For anyone who hasn't read it, I highly recommend that before you read anything on the Jena 6, you read this article written by Jason Whitlock.
What is wrong with America when six young thugs can sneak up on and beat up an innocent man, and then be considered "victims" because the legal system lashes out harshly at them? Before we begin, though, let's call a spade, a spade. The vast majority of the black people who are coming out in outrage over this are bitter racists, and are different from the white racists who hurt their ancestors only in the superficial matter of being born with brown skin and African heritage. Most of the rest, primarily their white sympathizers, are a pathetic, miserable lot who feel the need to repent for racial sins they themselves did not commit, would not commit, and would fight if they witnessed white people committing them against black people today.
Perhaps the charge of attempted murder is ridiculous. It is possible that Mychal Bell only intended to beat Justin Barker into a coma or paralysis, at which rate we could not good conscience charge him with attempted murder. No, his only goal would have been to lash out in hatred, even if it is a purely generic hatred, toward another human being, and render serious physical harm to him. There but for the grace of God is Justin Barker not a quadriplegic because of what those six thugs attempted to do to him, and might have done had they caught him under circumstances more favorable to them.
According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, from 1976 to 2005, 94% of all black murder victims were killed by black people. Having a record of violent behavior toward others, culminating in this most recent incident, it boggles my mind how any black person who cares about the safety of their community can take up the banner of these six thugs. The statistics speak for themselves; if one of these six continues "maturing" in this path, it will be a black person who will pay the price. Sticking it to whitey now will only have the result of increasing the likelihood that a black person who will be maimed or killed later by one of these individuals. The white liberals who take up the cause of these six refuse to see the fact that they are pouring salt into the healing wounds left over from past racial strife; the blacks who do this have been taken over by a sick, satanic variation of Stockholm Syndrome.
Do we really need to ask how this might have ended up if six young white thugs had beaten the tar out of a black man who had a tenuous connection at best to the black men they had animosity toward? The Duke Lacrosse incident should have put to rest any hypothetical scenarios about how government might react to such a scenario. We have allowed our system to try to correct past racial injustices not by reaching back and punishing the guilty who have gotten away with crimes from the past, but by inflicting injustice on new people. Many people seriously believe in their hearts, even if they will deny adamantly with their mouths, that the way to make up for the bitter past is to screw over people who have no connection to the crimes of those who came before them other than the color of their skin. The pendulum keeps swinging, and yet we, as a nation, seem to be too chickenshit to cut the rope that it swings from.
The fact is, America still has serious racism problems. However, they do not include the spectre of roving gangs of hooded white men burning crosses in the yards of law-abiding, decent black folks with impunity. They are based in the racism of low expectations first and foremost. America is unwilling to admit the fact that we expect more out of African Gray Parrots in our research centers than many able-minded, "African-American" students. That minority violent offenders of all stripes are regarded all too often with a condescending, superficial pity that one might hold for a dog that got infected with rabies, then was compelled by its disease-addled brain to maul its family's children, rather than with the open contempt that one can and should hold for a man or woman who was perfectly capable of choosing to do good than evil. The list of ways that America is racially warped are legion, but most of all, it is the racism of low expectations.
I say none of this with hatred, only anger. I am friends with and work with black men who are living proof that there is nothing biological, but rather something quite cultural, that causes these explosive failures. It is time to face the distinct possibility that in cases like this that maybe the reason that young black men are disproportionately represented in prison is because of the fact that there is a very real sickness in many black communities. It is a sickness that has caused the illegitimacy rate to rise to nearly three quarters, and as Whitlock observes, where was Bell's father in all of this before his son found his fatherless life being railroaded into the big house? When America finally starts asking that in cases like this one, and many others involving offenders like Bell, and then demand accountability from the absentee fathers whose sons grow up to become criminals, maybe then our country will start to see part of the big picture about where the problem lays.
**UPDATE** 9/25/2007: For the sake of clarity, I want to make a few things clearer. I fully acknowledge the fact that there is a lot of white racism in Louisiana. In my opinion, the racist activities of the white people here do not justify any sympathy for these six here. I am pretty sympathetic to the attempted murder charges on the grounds that if you aren't trying to beat someone into a coma or to death when you ambush them, then proceed to stomp their body, then I don't know what else could really be the motivation. If it be true that Bailey, one of the six accused, was assaulted in a similar fashion by a bunch of whites at a party, then by all means I say prosecute those sons of bitches with the same harshness that these guys, save for Mychal Bell with his record, would get.
