, all except one of them. I guess prejudice must just be everywhere. So what did Jesse do? Did he say I defended a bunch of nogoodniks just because they were black and they failed me? Did he say black people should be held accountable when they do something destructive? Nope, he held a press conference for the one who finally did graduate.
Yesterday I was on a school field trip. A group of black students staked out the back of the bus and spent the entire trip making loud remarks that could be heard all over the bus, challenging the driver to play ethnic music at high volume and keeping up a stream of profanity that was so loud no one else could have a conversation. Now I don’t care what they do with their mothers in the bedroom at night, but I don’t think that’s the kind of professional language and behavior that’s expected of students at a school function. I wasn’t that surprised when everyone got off the bus and the black students went one way and everyone else went the other way.
Comment by Anonymous — 9/21/2007 @ 11:44 pm
The whites in the town where I grew up are so dirty. When I was in high school, these white kids would beat me up, and nowadays every time I turn on the TV there’s Holly Hunter taking off her clothes and James Gandolfini using the f-word. What’s our culture coming to, with the whites and all?
Comment by Jim — 9/22/2007 @ 9:20 am
I have no idea who those people are, but I think their cousins live down the street. You can get rid of them though, if they are bothering you.
We got rid of those obnoxious whites who were playing those rap songs with the n-word at top volume while they waited to get Taken Up, and also the ones who were dealing drugs, and got in some whites with various piercings who keep to themselves. The Hispanics making noise all night we got rid of and got in some quiet Hispanics.
You can’t say anything about the blacks though, or you are a racist and Jesse will come after you. You will just have to go somewhere else.
Comment by Anonymous — 9/22/2007 @ 3:08 pm
Well, then, you better run. Run, run, run!
Comment by Jim — 9/22/2007 @ 4:34 pm
White flight is a real phenomenon. Before you jeer, you should talk to some of the people who have experienced it.
Comment by Anonymous — 9/22/2007 @ 6:54 pm
The public school in the neighborhood that my son attends is 65% black. Oddly enough, none of the children there seem to have horns. I shall have to look more closely for them.
Comment by Jim — 9/22/2007 @ 7:25 pm
You won’t have to look. You will know when:
~your house gets spray painted with gang signs
~your car gets broken into by someone trying to hotwire it and you have to file an insurance claim to replace the steering column
~you keep the tools you need to do your small business in your vehicle and the vehicle is broken into and the tools stolen.
~someone at work (black) tells you, “We are going to take over your neighborhood. Let me know when you’re ready to sell me your house.”
~your neighbors houses are broken into
~you go for a walk in your neighborhood and a car with four black guys wearing caps follows you
~you are driving in your neighborhood and a car with four black guys wearing caps smashes into you. When you get out to exchange insurance info, they physically overpower you and steal your car.
~you come home and your front door is broken down
~your black neighbors know who is doing all of these things, but they won’t say who did it because it was done by blacks they want to protect.
Comment by Anonymous — 9/23/2007 @ 12:45 am
You mean you when you say “you.” Try saying “me.” It’s a singular sort of thing. Have fun generalizing your individual understanding to try to explain how the whole world works. It worked very well for George W. Bush. In the meantime, try moving to Iowa. There are just about none of “the blacks” over there, and since they’re the source of your suffering in the world, everything should just about come up roses and daffodils for you there.
Comment by Jim — 9/23/2007 @ 12:52 am
You think you are immune? I certainly hope so, but that’s not how I have heard it from around the country. Maybe that doesn’t happen in your neighborhood or your city, and even if it did you would be protected because, because, …maybe Jesse put a special mark on your door so they would pass you over?
Notice how quickly black on white crime reports are squelched before the six o’clock news. But white on black crime reports have legs that last several days and often go national.
There are two ways out of the double standard. One is to make the double standard go away so that a crime is a crime no matter who does it. No more of this “it’s okay to commit crimes as long as it’s against whites because we’re Oppressed” stuff. Yes, they really say that in public and out loud. The other way to combat black on white crime and intimidation, for those who can’t move to Iowa, is gang violence, torching buildings, nooses on trees, you know, the brave anonymous stuff. I think you can see where that’s headed.
Why should we just expect that blacks aren’t going to act right? Why should they get a free pass for causing harm? Do they really need to be treated like babies?
Comment by Anonymous — 9/23/2007 @ 10:12 am
So now Jesse Jackson is the passover angel. Wow. Incredible. You certainly have an interesting way of thinking. I sure will look for “the blacks” who are skulking around my alleyways just waiting to begin that race war. Maybe they’re hiding with the terrorists who are waiting to blow up my neighbor’s trash can.
Comment by Jim — 9/23/2007 @ 10:54 am
Nope, the terrorists are with me. They do awesome Kosher BBQ.
“The blacks” are down in the Hood at the “Gotta Go” Fina gas station in Jena, Louisiana, just waiting for you to walk onto “their” turf.
Comment by Anonymous — 9/23/2007 @ 4:31 pm