Martin Luther King III, 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."
May be in order? they attacked someone and MAYBE they should be punished.
The six teens were charged shortly 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, but that charge was reduced to battery for all but one, who has yet to be arraigned; the sixth was charged as a juvenile.
Hanging nooses from a tree (by the way the innocent tree was cut down, it seems to be the biggest victim here), is a completely different matter then physically assaulting someone.
The district attorney who is prosecution the teens, Reed Walters, 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 other words the white students didn't break the LAW, in America you can't be thrown in jail if you don't break the LAW.
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.
"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.
To imply as drivex7 did that it was somehow OK for 6 teens to beat another teen is horrifying.
kids fight in school all the time for all kinds of stupid reasons. If it had been two groups of white kids who disagreed on their favorite NASCAR driver, I'm sure we wouldn't be having this exchange. It's easy for you to vilify blacks, it's practically in your genetic code through decades of programing.
To accuse me of racism merely because I think the 6 teens should be prosecuted for assaulting another teen smacks of paranoia. Funnily enough I doubt we would be having this exchange if the Jena 6 were white and the beating victim was black. And personally I don't care what race the Jena 6 belong to they had no right to attack another human being. I would be just as outraged at the rally in support of violence if the Jena 6 were white and the beating victim were black, or if all the teens involved were the same race. Before you rush to the defense of the Jena 6 you should ask yourself
- Is it OK to beat someone up because they belong to a group (or race) that did something to upset you? (Any decent person will say NO).
- Should you be prosecuted if you break the law? (YES).
Violence is never the answer and supporting those who engage in violence is WRONG.
3 comments:
I'm not even sure anymore why I'm engaging in this exchange with some crazy cat lady with civil-war figurines and commemorative plate collections (just a guess). There's no way that you're capable of seeing a different point of view. The scary thing is that on most of these issues, we're not that far apart. We both believe that the violence on either side is horrible and pointless. The circumstances overall have been blown out of proportion because justice was not metered out proportionately. I find Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton to be self-promoting, distractions; but hey, no one else has stepped up for justice for all and really means it. Hanging of a noose in a tree to send a message like this is no different than burning a cross on someones' lawn or painting a swastika on a synagogue. I have said repeatedly throughout this "exchange" that the beating of the white kid was wrong, but you prefer to distort my statements. Speaking of statements, you might try having a spell-checker verify yours.
driverx7,
I think that it is funny that you accuse her of racism for pointing out that attacking anyone is wrong, no matter the motive. These 6 kids broke the law, had the situation been reversed, we would see "hate crime" laws enforced. Attacking anyone, even if they are disgusting bigots, is illegal, and assault. Everything that has been posted by your assumed opponent is true, and you yourself are a racist by saying that years of her families bigotry is in her DNA. The definition of racism is attributing inferiority to race, you just did exactly that.
I'm just so sick of bigots, such as yourself, stirring hatred up by using the race card for every little thing. The FACT is that the reason the white bigots in LA weren't charged with the noose incident is because IT IS NOT ILLEGAL IN LA STATE.
Obviosly the trial was botched, obviously these noose hanging kids are bigots. I even think that they should be expelled from school. I also think that the so called "jena 6" should be tried by an unbiased jury, and given fair representation (not some public defender that doesn't even call a witness).
Having said all of this, attacking anyone should be a "hate crime," there must be equality before the law, to not charge these 6 with a hate crime is racist discrimination on the part of the DA. Sorry, you want equality, you got it, quit bitching, and go follow farrakahn and the other KKK/NOI bigots into hell.
You may be anonymous, but I can clearly identify you as an idiot with poor reading comprehension. The comment I made, that you are replying to clearly states "We both believe that the violence on either side is horrible and pointless...I have said repeatedly throughout this "exchange" that the beating of the white kid was wrong." As far as your final statement goes, it warms my heart to know that "good Christians" like yourself can be so quick to tell someone to go to hell.
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