<a href="http://cheerfuliconoclast.blogspot.com/2007/09/jena-shotgun-incident-i-knew-there.html">As to the shotgun incident</a>, the third parties that witnessed that allegedly racist event said that it appeared to them that the black teens were trying to rob the white teen who pulled the shotgun on them. So in this he-said, she-said situation, if we are not going to believe the official report as presented in the Jena Times, it is best to just let sleeping dogs lay.
The racism of low expectations. That and affirmative action sees minorities treated as children. It's just so sad.
Jason Whitlock is the only thing the Kansas City Star has had going for it for 2 decades.
Well, a lot of them seem to be lost without the racism of low expectations. The absurdity gets worse as more immigrants from Africa and the Carribean take their place in universities and the private sector.
It is precisely the attempted murder charge that is so ridiculous in this case.
The statistics procided are correct, at least directionally, with regard to crime perpetrated by one member of the black race on another. However, history has also shown that German men with mustaches and short, brown hair kill lots of people as well (If, for example, we say that there have been roughly 1 million Germen men who meet that criteria since 1939, we can use statistics to say that these ment have killed, on average, 6 Jews apiece -- all of this to say that statistics can be used to illustrate a point, but often miss the specifics of the discussion).
These 6 black kids undoubtedly did attack the white kid. There is some question as to the provocation, ranging from "none" to "responding to a racial slur." No explanation can absolve them of the act.
However, the victim required only minor treatement from medical personnel and was released after said treatment. In no way does "released from the ER in 3 hours" equate to attempted murder, based on the injuries alone.
So, the attempted murder charge must stem from the intent. If that is the case, every schoolyard fight should result in attempted murder charges. I have been in a few scraps myself and I can state, unequivocally, that I went into exactly zero of the fights with the idea that I was going to murder my opponent. On the other hand, I went into the same number of fights with the idea that I may lightly tickle the person into submission. Thus, either all fights are attempted murder, or this DA is vastly over-reaching on the charges. That, at least to me, is the outrage of this case.
The larger issue of race relations in this community cannot be ignored (nooses hanging in a tree doesn't seem to be a very inviting way to greet your fellow humans), but it plays no role in my opposition to the attempted murder charges brought by the DA.
I would hardly classify this as a mere school yard fight. Barker was not only attacked by surprise and knocked unconscious, but he also had six athletes surrounding him, pounding and stomping the tar out of him. The question is, when would these thugs have stopped had they caught him at a time when no one was around to stop him? They didn't exactly get a good opportunity to really "express themselves" there. By the time they were done, they very well could have ended up with him paralyzed or killed.
The fact that this was a six-on-one stompfest that began by knocking him unconscious is enough evidence in my mind that these thugs probably would have ended up being charged at least with manslaughter, if not second degree murder if they had not been stopped.
As to the issue of statistics, the point is that young, violent black men have been shown through around thirty years of data gathering and analysis to be the ones who end up murdering most black people. Most murders of white people are committed by other whites. Do you really think I would be merciful toward six white thugs if the roles were reversed? Hell no! I would be more than happy to throw them in prison and throw away the key.
Why? Because it takes a totally different kind of person to get a posse together and beat the shit out of another, lone man. It takes a violent, predatory person.
Bell is a repeat violent offender. Even if you throw out the attempted murder charge, the SOB deserves to rot in prison for good time, and with the way the protests are building up an uproar, he and his fellow thugs probably won't get too much time.
"...Do you really think I would be merciful toward six white thugs if the roles were reversed? Hell no! I would be more than happy to throw them in prison and throw away the key."
This precise thing happened along the way in Jena, La. Prior to "the Jena 6" fight, there was another fight in which Robert Bailey was beaten by a group of white students at a party (1 black student vs multiple white students (I don't know the precise number -- media reports generally state "a group")).
Additionally, the next day, Robert Bailey was in a convenience store when he saw one of the students who was at the party. Words were exchanged, at which point, the white kid went to his truck and produced a shotgun. Bailey wrestled the shotgun from the kid and took it home. Bailey was charged with theft of a firearm, second-degree robbery and disturbing the peace. No charges were filed against the white kid who pulled the gun at the convenience store or against the kids at the party who beat up Robert Bailey.
The black group on white kid fight happened the day after the convenience store event...
In this case, a double standard appears to exist based on skin color. A group of white kids beat on a black kid -- no charges. A group of black kids beat on a white kid -- attempted murder...
