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daddysprop247 -> RE: Jena 6 Day (9/20/2007 1:57:39 PM)
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oh brother. i believe some of you wondering what all the fuss is about, are grossly underinformed of the whole story here. the white student in question was not nearly "beaten to death," he came away with some scrapes and bruises, and a mild concussion..he was released from the hospital that same day, and later in the evening attended a ring ceremony with friends. also, there's no telling exactly what provoked the fight, but i would bet my life that he wasn't just some innocent kid walking around minding his business. according to some, he had been hurling racial slurs left and right, and making jokes about the nooses. this isn't to say that the fight was justified, it certainly was not. these 6 students should have been expelled for the remainder of the school year. the injustice is the fact that they were all charged with ATTEMPTED MURDER, for the sort of fight that, severity wise, takes places in high schools all over the country every day.
beyond that, this fight was the culmination of many prior racially charged events and attacks, committed by students both black and white. from the nooses on the "white tree," to arson, to death threats...things had been reaching a boiling point in the town for months. the fact worth noting is that without exception, in every instance in which a white student was the offender, they were given a slap on the wrist, while black students who were offenders were given the maximum penalty possible. in one case, a white student threatened a black student with a shot gun (which turned out to be unloaded), the black student managed to wrestle the gun away from his attacker, and found himself facing charges of assault and theft (for the gun, of course)!
the Jena case is just one representative of the racial injustice that still pervades our legal system in this country. it is commonplace for blacks to receive twice the penalty, or more, than whites who commit the same crimes. it is also commonplace for blacks to be charged with outlandish crimes far exceeding the actual offense, as in this case. and sadly it is also commonplace for the majority of america to shrug their shoulders and wonder just where the injustice is in all of this.
fortunately for most of the Jena 6 the attempted murder charges have been dropped for lesser (tho still ridiculous) charges, and in the case of Mychael Bell, the first sent to trial, his conviction was thrown out tho he has still not been released from jail, and with our system, who knows when he will be.
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