my take on the Jena 6 fiasco

When news articles disappoint, consult Wikipedia. While browsing Fark, I came across an article about the Jena 6, a subject with which I was unfamiliar. Reading through the article left me confused and wondering, “well what the hell really happened?”. Thank goodness for Wikipedia, which has an informative article about the controversy. For those unfamiliar with it, I’ll summarize based on my understanding:

• Some black high schoolers ate lunch at an outdoor table on their high school campus underneath a tree.
• Some white racist high schoolers hung nooses from the tree.
• The white kids received 3 days of in-school suspension as punishment.
• A lot of interracial fights broke out in the following days at the school.
• Police ended up patrolling the halls of school, and it ended up in a state of total lock-down.
• When black kids tried to talk to the school board about “the noose incident,” they were turned away because the board thought the situation had been adequately handled.
• The school building was subject to arson; blacks and whites blamed each other.
• More fights ensued outside of a party.
• A white kid brandished a shotgun or didn’t—reports were conflicting. A black kid who wrestled the shotgun away from the white kid got charged with theft of a firearm, second-degree robbery, and disturbing the peace. The white kid wasn’t charged.
• A white kid got beaten up by six black kids, who have since been dubbed “the Jena 6.”
• The Jena 6 were initially charged with assault, though this was later upped to attempted second-degree murder.
• The first of the Jena 6 to be tried was convicted of aggravated second-degree battery and conspiracy to commit aggravated second-degree battery, and faced up to 22 years in jail. His sneakers were considered deadly weapons in the attack.
• The majority of this stuff took place in 2006. In September of this year, the guy of the Jena 6 that had been tried had his charges overturned.
• Everybody’s up in arms about this because, hell, this is 2007. Protests, the head of the NAACP to speak, Reverend Al Sharpton to speak, a fund to pay legal fees for the Jena 6 was created, etc.

My two cents on the subject:

• The little racist assholes that hung the nooses should have had a much harsher punishment in the first place. I think had that happened, a lot of the subsequent events could have been avoided. I think they should have been expelled at the least and possibly charged with having committed a hate crime. Such a punishment could have caused this same crap to happen anyway, only with the whites assaulting some black kid, but at least then it could be said that the right course of action had been taken in response to the white kids hanging the nooses.
• I think it was incorrect to turn the black kids away when they tried to talk to the school board. That’s what the board is there for, damnit, to be a place for students and parents to turn to when a decision needs to be made about the school. Obviously, the situation had not been handled sufficiently or the board wouldn’t have had kids knocking on their door, asking to discuss it with them. That was in extremely poor judgement; if the kids’ community had acted at all like they cared that their community is apparently filled with a bunch of bigoted young racists, some of the lashing out by the black kids could probably have been avoided.
• With respect to the shotgun, I could understand why the white kid wasn’t charged. If there was a doubt that he had brandished it at the black kid, then you have reasonable doubt. It’s legal to have a shotgun out in public, so long as it is easily determined to be unloaded; i.e. it’s broken open and you can see down the barrel. I am doubtful that the shotgun would have been in this condition, because no one carries around a broken-down shotgun in their truck; I would guess the shotgun was fully together, so that you couldn’t tell from just looking at it whether it was loaded or not. If that was the case, then the black kid would have been perfectly reasonable in assuming that it was loaded. I don’t think he should have been charged in this instance because, even if he attacked the white kid who had the shotgun, it could be interpreted as self defense. Unless that shotgun remained in the white kid’s truck the entire time, and no one touched it, I think it’s reasonable to consider the black kid’s attack on the white kid to be self defense. If someone comes at me in a menacing fashion while carrying a shotgun that I can’t tell is unloaded, I’m going to run or attack or do something.
• I don’t think it was right of the Jena 6 to assault that white kid, but I can certainly understand where the temptation would come from. I don’t think they should be charged with attempted second-degree murder, and I think their punishments should involve something like juvenile hall, public service, or short jail time. Nothing terribly serious, because I think this incident is an isolated one, brought on by a town that seemed horribly racist and unsympathetic.