Topic : 09/28 The Jena Six

This is such a loaded issue... it's hard to know who to trust. It's so easy for people to twist the facts and so difficult to sift through the hype and chatter. I do believe that racism is still alive and well in the United States, and it must be addressed if people are going to change. I remember a few years ago, I sold a car to a friend of mine. I'm Caucasian and she's African American. The car had expired tags, which I told her about. (I had been driving the car around with expired tags for about three months ~ my bad.) My friend planned to take the car in and get the tags changed, and, no doubt, she would have gotten it resolved far more quickly than I would have. However, less than a week later, she got pulled over and got a ticket from a police officer from having expired tags. Now, I can't say with 100% certainty that she got targeted by the police more quickly because she was African American, but the whole thing left me with an uneasy feeling in the pit of my stomach. I could cite other instances like this that have lingered in my brain over the years, things that lead me to the conclusion that African Americans are still discriminated against, and that racism can be as insidious as it is ugly! The kids who put up the nooses ~ that's DEFINITELY a hate crime in my book! Why didn't the school officials disclose the nature of the punishment? To me that seems sneaky and underhanded! Something's hinky there. I don't always agree with Al Sharpton and I think he tends to steamroll a conversation, but sometimes we need a steamroller (operative word SOMETIMES). I do trust Dr. Phil and I DEFINITELY trust Bishop Jakes! One has to wonder most of all ~ where were the parents of these kids? Not just the kids who beat up another kid, five on one; also, the kids who put up the nooses ~ that was truly sick! I saw something about the kids getting a three-day suspension from school, and, if that's true, all they really did get was a slap on the wrist! It seems like there are African Americans and Caucasian Americans on both sides that are scared ~ hate crimes are being committed on both sides. I hope that there can be communication and healing!

