_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.

Red State, Red Pickup Truck

Driver was apparently drunk, companion’s family in the KKK

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.

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-

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

I suggest you read this article by Byron Williams for all of the details, but here’s a pertinent section:

This case centers on a tree. Not just any tree, but a tree at the high school, known as the “white tree,” which was symbolically labeled for white students only.

According to reports, an African American student, new to the area, asked permission from school administrators to sit under the infamous tree. Permission was granted, and the next day three nooses, draped in the school’s colors, were hanging from the tree.

The school’s principal recommended expulsion for the three white students responsible. The school superintendent overruled the expulsion and gave the students a three-day suspension for “an adolescent prank.”

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.

The next night, 16-year-old Robert Bailey and a few black friends tried to enter a party attended mostly by whites. When Bailey got inside, he was attacked and beaten. The next day, tensions escalated at a local convenience store. Bailey exchanged words with a white student who had been at the party. The white boy ran back to his truck and pulled out a pistol grip shotgun. Bailey ran after him and wrestled him for the gun.

After some scuffling, Bailey and his friends took the gun away and brought it home. Bailey was eventually charged with theft of a firearm, second-degree robbery and disturbing the peace. The white student who pulled the weapon was not charged at all.

The following Monday, Dec.4, a white student named Justin Barker was loudly bragging to friends in the school hallway that Robert Bailey had been whipped by a white man on Friday night. When Barker walked into the courtyard, he was attacked by a group of black students. The first punch knocked Barker out and he was kicked several times in the head. But the injuries turned out to be superficial. Barker was examined by doctors and released; he went out to a social function later that evening (from a Wade Goodwyn NPR article.

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.

They should be punished fairly and like others who have done similar in Jena, LA who happen to get MUCH lower sentences. [...] And I want consistancy in law. You have to have it.

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.

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.

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”.

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 is called Do The Right Thing.

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.