Incident in Jena,La.

[RedBean]

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Kicked out of school? maybe.... but free speech could be argued should any hate crime charges be brought against them.


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I read somewhere on the incident that the FBI investigated the noose incident, and although it met all the qualifications of a hate crime, the students were juveniles and weren't members of any organized hate group like the Klan, etc, so they didn't proceed with any charges.

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The 6 on 1 assault seems to be racially motivated,... I doubt hate crime convictions have much of a chance.... whites dont seem to clammor for hate crime charges.

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They'd be hard pressed to push for a hate crime when the victim provoked the attack by hurling racial slurs at the group.

Don't get me wrong, that doesn't justify the attack at all, but if you walk up to three brothers and start dropping the N-bomb on them, and they lose self-control in their anger and physically strike you....it's still kinda tough to say they were the ones guilty of a racially motivated hate crime.

[adios]

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I read somewhere on the incident that the FBI investigated the noose incident, and although it met all the qualifications of a hate crime, the students were juveniles and weren't members of any organized hate group like the Klan, etc, so they didn't proceed with any charges.



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Media and certain groups have been spinning this story hard. This came out today in an Associate Press story:

_The so-called "white tree" at Jena High, often reported to be the domain of only white students, was nothing of the sort, according to teachers and school administrators; students of all races, they say, congregated under it at one time or another.

_Two nooses — not three — were found dangling from the tree. Beyond being offensive to blacks, the nooses were cut down because black and white students "were playing with them, pulling on them, jump-swinging from them, and putting their heads through them," according to a black teacher who witnessed the scene.

_There was no connection between the September noose incident and December attack, according to Donald Washington, an attorney for the U.S. Justice Department in western Louisiana, who investigated claims that these events might be race-related hate crimes.

_The three youths accused of hanging the nooses were not suspended for just three days — they were isolated at an alternative school for about a month, and then given an in-school suspension for two weeks.

_The six-member jury that convicted Bell was, indeed, all white. However, only one in 10 people in LaSalle Parish is African American, and though black residents were selected randomly by computer and summoned for jury selection, none showed up.


Black and white becomes gray in La. town

[RedBean]

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Media and certain groups have been spinning this story hard. This came out today in an Associate Press story:

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From the same story, which is the central point of the protesters:

when whites and blacks tangled several times before the Jena Six episode, why did authorities charge the whites with misdemeanors — or not at all — while charging blacks with felonies?

What also rankles African Americans in Jena, says Riser, the former school superintendent, is that whites charged with the same crimes as blacks receive more lenient punishment. "What this boils down to is: Why is there a double standard?"

[DblBarrelJ]

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Are you saying that in the USA it is alright to have "whites only" trees or any areas?

I don't know how it can be made any clearer than that.


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This was not an official, or even unofficial school policy. This is simply the way the students chose to act. Whites would hang out under the tree, the black kids would be wherever they hang out.
If the white students choose not to spend time with the black students, or vice versa, that is there decision, it isn't government endorsed segregation. Another example of this, from the same incident; apparently when the students were called into an assembly, the white kids sat together, and the black kids sat together. You cannot force people to spend time together.

And before you go calling me a hick or a racist, I've lived in two places in my life; New York and Philadelphia. I have several friends that are black, and some 2+2 members could attest to that.

Edit: By the way, Jesse Jackson said he totally endorses Obama, and doesn't question his "blackness" on CNN this morning.

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Taso, I agree with you most of the way, but tell my why the 3 White students who placed the nooses on the trees should not be kicked out of the school?

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Kicked out of school? maybe.... but free speech could be argued should any hate crime charges be brought against them. The 6 on 1 assault seems to be racially motivated,... I doubt hate crime convictions have much of a chance.... whites dont seem to clammor for hate crime charges.

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Actually, the emboldened portion is not true. Most of the US Constitution does not apply to students in public schools, especially the 1st, 2nd, and 4th amendments.

On a technical basis, all of those kids who have walked out of various schools across the country in protest of <u>insert hot topic here</u> could be charged with truancy, etc. Also, don't forget, they can search your bag, your person, your ride, whatever else, and in my state (GA) if you get caught with a 2" knife in your pocket, you're going to prison, and coming out 4-6 years later, called a felon.

FWIW, I certainly do believe they should be kicked out. If nothing else, the actions of these three led to an unsafe learning environment for the entire student population. For that alone they should be expelled. The principal attempted to expel these boys, but the school board overturned his decision, which is why I stated earlier that the mass protests should be aimed at calling for the resignation of the school board.

[adios]

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Media and certain groups have been spinning this story hard. This came out today in an Associate Press story:

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From the same story, which is the central point of the protesters:

when whites and blacks tangled several times before the Jena Six episode, why did authorities charge the whites with misdemeanors — or not at all — while charging blacks with felonies?

What also rankles African Americans in Jena, says Riser, the former school superintendent, is that whites charged with the same crimes as blacks receive more lenient punishment. "What this boils down to is: Why is there a double standard?"

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And what you put in italics could mean anything in reality. What were the specifics of the cases that these folks are claiming bias by the authorities? We've already seen that the guy that was tried as an adult had a prior juvenille record and was on probabtion. We've seen so many distortions in this story that at this point a lot more light would be shed with some facts. What specific facts does this gent have that prove there's a double standard.


In light of the thread that was locked that I can't comment in directly but I think it applies here. Think what the outcry would be if a white superintendent said that the law was being too lenient with a group of black students and that more blacks should be prosecuted and thrown in the pokey. Is there any doubt that the white superintendent would be accused of being a racist? There's a double standard alright and it's that bigotry against whites by blacks is fine but bigotry by whites is a no-no.

[RedBean]

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There's a double standard alright and it's that bigotry against whites by blacks is fine but bigotry by whites is a no-no.

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Simply amazing.

[MelchyBeau]

I grew up fairly close to Jena, in a small town called Pineville. I was honestly not suprised to see this happen. Racial tensions in Alexandria were on the rise so much that it seemed like every single police arrest of a black person was accused of being racially motivated, no matter if it was a black cop arresting a black man or a white cop arresting a black man. I am not saying that racism doesn't exist down there. It certainly does. The Ku Klux Klan is very much a fixture of central and northern Louisiana, and in many of these small towns it would not surprise me to hear that the local police force may look the other way at times.

If you have questions about this area and what its like I am willing to answer them