What are your thoughts about Jena 6?

[Kage]

What are your thoughts about Jena 6?

So, Jena is a city in Louisiana and it's pretty much all I hear about on the radio now.

Lots of story to tell but basically people are talking about the racisim being blatantly shown against 6 Black kids in this 85% white community.

So.. if anyone's heard of it, what do you think?

I'll post later... hoping others do too. XD

 

[SSJ Jup81]

I've known about this since about June. It was unfair how those six boys were treated, and the lack of media coverage was just as bad. I didn't learn of this through the news, I learned of it through the radio, which is sad. They can go on and on and on about OJ Simpson or Michael Vick or Paris Hilton, etc., but not about a situation dealing with injustice.

As for now, my main problem with this, is the fact that the media isn't telling the whole story. They only mention the six black boys who beat up that one white kid and victimizing the black boys worse than what they already were. The media seems to fail to mention that one of the boys of the Jena 6, was beaten up prior by a group of white kids (with weapons, literally) and had a shot gun pulled out on them (for no reason) by one of the guys who was in on beating up the black boy at the party. The black boys who had the gun pulled on them, wrestled the gun away from the white guy (self defense), and yet, instead of the white guy being charged with anything (like pulling out a weapon in general), the boys were arrested for "theft".

I don't agree with what the six boys did, and if anything, they should have been either suspended or expelled from school, not thrown in jail with charges of "attempted murder" with a "tennis shoe".

Here's something I posted a few weeks ago...my opinion on the matter...

I don't know what to think. I'm the type who likes to hear everything before reaching a solid decision. I find stuff wrong on both sides, of course.

The white kids who beat up the one black guy, should get the same exact treatment as the JENA 6 boys. It's only fair.

The kids who hung up the nooses on the tree, should have been expelled for "hate crime" instead of being suspended for a couple of days.

The beating up of the kid by the JENA 6, imo, was just outright wrong, and to me, wrong is wrong. The boys should have "risen above it" and not attack that boy at all. Fighting is never the answer, even if the boy did deserve to be taken down a notch or two for parading around, using racial slurs and mocking the situation dealing with the boy who was beat up at that party, no matter how much one would want to..

Overall, I do feel that jail time for a "school fight" is a bit extreme and the charges seem a bit bogus to me. IMO, a more suitable punishment would be community service and expulsion from school since it was an extreme fight.

I do agree that the system down there really needs to be checked out, as it seems fishy to me. The situation where the white guy pulled out a gun on those three black guys (who were doing nothing wrong to my understanding), shows this. They tackled the guy down and got the gun away from him and then they (black kids) reported the crime, yet, they were the ones to get into trouble. That's incredibly backwards. That man definitely needs to be charged for "attempted murder".

 

[Kage]

I heard about it on the radio. Yesterday, that was when I found out more story hearing about it from a teacher (we were talking about stereotypes and racism) and to looking things up on the net... Like the nooses being hung on the tree, some of the Jena 6 being beat up at a party, having a shotgun pulled on them... to take a cry from Wufei from Gundam Wing... INJUSTICE.

I did think that the white guys who hung the nooses should've at LEAST been suspended for more than a few days. I would've liked the expulsion but I guess they have a racist school board.

I see how they can talk about a white guy being victimized. But if this guy was either one of the people who had pulled the shotgun, cracked one of the Jena 6's head open with a bottle, or hung the noose on the tree, I call that provocation. There's no reason to go beat up people, but that's a bit of provocation. It's ok and I understand the Jena 6 being punished. They DID do something wrong. But... wtf? Being charged as adults for "attempted murder" is fucked up to put it in words. Completely fucked up.

But from not telling people about the background of the Jena 6 being victimized too, they make it out as if the black guys just decided to jump the white guy. They make it all as hate crimes, on the black guys which sounds backwards. It sounds like it was started by white people who decided to do something very stupid to cause something (hanging the nooses on the tree). It can't be started by the black people who just asked why they couldn't sit under it and only the white kids could.

Yah... rant but... seriously. I hear about it and think it's SO MESSED UP.