Victims all around. Thanks Mr. Walters!
This is the victim of the the so-called Jena 6, Justin Barker. It is plainly obvious that he was beat up. No dispute. He is the primary victim. I use the word primary because the so-called Jena 6 are the secondary victims. I have a problem with various individuals, including the La Salle parish district attorney Reed Walters, saying “remember who is the victim” without considering all the victims. I say to Mr. Walters:
Don’t you see how you have hurt all the victims?
The primary victim, Justin Barker, has to watch thousands of people descend upon his hometown and only talk about the so-called Jena 6. Not his situation. He was beat up by six people. To be “jumped” by numerous people (I was in high school also) is a scary situation. And I empathize with him intensely. But because of a macho district attorney (I’m not ready to call him a full-blown bigot yet), he has to watch as his story is diminished as the larger issue of equality in the law is played out.
The secondary victims, the so-called Jena 6, have been sentenced by a jury “of their peers” harshly and reduced to common gang members. Not excusing their foolish and wrong-headed attempt at justice, they are tarnished and have had their faces plastered across the media. For all the marching on their behalf, people are still going to associate them as the so-called Jena 6 and make negative snap judgments against them.
All because of district attorney Reed Walters.
I want the Jena 6 punished. I want the parents of the Jena 6 to pay for Justin Barker’s medical bills and apologize to his parents for their sons’ actions. The so-called Jena 6 should be suspended half the school year, go to anger management, and work in the community. And if the so-called Jena 6 even blinked wrong after this incident, you could drop the hammer on them. Alas, it didn’t happen.
So now Jena, Louisiana is in the national spotlight. Other issues are being brought out. Some people are speaking smartly and others, well, just sound dumb. The “Old South” term is being thrown around. Racism. Bigotry. So on and so forth. I’m reminded of the title of a 1989 Spike Lee movie. It’s called Do The Right Thing.
That’s all that needed to be done in Jena, Louisiana. All around.
19 Responses to “Victims all around. Thanks Mr. Walters!”
I’m sorry, but it is quite difficult for me to see them as victims at all. There was only ONE victim, and that was the boy who was beat up.
Here we have a situation where 6 black kids beat up a white kid, and they, Sharpton and the other protesters have the gall to claim THEY are the victims of racism and injustice. This is simply unbelievable. But it fits in well in the current mixed-up Orwellian world that we live in today where truth and reality are inverted. A world where muslims can cry about their supposed victimization all the while muslims perpetrate mass murder all over the world.
The objects of prosecution have political correctness on their side here, as opposed to the experience of the Duke lacrosse players, their coach, etc.
Justin Barker is the victim of six stupid, unjustified black teenagers. They beat him up. Luckily, he wasn’t hurt worse. They should be punished fairly and like others who have done similar in Jena, LA who happen to get MUCH lower sentences.
The Jena 6 are a victim of a stupid, unjustified district attorney who went above and beyond in laying down the law. What’s the point of going to a bunch of black students and telling them he can changed their lives with a pen stroke because they were mad infamous noose incident? Spare me.
Like a made clear in my post who is the primary victim and I stand by that. There wouldn’t be a primary victim is the so-called Jena 6 would have “done the right thing”. There wouldn’t be secondary victims if the DA and school board would have “done the right thing”.
And I want consistancy in law. You have to have it. For the victims and defendants. Law done right is justice for all. And that didn’t happen in Jena. Even before the current incident.
Law can only be just when applied impartially and consistently.
If the crime committed in this case deserves the punishment the D.A. intends, then all instances of similar crims should deserve the same punishment.
With this I agree completely. It should be truly consistent, to be as close to truly neutral (which makes it impartial) as can be done.
Have any of you actually read the facts of the case and the list of incidents leading up to Barker getting beat up? Do you actually know what the 6 black kids are facing as a result?
I suggest you read this article by Byron Williams for all of the details, but here’s a pertinent section:
The day after the noose “prank,” black members of the Jena High School football team led a peaceful protest against racism under that tree. School administrators called the cops to break up the protest, and the next day the District Attorney addressed the school to tell them “he could sign their lives away.” Seems a bit excessive, don’t you agree?
At the end of November a wing of the high school burned down. Black kids though white kids did and the white kids though black kids were responsible.
Now you’ll excuse me if I think Mr. Barker is not that much of a victim. Especially when you consider that none of the white students involved in the violence have faced any charges whatsoever, while the black students are being tried as adults on charges of conspiracy and attempted murder, and being convicted of assault and battery. Before you start casting Mr. Barker in the role of innocent victim and his assailants as mindless villains, you need to check your facts.
Thanks for keeping it in perspective Amanda. Barker was a jerk(I’d like to say much worse) and the root cause of this entire incident is the underlying racism of the area. A “White Tree” for gods sake? DA’s personally leveling threats at black students before any wrongdoing? Gimme a break. I hope the DA and his lackeys get the book thrown at them under the national spotlight.
I see, he was asking for it!
Sorry. I think Barker played a part in his own beating, but that doesn’t justify six young men (mostly athletes–Mychal Bell was the team’s star runner, with a mere four previous convictions for violent offenses) kicking the crap out of an unconcious person.
