Louisiana rocked as civil rights marchers descend on town

[Ivanhater]

Attempted murder is a little much, but of course these 6 individuals should be tried...what I find funny however is Jesse Jackson and Al sharpton always seem to find a place and situation to stir up racial tension but that is neither here nor there so I digress.

[Cyclenall]

No, the beating was BEFORE the ring ceremony. I am not doubting that he was injured or justifying their actions though.

I read that today. Seems weird enough.

[Dionne]

We know that student Mychel Bell had four prior convictions. I wonder about the other 5 students? I asked Roland Martin (black activist preacher in Chicago.....that jumped on the soap box with Jackson and Sharpton) via an email, he declined answering the question and instead gave me a long list of "justice inequities" in Louisiana. Some were decades old. Bottom line....the JENA SIX are a gang and should be treated as such. If whites or blacks engage in group attacks they should be punished. The noose incident is nothing more than another racial slur/graffiti.....and it happens hundreds of times every day all across the nation. It is not justification for a group attack. And certainly should not be reason for traditionally black colleges to bus students into Jena for a demonstration. I wonder who paid for the travel expenses....and were the students dismissed from class to travel to another state for a protest?

[O Town]

Well said, I agree with your statement totally Dionne.

[Ptarmigan]

We know that student Mychel Bell had four prior convictions. I wonder about the other 5 students? I asked Roland Martin (black activist preacher in Chicago.....that jumped on the soap box with Jackson and Sharpton) via an email, he declined answering the question and instead gave me a long list of "justice inequities" in Louisiana. Some were decades old. Bottom line....the JENA SIX are a gang and should be treated as such. If whites or blacks engage in group attacks they should be punished. The noose incident is nothing more than another racial slur/graffiti.....and it happens hundreds of times every day all across the nation. It is not justification for a group attack. And certainly should not be reason for traditionally black colleges to bus students into Jena for a demonstration. I wonder who paid for the travel expenses....and were the students dismissed from class to travel to another state for a protest?

Well said! The noose incident is just plain stupid.

[gtalum]

We know that student Mychel Bell had four prior convictions. I wonder about the other 5 students? I asked Roland Martin (black activist preacher in Chicago.....that jumped on the soap box with Jackson and Sharpton) via an email, he declined answering the question and instead gave me a long list of "justice inequities" in Louisiana. Some were decades old. Bottom line....the JENA SIX are a gang and should be treated as such. If whites or blacks engage in group attacks they should be punished. The noose incident is nothing more than another racial slur/graffiti.....and it happens hundreds of times every day all across the nation. It is not justification for a group attack. And certainly should not be reason for traditionally black colleges to bus students into Jena for a demonstration. I wonder who paid for the travel expenses....and were the students dismissed from class to travel to another state for a protest?

No one has attempted to justify the beating, not even SharpJack.

The question (and the reason for the protest) is why do you charge the attackers with attempted murder when the charge should be aggravated assault and battery?

Last, college students are adults and thus free to travel anywhere they want to, regardless of whether they have class scheduled or not. There are generally no excused and unexcused absences in college.

[Meso]

I had never seen a high school fight that involved kicking once someone was already down

Hah,you can't have seen many high school fights.Even when I was in primary school people would try to kick whoever they were fighting with while they were down.And once it's in high school,especially the later years of high school the mentality among most people is "Beat them till they can't stand up again".It's sad but true

[JonathanBelles]

I had never seen a high school fight that involved kicking once someone was already down

Hah,you can't have seen many high school fights.Even when I was in primary school people would try to kick whoever they were fighting with while they were down.And once it's in high school,especially the later years of high school the mentality among most people is "Beat them till they can't stand up again".It's sad but true

That happened like once a week at my high school.

[Regit]

I'm not sure everyone is reading everything about this story.

The noose incident was not just something silly. It was a specific death threat against a specific individual and a hate crime against an entire group. It should have been treated as a serious crime. It led to a series of racially tense showdowns in the school and this fight was just one of them. The adult leadership in the community was completely incompetent to do anything about it, so it spiraled out of control.

So the school and prosecutors did nothing to the white students, but overreacted to the black students. If it were the other way around, white people would be screaming racism too.

I don't like Jackson and Sharpton, but a broken clock is right twice a day and it happens to be their time.

[HollynLA]

If it were the other way around, white people would be screaming racism too.

See, that's the part I disagree with. If it were the other way around and the white kids were charged, you would have never heard of this in the media, nothing from Jesse or Al, and life would go on as usual. I live in Louisiana and watch our local news everyday, it's a shame really.

[swimaster20]

If it were the other way around, white people would be screaming racism too.

See, that's the part I disagree with. If it were the other way around and the white kids were charged, you would have never heard of this in the media, nothing from Jesse or Al, and life would go on as usual. I live in Louisiana and watch our local news everyday, it's a shame really.

I agree with Holly, I can't imagine white people making such a stir if the shoe was on the other foot. Also, commenting on Regit's post, the majority of the testimonies didn't even mention the noose incident, that even goes for those who gave them that were black. That leads me to believe it really didn't have much to do with it. Plus, the beaten white student wasn't even connected to the noose incident.

[sunny]

If it were the other way around, white people would be screaming racism too.

See, that's the part I disagree with. If it were the other way around and the white kids were charged, you would have never heard of this in the media, nothing from Jesse or Al, and life would go on as usual. I live in Louisiana and watch our local news everyday, it's a shame really.

Agree with Holly. Look how fast Jackson and Sharpton disappeared when the Duke LaCrosse players were cleared and the dancer SHOULD have been charged with filing a false police report. Didn't hear a peep then.

[gtalum]

Agree with Holly. Look how fast Jackson and Sharpton disappeared when the Duke LaCrosse players were cleared and the dancer SHOULD have been charged with filing a false police report. Didn't hear a peep then.

It's very difficult to prosecute such a charge. Further, the justice system isn't done with the accuser, the DA, or the jurisdictions involved, so it's too early to say what should be done that hasn't.

[sunny]

Agree with Holly. Look how fast Jackson and Sharpton disappeared when the Duke LaCrosse players were cleared and the dancer SHOULD have been charged with filing a false police report. Didn't hear a peep then.

It's very difficult to prosecute such a charge. Further, the justice system isn't done with the accuser, the DA, or the jurisdictions involved, so it's too early to say what should be done that hasn't.

I hear what you are saying. But it still doesn't answer the question as to where Jesse and Al went so quickly once those DNA tests were revealed.

Or how about this case?

Alleged Attack Against 13-Year-Old Virginia Boy Caught on Tape

Monday, September 24, 2007

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Police in Norfolk, Va., are investigating whether an alleged attack against a 13-year-old boy that witnesses caught on tape Saturday was racially motivated, WAVY-TV reported Monday.

The tape shows the victim, Damien O'Rourke, who is white, being violently beaten by a group of African American teenagers. According to the report, Damie and his mother, Reesha Price, said the fight was unprovoked and believe Damien was attacked because he is white.

Damien said he was attacked while going to meet friends to play football. Price told WAVY-TV that she found her badly beaten son just blocks from her home after receiving a phone call alerting her to the attack Saturday afternoon.

The family had just recently moved to the Norfolk area, WAVY-TV reported. Damien said one of his alleged attackers was among a group of students at his school that mistreated him because he was the new kid. Price told WAVY-TV that she now fears her son is being targeted because of his race.

Norfolk police reportedly told WAVY-TV that their gang unit will be investigating the case.