No justice, no peace. Know justice, know peace.
The student they assaulted, Justin Barker, was treated and observed for two hours for a black eye and a concussion. Then he went to a school Ring Ceremony. The six students didn’t get to attend that ceremony – they were arrested and eventually charged with second-degree attempted murder. Bail for the six students ranged from $90,000 to $138,000.
The assault occurred after a series of escalating events that began when white students at Jena High School hung three nooses in the “white tree” on campus after a black student asked to sit under it. So the black students are charged for attempted murder for punches and kicks, while the white students faced no repercussions for the hate crime of hanging nooses in the tree.
The case has drawn national attention to an area that is already dealing with racial tension. Jena, with a population of less than 3,000, is the largest town and county seat of LaSalle Parish. There are about 350 African Americans in the parish –12 percent of its population of slightly more than 14,000 people. Jena was also home to a Juvenile Correctional Center for Youth that closed two years after it opened, due to brutality and racism.
LaSalle Parish District Attorney J. Reed Walters reduced the charges against five of the Jena Six as the case drew national attention, and with the overturn of Mychal Bell’s conviction, I have been given hope that there is justice in this country. I am reminded of Micah 6:8: “What does the Lord require of you, but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?”
Mercy is not a passive thing. There’s a reason it’s called works of mercy. We must do something to help others, whether it’s signing a petition, donating to the cause, or attending protests to show our outrage and make a demand for justice.
I have to thank God that the people of this country love justice and kindness enough to stir themselves and act for the rights of these six students, so much so that there is hope that they will be exonerated.
Frenchy, when I read this article, I find no such assertion. I believe if Tasha had meant to say what you seem to think she said, she would have actually said it. You are misrepresenting her argument.
Can you honestly look at the actions of the white students and their subsequent punishments and the actions of the black students and their subsequent punishments and say that everyone is being treated fairly? Because I can't. And I appreciate that Tasha has the cojones to point it out. (Comment this)
By tasha's account, it would serve God's ideal of justice to entirely exonerate six people involved in a group beating of one individual, while people hanging ropes in trees should receive a punishment greater than school suspension. Can you honestly say that _that_ outcome would be fair? Something is interfering with Tasha's view of what justice is, and she needs to get that straightened out before she goes placarding it about under the banner of Micah 6:8. I could tell you where I think that interference comes from, but there would be no point since I'm sure you would object that "she didnt say that" and you'd be right- though when the lines are drawn clearly enough it's not difficult to read between them, especially given the context of our current socio-political environment. What I can say for certain is that a concept of civil justice that endorses wholesale exoneration of the guilty is in no way scriptural. If you truly care about justice, then be honest enough to examine and root out the error that led you to think that it is- then do something about that error. That, my friend, would take _real_ cojones. (Comment this)
First, I am not impressed with your downplaying the implications behind hanging nooses in a tree the day after a black student decides to sit underneath it for the first time. This isn't "hanging ropes in trees" any more than burning a cross outside someone's home is "burning wood on someone's lawn." This act was meant to terrorize an individual and his community, based on racial prejudice, so let's not pretend the original perpetrators were caught trying to hang a tire swing.
Some students hung a noose in a tree, but physically injured nobody. They were suspended from school. That seems about right.
Actually, according to the above-linked wikipedia article, for their efforts to terrorize the Black community, they received three days of in-school suspension. (That's what I got once in second grade, for pushing a kid on the playground.)
Later on, at the same school, a white student insults a black student racially, and several people beat him up as a result. This beating resulted in assault charges--that were increased to attempted 2nd degree murder.
Let's be clear: violence is never the answer, and these actions should not go unpunished. However, they need to be meted out by a justice system that is even-handed, not skewed against people of color just because an errant D.A. wills it.
If we are truly "doing justice," then we must open our eyes to injustice as it occurs, and work against it--instead of making excuses in injustice' behalf. (Comment this)
I agree, which is why I disagree with the OP which implies that justice would require that they should go unpunished.
