Or course, a more astute reader would have realized that lots of skin color crap went on long before any precious white snowflake got stomped.

It's the end of the world as we know it, and I feel fine

a more astute reader would have realized that lots of skin color crap went on long before any precious white snowflake got stomped

As time goes on Obama looks more and more appealing to me (not just on this issue though) out of all the mainstream dems. Still hasn't clinched my vote, though.

On a side note, did anybody catch Cafferty on CNN today (~5pm EST?) when he suggested that Mike Gravel toss himself the lake after the rock he threw in during that campaign video? Unless I heard it wrong.

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I tend to agree. The anger in this case is misplaced, at best.

Also, how come everyday problems affecting 'the black community' such as shitty conditions in inner cities, crack v. cocaine sentencing & drug laws and such don't seem to be worthy of massive protests, but the jailing of a bunch of punks who beat up some high school kid 6:1 does.

It's not the mundane that makes headlines.

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So, tell me again how there's not racial tensions in Jena< LA?

What's going on there as we speak is an example of the racial tensions there.  More nooses.  More arrests.  The Ku Klux Klan.  

What happened is a good example of how the system should work.

From the article: The police report says a crowd of about 200 people, mostly African-Americans, watched the arrest take place.

Those morons in the pickup where obviously trying to incite a riot and everybody behaved like adults. Somebody took a picture, somebody called the cops. Nobody got jumped, and the cops hauled off the morons in question for DUI. They will pay for being stupid.

I'd much prefer that to 6 people punching some guy who may not have even been involved in the first place in the back of the head.

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This was not a "crime of passion" provoked by racial tensions.

Say what?  Are you familiar with the timeline of events leading to this beating?  

(I'm cutting and pasting from the Plastic article here, because it lays out events just days before the incident in question.)

December 1

At a predominantly white student party, a woman refuses to allow five black teens including 16 year old Robert Bailey to enter. When insisting to enter, a white male, not a student, jumps in front of the woman and a fight ensues. The woman asks all six individuals to leave the party. Another fight ensues outside with the five black teens and several white men who are not Jena High students. After several months, one of the white males, Justin Sloan is charged with battery and put on probation.

December 2

A white Jena High student at the party the night before gets into an argument with Bailey and several of his friends at a convenience store. The white male returns to his pick-up truck and retrieves a 12-gauge shotgun. Bailey and his friends wrestle the gun away, and Bailey takes it home with him. Police are called and make a report based on witness testimony stating Bailey and the white student's stories contradicted each other. Based on this report, Bailey is charged with theft of a firearm, second-degree robbery and disturbing the peace white the white student is not charged.

December 4

17 year old Justin Barker allegedly was bragging at school about how Bailey had been beaten up at the party on December 1st. Later, he is hit in the back of the head and beaten while on the ground by, allegedly, several black students. Barker suffers a concussion and an eye swollen shut, but attends his ring ceremony that evening though he has to leave early due to pain.

The racial issues in Jena had been smoldering for months and they were getting worse.  A kid brandishes a shotgun at the black kids.  The kids take it away and get charged!  The kid who owned the shotgun and pointed it at them, NOT CHARGED!

The black kids are not protected by the law, they are made into examples!  What, was this black kid just supposed to give the kid back his shotgun?  What so he could get shot?

The one person still in jail had 4 violent convictions on his record while still a teenager.

Well if I knew more about these convictions I would be better able to tell if each and every one of them was race related, self defense or whatnot.  The track record down there is obviously unfair to black kids.  For all I know he could have been defending himself from the local Klansman's kid and got brought up on charges and convicted.  The DA in this case, the police, the judges, the jury, they need to answer as to whether they use a different standard for the black kids.  

This was INDEED a crime of passion provoked by racial tensions.  I would argue that VEHEMENTLY in court.  As for Justin Barker not being involed in any prior incident, that has not been determined in any link I have read.  It appears from the report that he isntigated some trouble by "bragging" about how Bailey got his butt kicked.  And over the course of teh past few months there have been several documented and undocumented racial incidents in Jean.  The school board refused to even listen to complaints by students about the growing racial tensions.  They said the "noose issue" had already been resolved.  But if you want to stick by the belief that Justin Barker was some innocent by-stander who got jumped for no reason, power to you.  I don't buy that these 6 kids jumped him for no reason.  That is why this whole issue has become a national story.  There are reasons, mitigating factors.  And you and the School Board and the judge and DA and jury don't want to hear about the white elephant in the living room.  The race card is played correctly.

This was INDEED a crime of passion provoked by racial tensions.  I would argue that VEHEMENTLY in court.  As for Justin Barker not being involed in any prior incident, that has not been determined in any link I have read.  It appears from the report that he isntigated some trouble by "bragging" about how Bailey got his butt kicked.  And over the course of teh past few months there have been several documented and undocumented racial incidents in Jean.  The school board refused to even listen to complaints by students about the growing racial tensions.  They said the "noose issue" had already been resolved.  But if you want to stick by the belief that Justin Barker was some innocent by-stander who got jumped for no reason, power to you.  I don't buy that these 6 kids jumped him for no reason.  That is why this whole issue has become a national story.  There are reasons, mitigating factors.  And you and the School Board and the judge and DA and jury don't want to hear about the white elephant in the living room.  The race card is played correctly.

Uh, no, this was a premeditated act by 6 people to jump one guy. A crime of passion is due to a sudden strong impulse, not waiting around several hours after an argument to get your five friends together and attack him from behind. That is premeditated.

Look, nobody is innocent here. But there is still no excuse to go around beating people.

