cm
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Post by cm on Sept 21, 2007 10:48:13 GMT -5
La. Protests Hark Back to '50s, '60s Sep 21 01:13 AM US/Eastern By MARY FOSTER Associated Press Writer
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Thousands Rally to Support ‘Jena 6′
JENA, La. (AP) - Drawn by a case tinged with one of the most hated symbols of Old South racism—a hangman's noose tied in an oak tree—thousands of protesters rallied Thursday against what they see as a double standard of prosecution for blacks and whites.
The plight of the so-called Jena Six became a flashpoint for one the biggest civil-rights demonstrations in years. Five of the black teens were initially charged with attempted murder in the beating of a white classmate.
Old-guard lions like the Revs. Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton joined scores of college students bused in from across the nation who said they wanted to make a stand for racial equality just as their parents did in the 1950s and '60s.
"It's not just about Jena, but about inequalities and disparities around the country," said Stephanie Brown, 26, national youth director for the NAACP, who estimated about 2,000 college students were among the throngs of mostly black protesters who overwhelmed this tiny central Louisiana town.
But the teens' case galvanized demonstrators as few legal cases have in recent years.
The cause of Thursday's demonstrations dates to August 2006, when a black Jena High School student asked the principal whether blacks could sit under a shade tree that was a frequent gathering place for whites. He was told yes. But nooses appeared in the tree the next day. Three white students were suspended but not criminally prosecuted. LaSalle Parish District Attorney Reed Walters said this week he could find no state law covering the act.
Brown said the Jena case resonates with the college-aged crowd because they aren't much older than the six youths charged. Many of the student protesters had been sharing information about the case through Facebook, MySpace and other social-networking Web sites.
Jackson, who led a throng of people three blocks long to the courthouse with an American flag resting on his shoulder, likened the demonstration to the marches on Selma and the Montgomery bus boycott. But even he was not entirely sure why Jena became the focal point.
"You can never quite tell," he said. "Rosa Parks was not the first to sit in the front of the bus. But the sparks hit a dry field."
The noose incident was followed by fights between blacks and whites, culminating in December's attack on white student Justin Barker, who was knocked unconscious. According to court testimony, his face was swollen and bloodied, but he was able to attend a school function that same night.
Six black teens were arrested. Five were originally charged with attempted second-degree murder—charges that have since been reduced for four of them. The sixth was booked as a juvenile on sealed charges.
Martin Luther King III, son of the slain civil rights leader, said punishment of some sort may be in order for the six defendants, but "the justice system isn't applied the same to all crimes and all people."
People began massing for the demonstrations before dawn Thursday, jamming the two-lane highway leading into town and parking wherever they could. State police estimated the crowd at 15,000 to 20,000. Organizers said they believe it drew as many as 50,000.
Demonstrators gathered at the local courthouse, a park, and the yard at Jena High where the tree once stood (it was cut down in July). At times the town resembled a giant festival, with people setting up tables of food and drink and some dancing while a man beat on a drum.
Sharpton admonished the crowd to remain peaceful, and there were no reports of trouble. State police could be seen chatting amicably with demonstrators at the courthouse.
In Washington, the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee said he would hold hearings on the case, though he did not set a date or say if the prosecutor would be called to testify.
Walters, the district attorney, has usually declined to discuss the case publicly. But on the eve of the demonstrations, he denied the charges against the teens were race-related and lamented that Barker, the victim of the beating, has been reduced to "a footnote" while protesters generate sympathy for his alleged attackers.
President Bush said he understood the emotions and the FBI was monitoring the situation.
"The events in Louisiana have saddened me," the president told reporters at the White House. "All of us in America want there to be, you know, fairness when it comes to justice."
While Jena Six supporters were overwhelmingly black, young whites were also present.
"I think what happened here was disgusting and repulsive to the whole state," said Mallory Flippo, a white college student from Shreveport. "I think it reflected badly on our state and how it makes it seem we view black people. I don't feel that way, so I thought I should be here."
Other rallies in support of the black teens were held elsewhere, including Oklahoma City, where about 500 people gathered.
"It is time for us to express our outrage that such a blatant injustice should happen," said Roosevelt Milton, Oklahoma City NAACP president.
"I'm just glad people are starting to stand up for what is right," said Kiara Andrews, 15, of the Oklahoma City suburb of Midwest City.
In Jena, many white residents expressed anger at the way news organizations portrayed their town of 3,000 people.
