Forgetting The Victim

The Jena Six Mess

Hey folks

I told you about this story early in the week. Sunday actually. I also posted links to this in a few other places because I KNEW this would end up being big. I asked a question and gave my honest evaluation of this mess. I said this on Sunday.

STOP!!! What do you think would have happened ANYWHERE USA, if five WHITE kids jumped and beat one Black kid? {Actually there were six, but five were charge as adults and charged with attempted murder}

The Rev.s Sharpton, Jackson, would have packed up and headed out. The school would be blamed for promoting racism, for their failure to prevent this. The five WHITE kids would have all been arrested, some high profile Prosecutor would be calling for hate crimes. These kids would have been charged and tried as adults. The Mass Media would move into the town for 24-7 coverage of the “tragedy in Louisiana.” The experts would come out of the wood work to analyze “What went wrong.” Who is to blame?

But because it was 5 BLACK kids, jumping a white kid? They, THE ATTACKERS, are being treated too harshly? This is enough to make one sick.

Well, some of you said this is just one incident. It has no real meaning. Some of you said that I, and others that see this as I do, have to understand that Blacks have been treated more harsh than White all throughout history. Basically, some of you simply justified what they did, without actually saying that.

We cannot right wrongs by wrong means. As I have said before, if we were truly going to have equality, then we must treat everyone EQUALLY. If it would be, and it would, a hate crime and the guilty White “Boys” would be charged as adults and the Revs would be demanding justice be done for this victim, then we need to do the same for the so called Jena Six.

Of course, as I knew it would, it has become a circus. The Revs ARE there. There ARE marches and protests. But it’s for the ATTACKERS!! Not the victim. The Victim has become no more than a foot note. Meaningless. Thrown out by Revs Sharpton and Jackson. This is the sickening part of this whole thing.

According CBSNews -Protesters Rally In Support Of "Jena 6"

CBS/AP) Thousands of chanting demonstrators filled the streets of this little Louisiana town Thursday in a massive show of support for six black teenagers initially charged with attempted murder in the beating of a white classmate.

Has anyone actually asked WHY?

Businesses and schools were shut down as demonstrators by the thousands poured into Jena, reports CBS News national correspondent Byron Pitts. Many drove day and night on buses from across the country: A caravan from Los Angeles, activists from Detroit, college kids from Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., Houston, Atlanta and cities in between.

The mayor declared a state of emergency just so his city can qualify for the kinds of state resources he'll need to manage an event like this, adds Pitts.

And money, of course.

The crowd broke into chants of "Free the Jena Six" as the Rev. Al Sharpton arrived at the local courthouse with family members of the arrested teens.

Martin Luther King III, son of the slain civil rights leader, said the scene was reminiscent of earlier civil rights struggles. He 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."

ABSOLUTE BULL!!! This statement disgraces his Father and his Father’s cause. THIS has NOTHING to do with civil rights. THIS is SIX young men jumping and beating ONE young man. THAT is what this is about. The fact that five of these young men were found GUILTY. Then, just because of the color of their skin, the CONVICTION was thrown out. That was a completely asinine statement for MLK the third to make. Or ANYONE for that matter.

President Bush told reporters at the White House today that the events in Jena have "saddened" him. He says he can "understand the emotions."

The six teens were charged amid racial tensions that had been growing after the local prosecutor declined to charge three white teens who hung nooses in a tree on their high school grounds. Five of the black teens were initially charged with attempted murder in the December beating, but that charge was reduced to battery for all but one, who has yet to be arraigned; the sixth was charged as a juvenile.

OK, a noose is what? Was a crime committed? If so, what was the crime? Did they beat anyone? No. Was it wrong what they did? Yes. Should someone have done something about it? What? Where was the crime in that case?

"This is the most blatant example of disparity in the justice system that we've seen," Sharpton told The Early Show before arriving in Jena. "You can't have two standards of justice."

"We didn't bring race into it," he said. "Those that hung the nooses brought the race into it."

Again I’m asking, what was the crime? Seriously. I’m asking. You cannot say that someone hanging a noose on a tree is a “HATE crime” and NOT say Six Black guys beating ONE White guy into unconsciousness is not.

Sharpton, who helped organized the rally, said this could be the beginning of the 21st century's civil rights movement, one that would challenge disparities in the justice system.

There are disparities. If these attackers were White, their convictions would have stood, or not only would this mess be going on, there may have even been riots.

Reed Walters, the district attorney who is prosecuting the teens, denied on Wednesday that racism was involved in the charges.

He said he didn't charge the white students accused of hanging the nooses because he could find no Louisiana law under which they could be charged. In the beating case, he said, four of the defendants were of adult age under Louisiana law and the only juvenile charged as an adult, Mychal Bell, had a prior criminal record.

Read that again. “Mychal Bell, had a prior criminal record.” Not innocent victims.

"It is not, and never has been, about race," Walters said. "It is about finding justice for an innocent victim and holding people accountable for their actions."