"If we are truly "doing justice," then we must open our eyes to injustice as it occurs, and work against it--instead of making excuses in injustice' behalf."
Making excuses in injustice's behalf is exactly what I perceive the OP was doing. If somebody wants to make excuses for injustice, fine, but let's require the same standard of even-handedness here as well, and not be skewed in favor of excusing the injustices committed on behalf of one group while condemning the injustices committed on behalf of another.
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The thing is, what's the real problem here? Is it what Tasha meant or didn't mean in her freakin' blog commentary? Or is it that there are kids committing racially-motivated hate crimes against one another in Louisiana?
Let's not lose sight of the forest for all of the trees in the way... (Comment this)
"I have to thank God that the people of this country love justice and kindness enough to stir themselves and act for the rights of these six students, so much so that there is hope that they will be exonerated."
There are two problems here. One is, as you pointed out, that kids are committing racially motivated hate crimes. The second one is that white kids hanging nooses in a tree on account of racism is being given inordinate amounts of focus and media attention as a "racially motivated hate crime", while six black kids beating the crap out of a white kid on account of racism is not at all being viewed in the same category which it is, a "racially motivated hate crime"(Which is a completely ridiculous and loaded term anyway, what other type of crime is there? A love crime?) , There are thousands of people signing petitions and protesting against the prosecution of these people for their crime. So called "Rights Activists" it seems would just as happily see a lynching of the white kids who hung nooses and see the black thugs who put another person in the hospital walk off scot free. Tell me that if six white kids beat up a black kid because of ongoing racial tensions, that Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton wouldn't be all over that condemning it as a deplorable "hate crime". Or would they be there protesting to give the poor guys a break like they are now? The actions of the Jena 6 were just as racially motivated as the actions of the noose hangers. The answer to an inequitable application of justice in one instance is not yet another inequitable application of justice in the opposite direction, it is an equitable application of justice in both instances, period. The punishment of people who physically attack and injure another person should be greater than that of those who express sentiments which could be taken as harassing or intimidating. A white person beating up a black guy should be punished more severely than a white person threatening a black guy. A black guy beating up a white guy should be punished more severely than a black guy threatening a white guy. To what extent the punishment should be more severe is a matter of debate, and I won't try to insist that the gap was wider than reasonable in this case (a sneaker is a 'deadly weapon'???) - but what I see going on here is widespread advocacy of an opposite application of justice, which advocacy is itself racially motivated. Tasha's blog is just a typical example of a much larger problem- she is one tree in a forest of many similar trees, and a forest is only the sum of its trees.
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If I may, I think a fundamental difference between you and I is this:
Acts of violence and terrorist intimidation, when done to an oppressed minority, simply do not mean the same thing as similar acts that are committed against the oppressive majority. In my view, you are mistaken to attempt to blur it all together and claim that the social context in which these acts occur is totally irrelevant.
In this town in Louisiana, there is a clear history of anti-black racism, and it appears to be systemic:
<ul><li>first, that students would put nooses in a tree to terrorize a black individual and his community (Who does this? How many people do you know who would do this?)</li>
<li>then, the school board's reaction to the situation, to reduce the recommended punishment to 3 days of in-school suspension</li>
<li>next, the white student who was beaten up had been racially insulting one of the black students</li>
<li>finally, you have an Attorney General who is spouting off crazy nonsense, and as you admit, who is far too over-zealous in his lust to punish the black students.</li></ul>
As far as full-out exoneration is concerned, whether or not Tasha's for it--I'm not. However: there's no way that the social context of white racism is irrelevant to this situation.
You seem to be eager to condemn the black students who beat up the white student--though their actions were reactiveproactive white racism in this situation. Are you going to continue to downplay the white proactive racism in favor of condemning the black reactive violence, or are you willing to place responsibility where it belongs on both sides? (Comment this)