Locals Dispute Growing Story of Jena 6

[Hollow Shells]

I saw this story by AP, what do you think? It seems to suggest that the facts are being muddled for political reasons. Here is a snip...


_The so-called "white tree" at Jena High, often reported to be the domain of only white students, was nothing of the sort, according to teachers and school administrators; students of all races, they say, congregated under it at one time or another.

_Two nooses — not three — were found dangling from the tree. Beyond being offensive to blacks, the nooses were cut down because black and white students "were playing with them, pulling on them, jump-swinging from them, and putting their heads through them," according to a black teacher who witnessed the scene.

_There was no connection between the September noose incident and December attack, according to Donald Washington, an attorney for the U.S. Justice Department in western Louisiana, who investigated claims that these events might be race-related hate crimes.

_The three youths accused of hanging the nooses were not suspended for just three days — they were isolated at an alternative school for about a month, and then given an in-school suspension for two weeks.

_The six-member jury that convicted Bell was, indeed, all white. However, only one in 10 people in LaSalle Parish is African American, and though black residents were selected randomly by computer and summoned for jury selection, none showed up.

More at link...
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5jOl6L858y0iDf4k_28ojhYLcuLGg

[Mass]

1. And I should trust AP rather than the WaPo or CNN because?

[pscot]

3. This story is all over the net

and there is a raging debate about the validity of the various accounts. A picture of the kid who was assaulted is also floating around. Much has been made of the fact that he went to some sort of school ceremony the evening after the assult, but judging from the photo he looks like he got a pretty serious beating. My immmediate reaction to all this was racist business as usual, but the story is not nearly that clear and one sided. Objectivity, of course, is in short supply.

[Hollow Shells]

4. I don't know

Why would you trust one over the other? I don't know what version to believe.

[rurallib]

2. These stories seem to have shown up about 2 months ago

when it began to look like Jena was going to become famous in a way they didn't want to. I heard the guy who wrote the original story for the Chicago Tribune (I believe) on a call in show (Hartmann?) where he was confronted by a local town leader. The author disputed all these stories.
SO here we go again. A story comes out that makes the established powers look bad. Then all of a sudden a new set of "facts" comes out that diverts from the core issue. The core issue here is that in similar cases blacks were treated with a sledgehammer while whites got a velvet glove.

[pscot]

6. Equal justice before the law

is the core issue, but you have to acknowledge all the facts of the case. Not doing so just gives the haters fuel for their argument, which is that blacks demand special treatment, and white liberal guilt enables them. That perception is widespread and accounts for the fact that millions of white, blue-collar men vote for the Republicons. It's also the reason affirmative action and school busing are under attack by ballot initiatives and court rulings across the country.

Whatever the events leading up to or away from the assault, photos indicate he took a pretty good beating. His face was a mess and he reports he still has impaired vision in his right eye. It was no ordinary schoolyard brawl. And the kid who struck the first blow was on parole following a prior assault conviction.

The prosecutor went overboard with the charge, but the kid who started it is no saint, and I have a pretty low opinion of people who will stomp a man who's already down and out.

[proud2BlibKansan]

5. Other facts:

The kids who hung the nooses were expelled by the principal and the superintendent revoked that punishment and suspended them instead.

Following the fight in December, the school district wanted to conduct an investigation but their attorney advised that would interfere with the ongoing criminal investigation. Their attorney was the DA who pressed charges against the kids.

The African Americans in Jena live outside the city limits in the African American part of town. They are not allowed to vote in municipal elections and receive no city services.

Yes let's get all the facts out. All the facts.