In regards to the firearm incident, yes, that is messed up, but look at the details again. He took some guy's weapon away from him in a fight. Instead of reporting it to the police and turning it in he TOOK IT HOME WITH HIM! If some crackhead mugs me on the corner and I grab his '9 do I just waltz on back home and put it up above the fireplace? Come on.

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Premeditated?  And you have evidence that this was planned?  According to the account that I've read on the net indicate that this attack was precipitated by somments made by Barker about how Bailey got beat up 3 days before.  He basically was taunting the group, turned around and got whacked.  If Barker said nothing and minded his own business, he may not have gotten beat up.  

Look I agree with you that violennce is wrong.  The kids who jumped him probably shouldn't have beat the kid up.  But in hindsight, all the hoopla over this can serve as a Rosa Parks moment.  Rosa Parks defied Jim Crow laws by sitting at the front of the bus.  She broke the law and her arrest exposed the unfairness of the Jim Crow laws in the South.  The Jena 6 broke the law.  But it may still come to some good if it exposes a double standard in law enforcement and criminal law enforcement in Louisiana.  

When bad things happen, people should try to make as much good come of it as possible.  But saying that these are just criminals and thugs with nothing to offer and not worthy of our support disregards the very real situation there in Jena and throughout Louisiana.  

When I was stationed in Biloxi MS in 1991-92, I saw first hand the racism that exists in MS and LA.  As much as I abhor violence, something like this is a long time coming.  As a country we need to rally around these 6 young men.  They are not lost souls or throwaway people.  They are not just "stupid n*ggers".  After Katrina exposed the double standard, the Jena 6 shows that our young people refuse to lay down and accept it.  As a country, we shousl say "We understand your angst and we won't accept it either."

But in hindsight, all the hoopla over this can serve as a Rosa Parks moment.  Rosa Parks defied Jim Crow laws by sitting at the front of the bus.

Rosa Parks sat at the front of the bus, yes. But that's all. I think we would remember that occasion differently if Parks had proceeded to beat the bus driver senseless and steal the bus.

Premeditated?  And you have evidence that this was planned?  According to the account that I've read on the net indicate that this attack was precipitated by somments made by Barker about how Bailey got beat up 3 days before.  He basically was taunting the group, turned around and got whacked.  If Barker said nothing and minded his own business, he may not have gotten beat up.  

Loud talk and taunting (it is still debated as to if this even happened) do not warrant getting beaten up. In your quote above it includes the word "Later" in regards to when the attack happened. I am not sure as to what the time frame is, but I assume that this would mean even a few minutes for cooler heads to prevail and everybody to calm down. Hence it would appear to be premeditated. Here is an article from Newsweek which says the argument happened at lunch and the attack was "a while later." If there was a delay between the two events it could not have been a crime of passion.

There is racism in this country today, of course. But to say the Jena 6 are similar to Rosa Parks is more than a bit of a stretch. Ms. Parks was a hero because she broke the law to fight against an unjust rule that said black people were unequal and had to sit on the back of the bus. The Jena 6 broke the law to severely beat a person. There is no honor in that. I do not believe in 30 years the Jena 6 will be remembered as heroes.

There are serious issues in this country that warrant discussion as you pointed out. The response to Katrina, for one. I'd rather we take our time and talk about those legitimate issues instead of anger over this particular situation.

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Loud talk and taunting (it is still debated as to if this even happened) do not warrant getting beaten up.

That is a given.  But as we see ALL the time (Just watch Jerry Spriinger Show, for example) if you talk smack you run the risk of getting the smackdown.  That is also a given.  You are way more likely to get your ass punk'd and your nose bloodied if you start taunting teasing or spouting offensive crap about people.  That is the nature of violence.  It doesn't always start with the fist, but in the heart.  You say something meant to hurt, that hurt can come back and get ya.  

Like if your kid is teasing or harassing a dog, and the dog bites him.  You may think in your head (or even say to the kid) "See what you get when you provoke an animal?  Now don't get me wrong, I'm not calling the Jena 6 a bunch of animals.  I'm just saying that if they were provoked, while it doesn't forgive their action, it could seem to be the inevitable conclusion that the kid gets beat up.  

(Look at NMIGUY, blaming the victim!)  - Uh, no.  Not really.  I'm saying there is most likely more than one victim here.  

We may have to agree to disagree. I still haven't seen an article that confirms the kid in question even said anything offensive. All I've seen so far are claims from the defendants that the victim made the statements.

If the insults never occurred then the assault was an act of retaliation against an uninvolved 3rd party. Even if the victim did insult the 6 then it appears they waited a while, thought it over, and decided to jump the guy from behind -- six against one. Not exactly my idea of civil rights heroes.

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Even if the victim did insult the 6 then it appears they waited a while, thought it over, and decided to jump the guy from behind -- six against one. Not exactly my idea of civil rights heroes.

We don't even have to disagree on that point.  Jumping some kid, 6 on 1 is a cowardly, lawless act.  

But the big hubbub over this whole matter is the racial issue, how the authoorities seem unduly harsh on the black kids and careless to proescute white on black crime.  They may not be "civil rights heroes" but their lawless act has exposed the deeper issue to wider scrutiny.  They are "unwitting heroes" not that they did anything heroic, but rather they're sick of the institutionalized racism that has been accepted in the area.  

Do you think these kids deserve 22 years in jail for jumping Barker?  And do you deny some racial tension and a double standard exists in Jena?  If you answer "no" to both of those questions then basically we agree.

According to a local minister:

"Justin Barker, the white student attacked, was not the first white student targeted by these black students. Others had been informed they were going to be beaten, but stayed away from school and out of sight until they felt safe."

Read the whole thing:

http://www.authorsden.com/visit/viewarticle.asp?AuthorID=17296&id=32967