Posted by
EFuller on Thursday, September 20, 2007 9:29:11 PM
Thousands protested in Jena, LA today -- but most do not want justice. (I am about to become very unpopular...)
Leaders of the protest claimed the issue is inequality in the justice system. The crowds gathered to show support for the six black teens arrested for beating a white teen. They carried signs calling for the "Jena Six" to be freed.
So what's wrong with this picture? Calling for the Jena Six to escape punishment. Let's look at the facts according to one news report:
The cause of Thursday's demonstrations dates to August 2006, when a black Jena High School student asked at a student assembly whether blacks could sit under a shade tree that was a frequent gathering place for whites. He was told yes. But nooses appeared in the tree the next day. Three white students were suspended but not criminally prosecuted. LaSalle Parish District Attorney Reed Walters said this week he could find no state law covering the act.
...
The noose incident was followed by fights between blacks and whites, culminating in December's attack on white student Justin Barker, who was knocked unconscious. According to court testimony, his face was swollen and bloodied, but he was able to attend a school function that same night.
Six black teens were arrested. Five were originally charged with attempted second-degree murder - charges that have since been reduced for four of them. The sixth was booked as a juvenile on sealed charges.
Justice requires that a crime, even one against a despicable person, be prosecuted. The courts near prisons are full of prosecutions of crimes by one inmate against another. In the same way, if a citizen commits a crime against a convicted felon, justice requires the citizen be prosecuted.
I am not stating that the victim of the beating in this case is a criminal or a despicable person. It is unclear from news reports if he is even one of the students suspended for hanging the noose. But even if he is, a crime was committed against him.
Nor am I stating that the other students involved in the fight -- black or white -- are without guilt. I also do not assert that hanging a noose in a tree as a racial statement should go unpunished.
I do state that calls to "free" the Jena Six are calls to fight injustice with another injustice.