The Jena 6

I hate that this sort of behavior and mindset still exists in our country.

Yes, it is a huge miscarriage of justice. I will not dispute that.
The whole situation is terrible, and sounds like something from decades past.
I hate that this sort of behavior and mindset still exists in our country.

The whites should have been punished for what they did, and the blacks should have been punished accordingly for what they did.

The Louisiana court system obviously sucks and needs to be revamped.

However, I'd be willing to bet that a fairly large percentage of the people participating in the mass protests don't even know what they're protesting about. I think many of them just join in because Rev. Al Sharpton is there, and they think if he's part of it, it's a good time to rally against the whites.

I know I'll probably get slammed for this post.

On last night's news I heard a statement by a young black woman who could not have been over 25yrs old (if that,) that "slavery is not dead in the south."
What does this have to do with slavery?

How will all these protests help? Wouldn't it be better if a fund were set up to raise money so that these black kids could get outside, competent legal help to resolve this in a proper manner?

Doesn't the immediate appearance of Rev. Al and his arm-locking marches, turn the whole thing into a circus with the possibility of inciting racial violence, and making even more trouble for the small town of Jena?

And, obviously the black kids didn't have good legal defense because they got the shaft in this case. The white kids were wrong, and the school was wrong for allowing those the kinds of things that went on there.

So what good will the protests do?
Has Al Sharpton ever made anything better by his presence?
Or does he just make people angrier, and more likely to turn away from the situation?

Well, the whole thing is about white kids and black kids....

It's hard to say what is going on in Jena at this point because pretty much every article wriiten on it glosses over many aspects of it or flat out misrepresents what went on.

For example, The Wikipedia article says that when things starte descalating the Jena police and DA addressed all of the school's students about it.

"According to some accounts, on September 5, 2006, a number of black students organized a peaceful sit-in under the white tree in response to the reduced punishment of the perpetrators. The protest was then dispersed by police. U.S. Attorney Washington, speaking in July 2007, stated he could find no confirmation of this protest occurring. He could confirm that police were called to the school several times in the days after the noose incident in response to a rash of interracial fights between students.

The principal called an impromptu assembly on September 6, 2006 in which students segregated themselves into white and black sections. The Jena Police Department asked LaSalle Parish District Attorney J. Reed Walters to attend and speak at the assembly. Walters was unhappy with the request because he was busy preparing for a case and, upon arrival, felt that the students were not paying proper attention to him. Walters is alleged to have threatened the protesters if they didn't stop fussing over an "innocent prank". He then went on to warn the students that he could be their friend or their worst enemy, and stated that "[w]ith one stroke of my pen, I can make your life disappear."Walters and school board member Billy Fowler, also present, deny that the comments were specifically directed at black students. Nevertheless, police began patrolling the halls of Jena High on September 7, and the school was declared to be in total lockdown the day after."

This blog however, claims things went very differently:

"The boys who hung the nooses were suspended from school for a few days. The school administration chalked it up as a harmless prank, but Jena's black population didn't take it so lightly. Fights and unrest started breaking out at school. The District Attorney, Reed Walters, was called in to directly address black students at the school and told them all he could "end their life with a stroke of the pen." "

It sounds like two entirely different worlds when you read the varying articles.

and beating someone within an inch of their life.

On last night's news I heard a statement by a young black woman who could not have been over 25yrs old (if that,) that "slavery is not dead in the south."
What does this have to do with slavery?

ALEXANDRIA, Louisiana (CNN) -- A Louisiana city that hosted many of the "Jena 6" protesters Thursday became the site of a racially charged incident of its own.

A photo taken by I-Reporter Casanova Love shows a noose hanging from a pickup in Alexandria, Louisiana.

Authorities in Alexandria, less than 40 miles southwest of Jena, arrested two people who were driving a red pickup Thursday night with two nooses hanging off the back, repeatedly passing groups of demonstrators who were waiting for buses back to their home states.

The marchers had taken part in the huge protests in Jena that accused authorities there of injustice in the handling of racially charged cases -- including the hanging of nooses in a tree after a group of black students sat in an area where traditionally only white students sat.

The driver of the red truck, whom Alexandria police identified as Jeremiah Munsen, 18, was charged with contributing to the delinquency of a minor -- a reference to the 16-year-old passenger. Munsen also was charged with driving while intoxicated and inciting to riot, according to the police report.

As officials were questioning the driver, he said he had an unloaded rifle in the back of the truck, which police found. They also found a set of brass knuckles in a cup holder on the dashboard, the police report said.

The passenger told police he and his family are in the Ku Klux Klan and that he had KKK tattooed on his chest, the police report said. He also said that he tied the nooses and that the brass knuckles belonged to him, the report said. More

The black students went and held a peaceful sit-in under the tree. And the police were called in to disperse them.

The day after that was when the prosecutor came to school and threatened to end the black students' lives with the stroke of a pen.

A couple days before this incident a group of black kids were beaten up for trying to attend a whites-only party. One had a bottle broken over their head. Instead of being charged with attempted murder, the bottle breaker was not charged at all at the time (eventually he was charged with simple assault).

The guy they beat up later took a rifle loaded with 13 rounds to school. He was arrested and released on $5,000 bond.

And on it goes...

Quote:

ALEXANDRIA, Louisiana (CNN) -- A Louisiana city that hosted many of the "Jena 6" protesters Thursday became the site of a racially charged incident of its own.

A photo taken by I-Reporter Casanova Love shows a noose hanging from a pickup in Alexandria, Louisiana.

Authorities in Alexandria, less than 40 miles southwest of Jena, arrested two people who were driving a red pickup Thursday night with two nooses hanging off the back, repeatedly passing groups of demonstrators who were waiting for buses back to their home states.

The marchers had taken part in the huge protests in Jena that accused authorities there of injustice in the handling of racially charged cases -- including the hanging of nooses in a tree after a group of black students sat in an area where traditionally only white students sat.

The driver of the red truck, whom Alexandria police identified as Jeremiah Munsen, 18, was charged with contributing to the delinquency of a minor -- a reference to the 16-year-old passenger. Munsen also was charged with driving while intoxicated and inciting to riot, according to the police report.

As officials were questioning the driver, he said he had an unloaded rifle in the back of the truck, which police found. They also found a set of brass knuckles in a cup holder on the dashboard, the police report said.

The passenger told police he and his family are in the Ku Klux Klan and that he had KKK tattooed on his chest, the police report said. He also said that he tied the nooses and that the brass knuckles belonged to him, the report said. More