<p>so, what'r your opinions.</p>
<p>I just read about it. My initial reaction was to think of the Scottsboro trials, but not to the same extreme. I really think that we need to pay more attention to serious racism in the south (although I am from Chicago so I don't really know what it is like) instead of worrying about being politically correct everywhere else.</p>
<p>i dont know, i think its just being pushed way out of proportion. but, i do agree that he was given too long of a sentence.</p>
<p>The sentence was ridiculous. The school should have handled the issue far sooner. NO issue of prejudice should be allowed to get this far in America anymore.</p>
<p>I'm probably going to hold an unpopular view, but I think this whole situation is just absolutely ridiculous and entirely unwarranted.</p>
<p>First off, the news outlets are blowing the situation out of proportion. That must be made clear. I've actually been trying to research this situation and apparently people in Jena are saying the nooses that were hung on the tree were for a football game--not racism. Now I'm not condoning this in any way...if those nooses were meant as a hate crime, that's simply reprehensible. You'll have to look up this fact for yourself, since I don't claim to know the whole truth.</p>
<p>My main problem with this whole story is--regardless of the previous racial tension in the town--these six kids beat up a single kid. Black or white, I don't care, that's wrong. Even IF he did make racial statements/threats, they still beat him into a coma. That IS attempted murder, whether Jesse Jackson or Al Sharpton like it or not. There's a better way to handle these things, and these two "leaders" turn everything into a racially polarized situation. It simply frustrates me. If six white kids beat up a black kid, there'd still be rallies in Jena, albeit for a different reason.</p>
<p>I really hope I don't come off as racist or insensitive. Everyone is honestly wrong in this situation. Nooses should NOT be hung on a tree at all--that's wrong. But neither should six kids gang up on another and nearly kill him. Especially when they HAVE criminal records already. Maybe the white kid deserved what he got, I don't pretend to know that either, but for Jackson/Sharpton to parade the Jena 6 around like poor lost lambs, that's not right. They deserve to be charged as well.</p>
<p>still. The school failed. Plain and simple.</p>
<p>I don't disagree with you. I'm just saying the six kids deserve to be charged with attempted murder and as adults. What they did was wrong and it doesn't help these so-called leaders to be glorifying them.</p>
<p>Any white who committed a hate crime should be punished as well. They should have been expelled, but they weren't. That's wrong. The only problem is, the Jena 6 were wrong too.</p>
<p>I completely agree polkahard.</p>
<p>Yes, those kids that put a noose under the tree should have been expelled, and criminally charged for instigating a fight.</p>
<p>I do agree that this doesn't seem to be the sort of thing that would require a huge rally and lots of media attention. It just doesn't seem that newsworthy.</p>
<p>I agree with JBVirtuoso except for it being newsworthy. The sad thing is, many people in high-class and highly educated people (which is alot of people on here) don't realize that racism is still alive and well, just in different forms. I lived in the ghetto where I was one of the very few white people. Racial tensions were VERY high and there were constantly rumbles between the blacks and the whites, it's just plain stupid. But then I moved out to suburbia and all the middle-class, upper-class white folks don't want to admit that racism still exists. They think it was dealt with years ago, or that it's simply not their problem. However, white people are also the victim of racism, just in another way (yes I do realize that MANY people will disagree with me, but I really don't care). White people aren't allowed to say things that people of other races are. We have a slip of the tongue and there's national headlines. A black or mexican or middle eastern person says something against whites and it's no big deal. I also CANNOT stand it when black people or Mexican people or any other people make me think I should have to pay for what white people did to their ancestors. News flash, I am the descent of Romanis, there were laws on the books in America against us until the mid 1990s. We suffered through slavery and exile for thousands of years as well. And yet, I don't blame other white people for what their ancestors did to mine. </p>
<p>My point is, the Jena 6 are important because it raises awareness that there still is racism in this country. The people who hung the nooses should've been expelled and perhaps charged with a hate crime, but the six also deserve to be punished for the attempted murder. Neither of them deserve to be defended by leaders because neither of them did anything right. </p>
<p>You can disagree with anything I've said, but if you live in suburbia then you really don't know how bad racial tensions can be and that is just WRONG in 21st century America. And don't think I'm racist in anyway because I have more Middle-Eastern, black, and latino friends then I do white.</p>
<p>completely agree with polkahard. this situation shouldn't be getting so much news attention. the only reason it is getting so much attention is because of people like al sharpton. plain and simple - 6 kids beat up a a single kid into a coma. end of story. about the nooses - people argue that the white kids didn't get punished at alll for it. well, lets compare the two situations. one was a "prank" in my opinion. the students were even suspended for it, and i think thats more than enough of a punishment. the other was a gang beating of a kid to his near death. how do you even compare the two? being sentenced to jail was the right thing to do, because he DID have a criminal record prior to the incident. 22 years might be a little extreme, but he had it coming in my opinion.</p>
<p>This went down last December and the media is talking about it now?!?! Although it is a sad story, it seems that it is just another pr stunt like duke lax and don imus for jesse jackson and al sharpton to run their obnoxious mouths</p>
<p>Duke LAX wasn't a stunt.</p>
<p>duke LAX was a stunt, which is why they were acquitted of their charges, and the prosecuter is going through hell.</p>
<p>I am an oblivious Canadian. What are we talking about?</p>
<p>This is a pretty good explanation.... <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jena_Six%5B/url%5D">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jena_Six</a> but you can just type Jena 6 into google and get some pretty good details on it. It's a sort of long story that I'm too lazy to explain :].</p>
<p>Thank you.</p>
<p>That's appalling.</p>
<p>Exactly...</p>