This is the second time I've tried to post this. Hmm, I wonder why my first attempt did not work. You can go back and see where my test went through just fine. Facts need to be told! I AM FROM JENA AND I DO KNOW THE FACTS! I have black friends and I am appauled that I am put in the catagory of a "racist". I am no racist, but I am white. God made me white and I am proud of it. God made black people. Be proud of your color. I don't condone the "N" word at all but it is just a word. To let a word divide people racialy is childish. We are no longer in the slave days. People don't get hung anymore and I am sick of slave days being thrown up in white peoples faces. The people who did those horrible things are no longer alive. Black people need to get their heads out of the hypothetical "noose" and quit hanging themselves with it. FACT: The "white tree". There was no "white tree". Blacks and whites both set under the tree. My child told me that black and white students set under the tree all the time. There were some black students, "trouble makers (including the Jena six-tj6)" were not welcome because they did just that, cause trouble. The media and others are making it sound like there was a neon sign above the tree that said "no blacks allowed". Totaly not true. The tree was used for many pranks. The picnic table which was setting under the tree was put in the tree limbs one time. Even a bath-tub was put in the limbs. Another time the tree was toilet papered. It was told that the nooses were hung in reference to the football game that Friday. For what ever reason they did, it was wrong. My child has many black friends that she sat with under the tree. But when the media only tells out and out LIES. There is always going to be cliques at schools, I don't care where you live. Jena High School (JHS) is no different. You have the preps, the scanks, the nerds, the goths, the red necks, the band geeks, the blacks, the whites, and as my child claims to be "the normal people" LOL. What teenager is normal? My point is, kids desegregrate themselves even further than color. Does anyone remember wanting to "FIT" in at school and just never could achieve that. There are many kids today that feel the same way. There is just no way to get people to see eye to eye because of cultural differences. I felt segregated from my own color, but guess what, I got over it. Which brings me to my next fact. FACT: White people have a different culture than blacks. Blacks and whites have a different culture than Asians. So on and so forth. I don't quite understand why those facts can't be accepted by all. I do not like the "N" word at all. But I do not understand how the black community can use it so freely and it not be offensive. If black people do not want white people to say it, they set a horrible example by saying it themselves. White people get called "Cracker", "Honky", "Uncle Tom" by some black people. I was not alive when slavery was around, and I take offense that I am catogorized as racist just because I am white. During the slavery times, whites were also slaves and were also hung, not to mention cattle rustlers in the cowboy days. FACT: The nooses were wrong and was very stupid. And not to minimize the nooses at all, no one was physically hurt. Pride more than anything was hurt. The morning of the nooses, my child was there and witnessed black students standing around looking and laughing at the nooses. One black student even put his head in one of the nooses. The black parents pushed this issue more than the students. The "secret" punishment the white boys got was: 3 days suspension, several days of alternative school, weeks of in-school (put in a room behind the principles office with constant supervision), one boy who graduated in May 2007 was not allowed to walk with his senior class at graduation, the other two boys are now home schooled and will not be allowed to walk with their senior class at graduation. The punishment was not harsh enough, but I don't think any amount of punishment whould be enough for some black people. FACT: Justin Barker had nothing to do with "the gotta go", "fair barn fight", nor "the nooses". If he did say racial slurs he was wrong. But that gives no one the right to try to stomp his face in. My step-child was right there when more than "TJ6" stomped Justin repeatedly. My step-child was threatened right afterward. Testimony shows that a plan was in place not only to beat Justin but to beat other white students. Don't believe that go to pursuingholiness.com. There is a list of wittness statements. Go read them then decide. FACT: There was a bail set for Mycheal Bell before his conviction of around $90,000. Only a percentage has to be paid, probably around $10,000. The parents did not pay the bail, but for some reason the mother (Melissa Bell) was driving a brand new car (Jaguar). Go to you tube and look at the pics of Robert Bailey with $100 bills hanging out of his mouth. "TJ6" funds being put to good use was the original caption. Al sharpton (AS) and Jesse Jackson (JJ) is making money off this situation and the black community cannot see that. Why didn't AS and JJ pay it then? His bail was revoked only after his conviction. That boy did not have to set in jail all this time. The parents, AS, and JJ didn't get him out. FACT: Mycheal Bell had prior convictions is how the DA was able to charge him with an adult crime and hold him in jail. Don't believe that, go to the Louisiana State Legislature on line and look at the statutes that say that if a person has a prior conviction of battery and they are 15 y.o.a. they can be charged as an adult. Also on that site, talks about hate crimes. A hate crime can only be an adjunt to another crime. It does not stand alone. If beating Jistin unconcious is not a hate crime, I don't know what could possibly constitute a hate crime. Just hangin nooses with no injury to anyone is not a hate crime. FACT: White people have been talked over, words being taken out of context. So far Dr. Phil has not gave adequate time to the Barkers to tell their side. Maybe Monday they will be able to speak in full and be heard. AS and JJ are racist. Reverand should be removed from their names because a man of God would not cause the stife they have caused. Melissa Bell is also racist for calling Mycheal's first lawyer (who was black) white. Does she believe a white lawyer could not defend her son as well as a black one could? Sounds racist to me. AS and JJ decended upon our small town and tried to strong arm the law. Us white folks showed our good ole southern hospitality and just kept our mouths shut. Our town will never be the same again! THANKS AS and JJ you have caused the racial divide here and you should be ashamed of yourselves. FACT: Rev. Moran, who should have Rev. removed from his name because he caused strife also, just had to bring up his precious church sign got ran over. What does that have to do with the price of eggs in China? The matter at hand is a boy was beaten to unconsiousness and "TJ6" are being turned into money making martyrs. The noose punishment cannot at all be compared to a beating punishment. FACT: Born in America, you are American right? If you are born in another country and come to America and you become a citizen then you are (African-American-AA). Please tell me how many blacks were born in Africa and then become citizens of America? Just because black ancestors came from africa makes you AA. My ancestors came from Italy, France, Ireland and some where Cherokee Indians (who was on this land already and was brutaly murdered by white people). Does that make me Italian-Irish-French-Indian-American? NO I AM AN AMERICAN and I am who I am and I accept that. The African nation sold their own people into slavery in the first place. So I say to the black people, be mad at your own ancestors for putting this racial idiation on you. WHITE PEOPLE DO NOT OWN, BEAT, INSLAVE BLACK PEOPLE ANYMORE! GET OVER IT! Home is where the heart is and if no one fees at home here in Jena, LEAVE! Dr. Phil I watch you all of the time and I hope that you can bring out truth about our town and I hope that you can see through the hog wash that is trying to be shoved down your throat along with the rest of America. I hope that america can see the facts. One student was beaten and the people responsible need to pay.

I pray for those of you that are so bitter...sounds like you have more deeper issues that need serious attention than a blog. May God bless you! "Never argue with a fool, onlookers may not be able to tell the difference" Some people are too far gone to help understand so let those wallow in their ignorance and then let them wonder why life in America is so unfair to whites! Some of you are right you're not racist, you're just plain ignorant.