There's some funky shit going on in Jena, La. Lack of outrage at the totality of the events in Jena in the fall of 2006 suggest there's some funky shit going on in the rest of the country as well.
Then it would seem to me that the solution is to bring charges against, prosecute and convict the white thugs who beat up Bailey. Sounds to me like both groups should be in prison.
My primary concern here is the fact that all other factors aside, what the Jena 6 did was clearly a serious offense. Justice can then only be served by putting both groups in prison, not letting the Jena 6 off. However, I think that if it be true that they did attack Bailey in a similar manner, that dropping the attempted murder charge in exchange for charges being pressed against Bailey's white attackers would be a fair compromise for everyone.
"Then it would seem to me that the solution is to bring charges against, prosecute and convict the white thugs who beat up Bailey. Sounds to me like both groups should be in prison.
My primary concern here is the fact that all other factors aside, what the Jena 6 did was clearly a serious offense. Justice can then only be served by putting both groups in prison, not letting the Jena 6 off. However, I think that if it be true that they did attack Bailey in a similar manner, that dropping the attempted murder charge in exchange for charges being pressed against Bailey's white attackers would be a fair compromise for everyone."
That is my point exactly, but it is not what is happening -- thus the outrage. The outrage over what is happening in Jena, La is NOT what is wrong with race in Amemrica. The apathy on the large part of the white community is precisely what is wrong.
When whackjobs like Sharpton and Jackson are allowed to speak in front of TV cameras, the opinion of the average person is obscured by the bile spewed from the idiots. I live in the Detroit area. A number of black citizens from Detroit travelled to Jena for the protest. Reading the papers and seeing the news up here confrimed that the majority of the people protesting were not asking for a free pass for the "Jena 6." Instead, they just wanted equal justice, which is not what they are getting down there.
The attempted murder charge is absolutely ridiculous and the DA should face the same scrutiny/potential disbarrment proceedings as Nifong, in that he abused his position and over-reached the evidence to press charges. Additionally, the white kids who beat Robert Bailey should face the same assault & battery charges that the "Jena 6" should be facing.
That is why I'm incensed at what is happening in Jena. I don't think the 6 black kids shouldn't face justice. They should just have to face the same type of justice as the white kids who perpetrated the same crime.
Perhaps the prosecutor should face scrutiny. In fact, he has said some things in the past about his exercise of power that call some of his practices into question. However, don't delude yourself into thinking that he is at Nifong's level. He isn't wholesale fabricating evidence to get six innocent black guys in prison, but rather at most overreaching on a case that is already very serious. Mychal Bell is now what, a four time repeat violent offender? The problem is that even if his previous charges are "not that serious," he escalated his capacity for violence big time.
White apathy is a big problem, but so is black oversensitivity. Black racism is socially acceptable in many circles, as it is often explained away by past, nebulous wrongs. The fact is, the whole "race dialog" is built on a refusal to face the fact that there is much racism that still exists in minority communities, that goes unchallenged and is even defended as acceptable. That is why I wrote this. I disagree that attempted murder is ridiculous because it is pretty clear that they wanted to really, really fuck up Barker as they had to be pealed off of his limp body which they had been stomping. If they had not been caught, it probably would have ended up as a manslaughter. I see no racism in charging them with a penalty that, in my opinion, fits the crime. It is racist to have not charged the whites who you say beat Bailey, but that fact alone shouldn't have any bearing on what these six get.
Like it or not, this is all part of the larger issue of government corruption. Louisiana is a very messed up state. My wife has family who live there, and she lived there a little while, and they all tell me how messed up it is as a state. Corrupt and racist as hell, across the board. Hell, it's the only thing that unites them across racial lines.
After having lived in Louisiana when I was a kid, I can tell you countless stories about the rasism of all kinds down there. It is crazy. But Louisiana does have its good side, right to defend your property, can't go wrong with that.
My dad tells this story that happened after we went though a pretty bad hurricane. The water had risen almost to the point of going into this man's house. Any waves whatsoever would send water flowing into his home. Well, these young (probably drunk) guys were driving around the street in circles as fast as they could, trying to create the biggest waves possible. This poor man has water blasting into his house every time they would go by. He comes out with his shotgun and when they come around, he waves it and yells at them as a warning to knock it off. They do it again, this time he shoots the gun into the air. They do it again, the dude blows a hole into the side of their truck. They finally left him alone. I would hate to think of what he would have done, if they had circled again.
Gotta love that!
The only thing that I've seen that Louisiana has going for it so far is the fact that you can shoot in defense of your property.