Today thousands of people will be marching on Jena, LA. The papers and TV news are talking about a second civil rights movement and conjuring images of the 1960′s civil rights marches. This time, there is something more impenetrable that people are marching against though, the legal system.Â
In December 2006, six black high school students were arrested after fighting with a white student and charged with attempted murder. The charges where vacated and reduced to battery and conspiracy. The inciting incident happened in September when a black student asked to sit under a tree where white students usually sat. When students returned the next day three nooses hung from that very tree. The students who hung the nooses where suspended from school but tensions where at a high around school, sparking the December fight. Mychal Bell was the first of the Jena 6 to be brought to trial in July and he was convicted of all charges. Today, a year after the first incident and 9 months after the first arrest, people are marching on Jena.
There are more than 43,000 members of the group Free Jena 6 on Facebook and thousands of groups are traveling to the town to march, while thousands more are marching in their hometowns. The DA for the case told the AP that the media has it all wrong, it isn’t about race, which is appalling and turning a blind eye to say the least. High school students fight all of the time, teachers are trained to handle fights, but how many times have these teens been arrested for attempted murder? It is understandable for the school to impose harsh penalties on their students in an effort to quell an epidemic of fighting, but this is the court system imposing these charges, not the administration. And beside that point the school did not have an epidemic problem with violence nor was there a precedent set before the Jena 6 where students where presented with the same charges for the same actions. The incident started with a blatantly racist statement being made by other students. It all comes down to race, bottom line. The Jena 6 received unduly harsh punishment and missed prom while they awaited trial in prison. That can’t be changed but a message needs to be sent that this is unacceptable, precisely what these marches will hopefully do.
I would like to hear your thoughts about the punishment and the marches! And just in case you ever doubted the awesomeness that is David Bowie, today he donated thousands to the Jena 6 fund. This isn’t small time anymore. This is something that will impact us for a long time to come.
I do not study law or keep up on law cases. But, I’m fairly certain there were a handful of fights in my high school where kids ended up in the hospital (the student who was beaten in Jena was released the same day and attended a school function that evening) and I didn’t hear of anyone being charged with attempted murder. Also, I’m relatively certain the white students who were suspended for a mere three days after hanging nooses (which people who have been interviewed across the town have written off as a “prank”) were not punished outside of school. I would be interested to know if it is normal at Jena, LA for students who are involved in a fight to be arrested. Arrested for anything, not just attempted murder. But you know, maybe assault. This simply doesn’t line up.
Am I advocating physical violence? Absolutely not. However, the more I read about Jena, LA and this DA (who has been quoted as saying he can sign away those six students’ lives), the more I realize that this is not the ideal world where those six students could have approached an authority figure and had “justice” take place. I completely agree that this is a race issue and it is pathetic that this is happening. Should the Jena 6 be punished for physically beating up another student. Yes. But by the school. I know several of the Jena 6 have no criminal records. But rather, scholarship offers from colleges. Should they be charged criminally? I’m not certain. I’d like to know if there is a precident for that. But, I do know that their actions came as a response to other instances that should’ve been handled better by authority figures. Had these tensions been taken seriously by school and town officials, this possibly could have been prevented.
March on.
Like or Dislike:
0 
0
I guess if you are a White Kid Victims Rights don’t apply. Where is the ACLU (Not defending the guy that it took six guys to beat up).
I can’t believe this is happening. It’s a Hate Crime!
If a Black kid got beat up by six white kids… It would be LA riots all over again.
America Wake Up!!!!!!
Like or Dislike:
0 
0
While several of these things could just be heresay, it has been reported that a black student was beaten up by white students at a party outside of school and a group of black kids had a shot gun turned on them by a white man at a convenience store and when the kids got the gun away from the man, the kids were then charged with robbery of the gun. I don’t know if any of that is true, but I’ve read it in more than one article.
Bottom line is, nothing here is justified:
Hanging of the nooses? No excuse. It’s not even funny. That is not a prank.
Racial slurs (be it towards a black person or a white person, or ANY person) are and should be unacceptable.
Any kind of physical fighting should be punished.
I feel the boys in the Jena 6 should be punished, but the should be punished like any other student in the high school who was involved in a fight at school. Bringing attempted murder charges (though all but one have since been dropped) is outrageous. I would like to know if any student from Jena High School that had been involved in a fight was ever criminally charged with anything.