"I believe in people standing up for what's right," said resident Ricky Coleman, 46, who is white. "What bothers me is this town being labeled racist. I'm not racist."
Mychal Bell, now 17, is the only one of the defendants to be tried. He was convicted of aggravated second-degree battery, but his conviction was tossed out last week by a state appeals court that said Bell, who was 16 at the time of the beating, could not be tried as an adult on that charge.
He remained in jail pending an appeal by prosecutors. An appellate court on Thursday ordered a hearing to be held within three days on his request for release. The other five defendants are free on bond.
A group of about a dozen white residents and black demonstrators engaged in an animated but not angry exchange during the march. Whites asked blacks if they were aware of Bell's criminal record. Blacks replied that Jena High administrators mishandled the incidents.
Another white resident, Bill Williamson, 59, said he tried to convince visitors that the town was being treated unfairly and that Bell belonged in jail.
"I think we changed one man's mind," he said. "But most of these people don't want to hear."
As she trudged up a hill to a rally at a park, 63-year-old Elizabeth Redding of Willingboro, N.J., remembered marching at Selma, Ala., when she was in her 20s.
"I am a great-grandmother now. I'm doing this for my great- grandchildren," she said.
Alecea Rush, 21, a senior at Prairie View A&M University in Texas, said her grandmother used to tell her stories about the civil rights movement, including one in which she witnessed a lynching in Oklahoma City.
"I thought about every one of those stories being out here today," Rush said. "I never really felt the significance until today."
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cm
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Post by cm on Sept 21, 2007 10:51:06 GMT -5
Trailer trash Louisiana students hung nooses on a tree. Fights occured between blacks and whites for the next few months, which escalated to 6 blacks jumping a white kid.
Those kids were charged with attempted murder even though the white kid was still able to attend a school function the next day.
The kids that started the race war were just suspended, even though there could have easily been a hate crime charged.
Louisiana and other southern states are infamous for having double standards for criminals. Of course these states were the heart of the civil rights movement where blacks marched down small white towns and got hosed by police and where dogs were released to bit them.
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cm
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Post by cm on Sept 21, 2007 10:57:31 GMT -5
Marches have occured throughout the black communities in the US Unlike their Asian American and hapa counterparts, blacks are very outspoken in politics and are very united in their causes. They unite, instead of looking down on one another, like East Asians do to SEAsians...or some EA's do to all full Asians. www.youtube.com/watch?v=bayui1wXWAAeven some socialist groups with whites and gays and other minorities are taking part in marching against injustice. again, this is not the first time this has happened. but this incident really struck a nerve.
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Post by miaim on Sept 21, 2007 20:56:18 GMT -5
please sign the petition - they are not far off their 300,000 target: www.colorofchange.org/jena/main.htmlkeep up the pressure: bastards have denied bail to the juvenile they never should have tried as a juvenile in the first place....! Bail denied for only Jena beating suspect in jail Ruling comes day after civil rights demonstration in La. town Updated: 3:14 p.m. ET Sept. 21, 2007
JENA, La. - A judge on Friday denied a request to release a teenager whose arrest in the beating of a white classmate sparked this week's civil rights protest in Louisiana.
Mychal Bell is one of the group known as the “Jena Six.” His request to be freed while an appeal is being reviewed was rejected at a juvenile court hearing, effectively denying him any chance at immediate bail, a person familiar with the case told The Associated Press. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because juvenile court proceedings are closed.www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20909145/?GT1=10357peace
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Post by waywardwolf on Sept 21, 2007 22:46:17 GMT -5
^ I think it was the original charges that got the wheels in motion. That whole highschool to prison pipeline thing. Don't know about any of the other questions.
Six against one are pretty dishonorable odds, but attempted murder did seem ridiculous. Who was this whiteboy, Chuck Norris Jr? If they were trying to kill him, I sure they would have. He didn't have much more than bruises from what I understand.
The townspeople are complaining that they're being misrepresented, however, the tree from which the nooses were hung was known around town as the white tree. Looks like they don't like choking on their own hatred.