The beating victim, Justin Barker, was knocked unconscious, his face badly swollen and bloodied, though he was able to attend a school function later that night.

Bell, 16 at the time of the attack, is the only one of the "Jena Six" to be tried so far. He was convicted on an aggravated second-degree battery count that could have sent him to prison for 15 years, but the conviction was overturned last week when a state appeals court said he should not have been tried as an adult.

What did he do in the past? They do not say. Was it violent? Of course, they do not say. HE is the victim. Amazing.

Thursday's protest had been planned to coincide with Bell's sentencing, but organizers decided to press ahead even after the conviction was thrown out. Bell remains jailed while prosecutors prepare an appeal. He has been unable to meet the $90,000 bond.

"We all have family members about the age of these guys. We said it could have been one of them. We wanted to try to do something," said Angela Merrick, 36, who drove with three friends from Atlanta to protest the treatment of the teens.

If they ganged up on and BEAT one kid because he was of a different Race, I would hope it WOULD.

The Rev. Jesse Jackson spoke to a crowd Thursday morning. Dennis Courtland Hayes, interim president and CEO of the NAACP, compared the outcry over the Jena arrests to the controversy that followed racial remarks by radio personality Don Imus.

"People are saying, 'That's enough, and we're not taking it any more,' " Hayes said.

Yes they are, but NOT as you are trying to portray.

The rally was heavily promoted on black Web sites, blogs, radio and publications. State police declined to give crowd estimates, but participants at the park and the courthouse appeared to number in the thousands.

Sharpton admonished the demonstrators to remain peaceful, and there were no reports of trouble as of midmorning. Many white residents in the predominantly white town of 3,000 have complained that the town was being unfairly portrayed as racist.

"This doesn't offend me. I'm glad they're doing it. I believe in people standing up for what's right," one white resident, Ricky Coleman, 46, said as he watched the rallies. "What bothers me is this town being labeled racist. I'm not racist."

"I don't think these folks have a clue what's happened here," said Kenny Robertson, 50. "This is a good town. I was born and raised here. We're not racists. When all you foreigners get out of here, things will go back to normal."

OH? Better be careful. Using the word foreigners, you WILL be called a Racist. Beside, they judge that because you are White, you must be anyway. THAT is Racism in of itself.

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 replying that Jena High School administrators had mishandled the incidents at the school.

THEY ARE Blaming the school. Told you so.

Another white resident, Bill Williamson, 59, said he spent much of the morning trying to convince black visitors that the town was being treated unfairly and that Bell belongs in jail. "I think we changed one man's mind. He listened and found out something about it. But most of these people don't want to hear," Williamson said.

Of course. It doesn’t fit their templet. Like in the Duke case.

The demonstrators included large numbers of civil rights movement veterans and college students from across the region who weren't alive in the '60s.

Elizabeth Redding, 63, of Willinboro, N.J. said she marched at Selma, Ala., when she was in her 20s.

"This is worse, because we didn't get the job done," she said as she trudged up a hill leading to the park rally. "I never believed that this would be going on in 2007."

YOU are making it. YOU are causing it. It’s YOUR fault. There is NO racism in this case, other than that of the ATTACKERS!

Tina Cheatham missed the civil rights marches at Selma, Montgomery and Little Rock, but she had no intention of missing another brush with history. The 24-year-old Georgia Southern University graduate drove all night to reach tiny Jena in central Louisiana.

"It was a good chance to be part of something historic since I wasn't around for the civil rights movement. This is kind of the 21st century version of it," she said.

Fame. "It was a good chance to be part of something historic,," {Sigh}

Red Cross officials manned first aid stations near the local courthouse and had water and snacks available. Portable toilets and flashing street signs to aid in traffic direction were in place. At the courthouse, troopers chatted amiably with each other and with demonstrators who began showing up well before dawn.

Sharpton said Bell, whom he spoke with Wednesday, was heartened by the show of support.

"He doesn't want anything done that would disparage his name -- no violence, not even a negative word," Sharpton said.

Tina Norris, who owns Café Martin in Jena, says the people here have been referred to as another Mayberry and they're tired of being laughed at, reported CBS affiliate WAFB-TV.

Norris says, "This is an incident that's been blown out of proportion. We're ready for it to be over. Get back to our small-town life."

Reginne Gardner, 38, a black Jena resident, collected cash from protesters who parked their cars on the lawn of a relative's home. Gardner said race relations in town have always been strained, but have grown even worse since this episode unfolded.

"I hope this makes things better," she said. "We all have to live here. I wish we all could get along, black and white."

Money and fame. THAT is what this is about. Money and fame, and power. Meanwhile there was a victim here. Nobody seems to care about that. Is that because he is White? Is THAT not Racism? This is a sad day in our history. A day where some have said, “As long as the victims are White, and the attackers are Black, due to past wrongs, it’s ok. Truly, a sad day.
Peter

Sources:
OPNTalk -Black on White Violence OK
CBSNews -Protesters Rally In Support Of "Jena 6"