They were indeed overcharged when the DA (a pompous ass) charged them with attempted second-degree murder. Assault and battery seems a lot more appropriate. But the whole affair is a lengthy tragedy of both sides proving the town is loaded with lousy examples of humanity.
The only good guy (or even close) that I’ve found in the whole affair was the school principal, who tried to expel the three white youths who hung the nooses from the tree. The school board over-ruled him. A few days later someone torched the school, burning the admin building to the ground.
Yep, lovely folk all around.
There is an irony to the idea that this kid was not asking for it but the kid in the Florida taser incident was asking for it. We accept certain kinds of authority, but we refute other kinds of authority.
This is devolving into picking out good mud from bad mud while in the midst or a pig sty. Aside from the school principal. I see not heroes here. Nor do I see monsters.
To go back to the beginning, why was a ‘white tree’
ever tolerated? It sounds like a gang marking out its turf on school property, unchallenged by school authorities or the community.
Is beating up a kid an appropriate response?Cetainly not, but the punishement should fit the cirime. Even in murder cases, mitigating circumstances are allowed. and it sure looks there were at least some of those involved.
Then we get to the equal justice part. Sometimes violence erupts precisely because of the lack of equal justice. A persistent problem in this country is the inequality of legal representation. You have to buy the amount of justice you can afford, and often that means justice is in the PD’s office, with an underpaid, inexperienced and overworked staff.
If ever there was a picture that can’t be painted in black and white (pardon the irony), this is it.
Just for the record kicking someone in the head is considered attempted second-degree murder. That he wasn’t hurt worse means nothing. Thats like saying because the bullet missed it wasn’t attempted murder. In reality at the least it’s aggravated assault. Multiple people kicking someone in the head while unconscious? I can except a attempted second-degree murder charge. The problem seems to be that they go easier on white kids. That is not ok. Screw letting the “6″ off light, they should drag some of these white kids in to charge them. Assault, brandishing a firearm, and in any state but Louisiana I’m sure the noose hanging would violate the law. That being said making a guy who was trying to kick the head in of someone who was unconsious a victim seems guarantied to make the situation worse. LaSalle Parish District Attorney Reed Walters is the bad guy and getting rid of him should be the goal not freeing criminals.
This is devolving into picking out good mud from bad mud while in the midst or a pig sty.
Mark your calendars–I agree with domajot there.
Just for the record kicking someone in the head is considered attempted second-degree murder.
Depends completely on how the statute reads in that jurisdiction. Generally speaking you have to show intent for murder charges. Agg assault might stand up–depending on how the statute reads. Simple A&B would stand up no prob.
The problem seems to be that they go easier on white kids. That is not ok. Screw letting the “6″ off light, they should drag some of these white kids in to charge them.
Amen. But it’s still a pig sty, and I doubt the mud will wash. The pathologies run too deep in that town.
At the end of the day, nothing will change. The 6 black kids will be in jail for several years. Barker will continue to be a hero in town, Walters will not be fired or lose the next election and the town will probably give him a raise. The next white student who gets into a fight will be slapped on the wrist. Today’s protest will amount to nothing in Jena and after everyone leaves, racism will not change. Sad but true.
9 years ago I went to a protest in Jasper, Texas for James Byrd. The hatred I witnessed there has led me to conclude that for some people, nothing will move them to believe that all people are equal. That experience soured me from ever participating in another protest.
Amanda puts it in to a good perspective.
Here is an example where a town with veiled racism basically suckered these Jena 6 kids into doing something stupid, over the BS of race.
Does this mean the Jena 6 were right? No. But are they overcharged? Yes. And there were, from what I’ve seen on tv and print reports, more white on black racial incidents than Amanda’s post shows.
In short, after a series of escalating incidents, the black kids snapped, after being taunted by Barker and friends. Did Barker deserve the beating he got? Perhaps not. But I personally would not feel sorry for a Neo-Nazi or an Islamist who walked into a JDL meeting and started shouting, ‘Hitler went easy on the Jews!’
Barker is a dumb ass, as are the Jena 6. There are no heroes, and if there are any victims, it’s of their own stupidities.
Poor white boy gets a beating thrown to him after goading and race-baiting fellow black students.
sorry , no sympathy for his dumb ass- and dumber still for the J6 for lowering themselves.
attempted murder? please- then football players and hockey players should get the same for their cheap shots.
these clowns should have done the world a favor and gone swimming in the levees.
life in The Big Sleazy-
The three who hung the nooses should have been expelled- the fact that this was treated as a prank gave birth to racial animosity. The school missed an opportunity to stand up against racial injustice. Also, conflict resolution between blacks and whites should have been attempted early on.
This doesn’t excuse the actions of Barker or the Jena 6. I’m not sure why the DA felt it necessary to try them as adults for attempted murder. He must have a wide latitude as to leveling charges- but largely created this mess by abusing his authority-much as the Duke prosecutor did.
Hey, K., I beat you to this. It’s the Poster BoyZ:
Red State, Red Pickup Truck
Driver was apparently drunk, companion’s family in the KKK
It may not be exactly as reported