Like or Dislike:
0 
0
The principal, DA, superintendent should all lose their powers for not taking the noose hanging seriously. If they did, it wouldn’t have gotten this far. It a shame, a real shame that things like this still happen. The DA needs to get his LIFE signed off by higher authority.
America, you failed.
Like or Dislike:
0 
0
I think this has to do with race. What the hell is a whites only tree?? I thought segeration days where over. I feel that these boys where provoked. There where fights at my high school all the time and I went to school that was 75% white…all they ever got was supened and if the familt wanted to press charges then at the most they would get community services. This is crazy..I think it was taken way to far and got out of hand. If the school had of taken the hanging of the ropes on the trees more sercesioly then all of this could’ve been avoied. What if the black kids had of painted black power or all white people are deviles on trees what do you think the school would have done. What’s good for the gose is good for the gander.
Like or Dislike:
0 
0
The news media is not reporting the whole story. They failed to mention that a black kid was beaten first, and a gun was pulled on the black kids first and no charges were filed. They are reporting this story in a slanted biased way, as usual.
Like or Dislike:
0 
0
I can’t believe you people. Last time I looked I didn’t see where hanging a noose was illegal. Yes it is wrong and not funny. Yes it could start some serious matters as it did here. If the black kid got beat up, charge the guys who did it. These boys involved in the beating of a white kid should be charged with assault or higher charge if they did serious damage to the white guy. Still the black guys right to take them to cival court and sue them. Same thing with the white guy. Take them to cival court. Why does Jessie jackson, Al sharpton, only get involved when it is a situation were something has happened to blacks? Segregation is worse then racism!
Like or Dislike:
0 
0
But the black students were charged with attempted murder in a court of law, for beating someone up. How many time has that happened? If none at all I am sure it is a rarity. It is amazing that people can even consider something like hanging a noose to be a mere prank. We live in a society that has very dark associations with such a “prank” and those students were acting deliberately and making a very grim threat. For what? Sitting under a tree! Plus, the guy who was beat up was released from the hospital and attended an event that very night, that doesn’t sound close to death to me. Even when I stayed home with a cold I was not allowed to attend an event that night!
Like or Dislike:
0 
0
Dear Fed Up,
Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton get involved when there is a situation regarding black people because that is the cause the care about. Why does Pamela Anderson only get involved when someone wears fur?
No one here is saying the kids of the Jena 6 didn’t commit a crime. In fact, I think everyone here has conceded to that fact. But, have you heard of high school students being charged with attempted murder for a fight that happened at school, while another group of kids beat up another student off campus and aren’t criminally pursued for any charges?
White, black, pink, purple, polka dot… anyone involved in the intentional physical assault of another person should be prosecuted. What brought race into the picture was when the black students were charged with over blown charges (had they wanted Justin Barker dead, they could have done it) while their white peers were not charged for the same crime.
Like or Dislike:
0 
0
CNN.COM has a timeline and pictures of events (including the gun incident) as well as converage of the rallies and marches
CNN Jenna 6 Timeline
Rally Converage
(Thanks Annie!)
Like or Dislike:
0 
0
Poor babies, they missed prom….”aint’t that a shame” (Quote fron Fats Domino). When do you need an epidemic of violence anywhere to charge and prosecute (punish) people for ganging up on an individual. If this had been six whites against one black, would it have been determined to be a hate crime??? Where does it stop??? It’s alright to commit a hate crime unles your black, poor, gay, lesbian, a horse, a dog, a moose. Whites are the only enities that are capable of hate crimes in this world. However, I realize that Al and pals have not had their faces or names in public for awhile, so let’s through out our morals and do whatever it takes to be in the public eye. “Damn the torpedoes, fulll speed ahead”, even if it makes you look the fool that you are. Of course the media hasn’t a part in this either, so everyone is on their own……If it weren’t for genetically stupid people, this would be a dull earth..
Like or Dislike:
0 
0
If you carfully read before throwing out mean spirited comments you would also noticed that there was a group of white on blacks, where a gun was drawn that did not reap these same consequences. I would like to also note that being eloquent makes for a much better argument.
Like or Dislike:
0 
0
To Fed up…Putting up crosses at schools is considered offensive and in some schools illegal, so why should any school allow students to hang something that was used to kill innocent people on the sole basis that they were black? I’m sure somewhere in the student handbook or whatever there has to be something against racist gestures.
Like or Dislike:
0 
0