I am not african american but my boyfriend is and my child is half black but i live in a town where in order for the black race to look good in our town you have to be good in a sport or live in the govenor's neighborhood. me and my boyfriend watched this show together and it makes us worry how our kid is going to grow up in our society. nothing would have started at Jena if that boy did not hang the nuse HE STARTED IT!! How i was raised when i was little is that i better not start the fight but i better finish it or my parents wasn't going to come to help me. but plainly not beating around the bush. If he had the balls to start the fight he better have those same balls to finish it. which of course he didn't becfause he got beat up. this was not a prank it was not a tease and i didn't see anyone laughing. there is just certain things that i hope parents teach their kids about what to say or when to far is just to far. As what i got the parents were some what racist because they should have known that joke was not a joke and hope they learned that with all the riots and complications they caused. I do think the guy deserved to get his butt kicked but it shouldn't of been from 6 guys one of them should have done it and he should have just got a battery charge because the white guy is still walking and talking he even said on the show that he was fine! plus it was unfair he should have got something to especially since he started it

I wanted to blog about this but I can't make the blog tab work..suprise suprise!! I mentioned to someone that I didn't pay full attention to the show but I did hear someone ask the question why did the white kid not know how putting a noose on a tree was not a smart thing to do? I have an answer for that part anyway....in our small shcool...under 300 kids K-12 (all one campus, different buildings) we have not had history teachers who taught squat. I asked my 13 year old son what the noose meant and why that might be racially provocative and he did not know. Love ya, Mr. W. and so do the kids, but you need to be teaching. Our new history teacher isn't any better than our last one,who believe it or not was the church's part time youth pastor. He was more interested in hanging out with the "coool" kids. This was on the day of 9/11, this was during the 2000 elections, I mean...come on! More history is being made right NOW and my school consistently hires history teachers who don't teach! I've been to the superintendant, talked to the teachers, done all I can. I teach my kids what I can from home about this. What they do in history is take notes out of the book and take a test on it. now my 16 year old daughter can do that and absorb something but my son couldn't care less. He's exremely bright and bores easily, hates to read. Anway, I think ignorance is a large part of all of this and if Jena is anything like my town's schoool....that's how it happend. And by the way, the kids segregate themselves. The black parents don't want but limited interaction with the white parents, I know this from experience. I belong to a racially diverse church and in that atmosphere, we're all one...the way it should be. But at school....no way.

I just can't believe that the blacks are supporting these 6 black kids that committed a hate crime against a white kid. As stated before, just reverse the roles in this story and ask yourself... would you have white people rallying behind the white kid? NO!!! It sickens me! Black americans are always playing the race card to get away with stuff. It's okay for us to BET and other channels of such nature, but do you ever think there will be a white entertainment television?

Those white boys should not have hung the nooses from the trees but the black boys did not need to beat the crap out one of the boys who hung the noose. I feel that the true racists in this situation are the BLACK People who say that they never got justice!!!! The white boys did not physically hurt the black boys by hanging the noose, did they???? The six black boys answered by using violence against one white boy!!!!! If anyone is the racist in this situation, it is the black people!!!! As for Rev Al Sharpton, he is the biggest BIGOT of them all!!!!!

Before I start, let me tell you that I'm a African-American man myself at 25 years of age. What I think about this whole case is not about justice; it's about racism. What I think I remember is that the boy who was white pulled the shotgun on them. Then when he was alone there were six black students beating up on him (though I believe that he deserved it for trying to shoot one, or all of them). Do I believe they should be punished by the school for assaulting the boy, yes, but trying them for adults, that's wrong. If a white student was beating up on a black kid, then no one would do anything about it, but when a black person beats up on a white person, then they want to hang him out to dry. It's just not fair. I also think that all the students kids should have also been there, not just the kid's parents. We're all human beings here, & no one should be treated differently because of the color of someone's skin. This world needs to grow up & quit living in this nonsense; it's 2007. It's truly pathetic.

Al Sharpton was asked by Dr Phil why he had not posted bond for Mychal Bell. Sharpton replied by stating the courts did not have a bail set for him therefore he couldn't. Sharpton then stated that when a bail was set he would indeed post the bond. Directly after watching Dr Phil I read online that a 'stranger' had posted bail for Bell . So, was Sharpton deliberately being untruthful? Surely he could not have been uninformed. Or perhaps it just so happened that Bell ’s bail was just set today & Sharpton conveniently didn’t have time to post it before the ‘stranger’. I tend to believe that Sharpton & Jesse Jackson are racist. It seems to me that they cause much negative commotion in everything they do. Do they truly work with love for all in their hearts?

Never in my wildest dreams would I have thought that the pre civil rights era would return and we'd all be taking sides again. A veritable movie straight off the pages of a Hollywood script-a racist town; a bullying, racist, white group of teens; a star football player, black, and his friends; a bigoted, small-town D.A.; and an underpaid, black, court-appointed attorney; a kangaroo court. The horrific truth-it's REAL LIFE DRAMA. Now we see that civil rights exist only for whites in Jena, Louisiana. Will it be another 50 years before Jena actually practices them for all people and not just whites? Why are towns allowed to receive Federal and State monies when they so flagrantly violate the Constitutional rights of a segment of its population? Where is the FBI on this?