The Jena six

[ChibiHorsewoman]

[color=#9933ff][font=lucida calligraphy]Since we have that article about that woman in West Virginia I'm a bit surprised that we don't have anything about the six black students from Jena, Louisiana who are on trial for attempted murder for beating up a white student while three white students who hung nooses in one of the trees on the campus of their high school have faced no consequences.

To be fair I've only heard bits and pieces of this story over the past few days. The charges have been lessened to second degree assult for five of the students and the sixth is now being refused bail.

Bellow is the latest from the Associated press, The entire page is helpful because if you scroll down you'll have more links (including one about some idiot in Alexandria LA driving by the protesters with two nooses tied to the bed of his pick up. He's been charged with inciting a riot among other things.

[URL=Latest from the AP]http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070922/ap_on_re_us/jena_six_protest[/URL]

I've been hearing on the news in the mornings that many of the residents of Jena, LA are saying that they aren't racist. That may be the case and I'm willing to give most of them the benifit of the doubt since it usually is a few idiots that make everyone look bad, but can't the DA try to do something about bail?

Okay well I look foreward to your replies, I have to go to bed.[/color][/font]

[2010DigitalBoy]

[COLOR="DarkOrange"]My best friend made fun of me cuz I didn't know and ended up wearing white (I almost ALWAYS wear black) on the one day I shouldn't have, lol. Anyway, he took it very seriously and here in VA Beach there was a 1000-or-so-man march with signs and stuff o'er at our Mt. Trashmore.

My best friend was one of the first to arrive and got interviewed on the news - I didn't see him (I don't watch the news >_>) but he got interviewed and stuff which is cool. He said he was doing it for his little sister - is stepdad and 2-year-old sister are black and he told them how he didn't want his little sister to have to grow up into a country that harbors racism and such. I wish I'd seen it, since it sounds quite stirring. [/COLOR]

[Gavin]

[SIZE="1"]What exactly are we discussing here Chibi, the trials of the Jena Six or everything that led up to it as well ?

If we're discussing the latter, it seems to me that the tensions let loose by this existed before the noose incident, and that this is just the sad result of those tensions and an obvious lack of proper discipline by the school's board. Regardless of whether it was intended as a "harmless prank" or not, those three were old enough to know that there was nothing "harmless" about the symbology behind what they did.

As for the Jena Six, I don't think there is no justification in six people brutally beating one person to the point of unconsciousness. That said, the "attempted murder" charge is obviously ridiculous overkill, when an assault charge is more in line with the crime. Seems to me though that this whole thing has been blown into a huge civil rights thing, when really it's down to some incompetent civil servants and a powder-keg of racial tension.[/SIZE]

[eleanor]

[font="trebuchet ms"] I've been following this a little, but I can't say I know much about it. We've seen news clips about it in our AP Gov class, but the only thing that really popped out to me were the white people in Jena saying it was an equal town.

A lot of the white people in Jena are getting upset, claiming that the media is portraying their town as a stereotypical racist town, but I can't see otherwise. Who thinks hanging nooses is a harmless prank, especially when it's directed to black people? When the reporter said the local barber wouldn't cut black peoples' hair because it would upset his white customers, that pretty much sealed the deal. I'm positive not everyone there is racist, so I feel bad for those who are surrounded by these type of people.[/font]