Just the facts

I've got to admit, this whole mess in Jena, LA hasn't been on my radar for quite some time. Earlier in the year, I remember thinking to myself that the charges brought against the six black teens were harsh - but I didn't look any further in to it at the time (school and all). Now that it's been thrust toward us in the media, though, I think it's time to separate fact from fancy.

• Six black teenagers - Beard, Bell, Bailey, Jones, Purvis, and Shaw - were charged originally with attempted and conspiracy to commit second degree murder for the Dec. 4 beating of Barker, a white teenager. Five of the six were charged as adults; Beard, 14 at the time, was charged as a minor.
• All of the charges were reduced: Bell was convicted of second degree battery and conspiracy in June (the conviction was overturned and given to the juvenile court)
• The jury that convicted Bell was all white. 150 summons were sent out; only 50 reported for duty. "There is no entry in the juror database for race to ensure that bias isn’t used in jury selection, a court official said."

This is where lines start to blur a little, at least from my perspective of outsider looking in. Interestingly enough, this is where Jackson and Sharpton begin to get involved, too.

• In September 2006, a black student "jocularly" asked if he could sit under a tree that mostly white students sat under; this was done in a question-and-answer assembly at the school - not as a person seeking permission. The principal answered that he could sit anywhere he wanted.
• That Friday, two nooses were found hanging from that tree. Three students were found to be a part of it, and the prinicpal recommended expulsion. A district committee suspended each of them for three days. Barker, the student beaten on Dec. 4, was not one of those found to be involved.
• Only the parents - and some others in front of cameras - have asserted that the Dec. 4 fight was due to the noose incident.

Seems to me that these are two different incidents. Sure, there's racial undertones abound in it, some of it likely quite real - but some of it made up. It's always been my opinion that Jackson, Sharpton, et al. are old soldiers trying to relive the "glory days", times when things they did really mattered and made a difference. In my opinion, though, they undermine the things already done by many before them - Parks, Evers, even Dr. King - by taking events such as this is Jena and blowing them out of proportion, just for another run at glory.

I'm not saying people shouldn't be upset in Jena or around the country about the situation there. Some terrible things have happened - and I'm including the teenager's beating in this; he was beaten unconscious - and justice, in some ways, doesn't appear to have been done - the jury convicted Bell of aggravated battery, which means assault with a deadly weapon; the "deadly weapon" was the shoe!

What I'm trying to say is this: justice isn't (and won't be) served on the basis of half-truths, misdirection, and blurred lines. Folks that dabble in those types of things want their agenda - their ego? - served.

So, what would be justice?

The three who hung the nooses should have been expelled - no argument there. Charged? With what? It's not illegal to do such a thing just as it wouldn't be illegal for a Christian group to post the Ten Commandments on a tree where atheists ate lunch. Tacky and rude, yes. Criminal, no.

The six who attacked the one should be charged as juveniles. I don't buy the conspiracy bit (lack of evidence) and I certainly don't buy the second degree murder nor aggravated battery. Charge them with assault - absolutely. Let them go "free" - hardly.