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cm
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Post by cm on Sept 22, 2007 0:32:07 GMT -5
I'm trying to discern the reasons for the protest - is it because the black students were originally charged with attempted murder, or because of the lenience given to the white students who hung the nooses? I'd also like to know why the white student was bashed - was he a random target or a racist perpetrator? Were the six black students A-grade achievers, or delinquents? Here is how it started In the high school, all whites sat under a certain tree. Blacks asked the principal if they could sit under the tree and he/she said yes. Day afterwards, 3 nooses were hung from that tree. Those kids were suspended for a couple days. Fights between blacks and whites break out. In one fight, a white student smashed a glass bottle over a black kids head, and only got one week suspension. It escalates to 6 black kids jumping some white kid. The black kids get charged with attempted murder...even though the white kid was fine and attending another school event later during the day. It doesn't matter what type of students the blacks were. Why do you have to question whether the blacks were good or bad? You wouldn't have done that to the white students. That's your prejudices coming out. What matters is 6 kids get charged with attempted murder, while white kids get slaps on the wrist.
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Post by waywardwolf on Sept 22, 2007 5:44:50 GMT -5
Now, now, no need to attack one another. First, they didn't take a weapon to him but he did take a beating. Second, you must not know many American hillbillies. They talk big, but have absolutely nothing to back it up. And I mean nothing.
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Post by Ajeno on Sept 22, 2007 5:46:16 GMT -5
I mean yeah, it is possible to be properly stomped out and be hurt but be good to go later on so i dont know.
Jumping someone is very cowardly and they should recieve just punishment.But charging these kids with attempted murder...Im speechless lol...
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Post by juancarlos on Sept 22, 2007 5:49:03 GMT -5
I think there's a lot of false assumption already in that thread. One of them for example : it is perfectly possible to have escaped a murder attempt in the morrning and go to class in the evening. What kind of sophism is that, to claim such a false argument. Wtf, you guys are retard, if he escaped a knife, or got it in the arm instead of other vital organs. So yeah, real morron arguments here. There is no need to engage in such kind of disrespectful name calling just so you could make your point. Personally, I will never live in the Southern U.S. The people there are extremely nice superficially, but there remains a strong undercurrent of racism, though Southerners do not like to admit it. Heck the fact that a then Southern Senator can in this day and age still refer to a minority as "macaca" to the applause of his audience says a lot!!!
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Post by Ajeno on Sept 22, 2007 5:53:03 GMT -5
Now, now, no need to attack one another. First, they didn't take a weapon to him but he did take a beating. Second, you must not know many American hillbillies. They talk big, but have absolutely nothing to back it up. And I mean nothing. LOL...Ive come across all races like that though which is why people like to jump in groups because they're afraid to fight one on one.
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Post by waywardwolf on Sept 22, 2007 6:16:02 GMT -5
@ Ajeno - Very true. I got jumped by 4 Japanese guys in J-Town once. I'm ashamed to admit they handed me my pride.
@ j3an - That's true, however, this guy did come out of the fight black and blue and there were reports of him being stomped on the ground. Murder attempts don't always end with the intended target crippled, but if six guys had this one on the ground and wished him dead, I'm sure he'd be a bit worse for wear. Sorry no one mentioned this stuff before, it's a pretty big story here in the states.
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Post by Ajeno on Sept 22, 2007 6:23:29 GMT -5
Waywardwolf - No worries ive been there too and it was a reality check for me aswell lol..
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Post by waywardwolf on Sept 22, 2007 6:34:48 GMT -5
^ Bruce Lee made it look so easy.
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Post by EA Observer on Sept 22, 2007 9:43:47 GMT -5
please sign the petition - they are not far off their 300,000 target: www.colorofchange.org/jena/main.htmlkeep up the pressure: bastards have denied bail to the juvenile they never should have tried as a juvenile in the first place....! signed it.
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cm
Junior Member
Posts: 68
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Post by cm on Sept 22, 2007 12:03:09 GMT -5
It doesn't matter what type of students the blacks were. Why do you have to question whether the blacks were good or bad? You wouldn't have done that to the white students. That's your prejudices coming out. Re-read my questions again. I clearly also asked about the background of the white student who was attacked. If he was an innocent victim, then the black students should be charged with hate crime. The white offenders should be punished as well. The severity of the charge of "attempted murder" is suitable, IMO, but that is my general stance on law & order. If the protest is about the relative lack of punishment for the white offenders, then I can see myself supporting it. However if it is to let the black offenders free, then I don't support it, and we'll probably end up with another episode of OJ. He called one of their friends a 'nigger' enough said. Attempted murder is obviously racist backlash, for a prior incident occurred where a white kid smashed a bottle over a black kids head and just got a suspension for one week with zero jail time.
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