The Jena 6: The Pigeon's Response

Good discussion last week!

Nanc writes:  "i recently made a post that segued into this very subject at one of the blogs to which i contribute.  one thing for sure - with sharptongue and reveruns-at-the-mouth, you'll never be short of good material!  btw - i found you while looking for the global incident map - it's a keeper."

Excerpt from Nanc's post:  I've still only heard one side of the story... that of the poor incarcerated "victims". [For example] In the wake of these events, numerous groups in support of the "Jena Six" and against the way the cases were and are being handled have appeared on social networking site Facebook, as well as an online petition circulating boasting over 342,937 signatures as of September 19, 2007.

And an article: It’s rarely mentioned that Bell was already on probation for assault when he was accused of participating in Barker’s attack. And it’s never mentioned that white people in the “racist” town of Jena provided Bell support and protected his football career long before Jesse, Al, Bell’s father and all the others took a sincere interest in Mychal Bell.  CONTINUED

From Nanc's comments section:  I am all for respecting races and things like that so the noose on the tree is bad news living in todays society but very few mention the fact that these kids beat up the white kid.Again racially motivated.  They act like martyrs for the cause and I hope they do not dare compare themselves to people who did good things like Rosa Parks

Amal writes:  This whole Jena 6 thing is a mess. Convoluted and twisted are the first things that come to mind when I think of it.  I truly think there has to be more to it. This had to have been an overflow on messy things. It could not have been related to a single incident... at least I hope not. Hanging the noose was tacky in the extreme, the response to that incident has been even worse. If they did it simply because of the noose, then it can be considered a major over reaction. Violence is wrong and there are other ways to deal.

Excerpt from the article MOGS provided: Carwin Jones and Bryant Purvis were introduced by Katt Williams as two of the students involved in a case of “systematic racism.” Bigotry has not been abolished – there were many troubling aspects about the Jena Six case. None of the six juvenile defendants should have been tried as adults, and they should not have been charged with attempted murder.  But that doesn’t change the fact that Carwin Jones and Bryant Purvis are cowardly punks who enthusiastically engaged in a six-on-one beating of a white boy. Ironically, Jones and Purvis are also a symbol of racism in America; they beat a boy to unconsciousness simply because he was white.  CONTINUED

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The above comments, mad pigeoneers, speak for themselves, and for me.

Is stringing a noose up a tree bad juju?  Of course!  I certainly don't support menacing behavior.

But as Amal said, there is, in my little pigeon brain, a HUGE difference between displaying a noose and beating someone unconscious.  The first is a threat, but the second is an action.

Yet the Jena 6 are heroes.  Why?  They come across to me as common hoodlums, and are assuredly not in the same league as Rosa Parks or the Greensboro Sit-ins.

In Spokane I shared a beer with a leading African American Scholar, who said no one can discuss racism in this country without being declared a racist.  Now I expect I'll be called a racist for pointing a finger at the true purveyors of violence in this case.

P.S:  Nanc - Glad you liked the global incident map, and welcome to the roost!

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Comments

[Blair]

The Christian Science Monitor published an article today by a local Jena reporter that refuted 12 "myths" about the Jena Six incident. The following extracted paragraphs deal with the "white tree" and the noose-hanging incident:

"Myth 1: The Whites-Only Tree. There has never been a "whites-only" tree at Jena High School. Students of all races sat underneath this tree. When a student asked during an assembly at the start of school last year if anyone could sit under the tree, it evoked laughter from everyone present – blacks and whites. As reported by students in the assembly, the question was asked to make a joke and to drag out the assembly and avoid class.
Myth 2: Nooses a Signal to Black Students. An investigation by school officials, police, and an FBI agent revealed the true motivation behind the placing of two nooses in the tree the day after the assembly. According to the expulsion committee, the crudely constructed nooses were not aimed at black students. Instead, they were understood to be a prank by three white students aimed at their fellow white friends, members of the school rodeo team. (The students apparently got the idea from watching episodes of "Lonesome Dove.") The committee further concluded that the three young teens had no knowledge that nooses symbolize the terrible legacy of the lynchings of countless blacks in American history. When informed of this history by school officials, they became visibly remorseful because they had many black friends. Another myth concerns their punishment, which was not a three-day suspension, but rather nine days at an alternative facility followed by two weeks of in-school suspension, Saturday detentions, attendance at Discipline Court, and evaluation by licensed mental-health professionals. The students who hung the nooses have not publicly come forward to give their version of events.
Myth 3: Nooses Were a Hate Crime. Although many believe the three white students should have been prosecuted for a hate crime for hanging the nooses, the incident did not meet the legal criteria for a federal hate crime. It also did not meet the standard for Louisiana's hate-crime statute, and though widely condemned by all officials, there was no crime to charge the youths with."

The entire article is online at http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/1024/p09s01-coop.html

[nanc]

first, let me say that i DO NOT believe nooses are bad in the proper scenario - for instance, once, after having to shoot a dog that was killing my chickens, i had to string him up in a tree so no wild animals would prowl around trying to feed on him until my husband got home a week or so later. it was fire season - very dry and windy - but that is usually how we get rid of varmints until we can burn their carcasses.

however, i'd NEVER just willy-nilly put a noose in a tree or any other structure just for show.

it is difficult at best to legislate a "hate crime". intent is very hard to prove.

i do realize children will push the outside of the envelope at times and we must take this into consideration. we have taught our children that hate will kill them and not their intended victims. if more parents did this, there would be NO hate in this sad world.

[Amal]

Hoodlums? Maybe. I am thinking that there is just more to this whole mess than anyone is saying on either side.