Ok, so let me get this straight. Some white guy hung some ropes from a tree and in return some guy (same one who did the ropes or not?) gets the crap beaten out of him and now people are holding protests to free the attackers? What sort of rampant idiocy has come over this place?
OK, I'm calm now and I'm going to TRY to give you the benefit of the doubt. It's ages old and there are resources all over the place.
1) No, Justin Barker didn't hang the nooses. The reason why the nooses are important is because the Jena Six were the same athletes who organized protests over the nooses (not "some ropes", if you pay attention to history, noose is sort of the international symbol for "prepare to be lynched", kk?), the main targets of the "make your lives disappear with a stroke of my pen" remark of the DA, who considered it a harmless prank. They became sort of enemies of the administration.
2) See the timeline I posted last page--Robert Bailey (one of the Jena Six) gets the **** kicked out of him at an all-white party, including with beer bottles. We know exactly who instigated it (22 years old and he given probation). Later he goes to Food Barn and gets a gun pulled on him. It was all extremely traumatic and frightening for a lot of black kids, and we know teachers recommended that the school not be opened the morning of the assault.
3) Justin Barker starts talking **** about the incident, saying "Robert Bailey got his *** kicked" and using the N word. Eyewitnesses claim they heard someone yell "This will teach you to run your mf mouth". That's what got him beat, not the nooses. We know who hung the nooses (one of them was the only witness claiming Bell kicked Barker when Barker was on the ground, actually)
Now we don't know who knocked out Justin. 3 stories:
Mychal Bell: According to a friend of Barker's, it was Bell. She couldn't pick Bell up out of a lineup, but later she said she thought about it, and it was Bell...it sounds really iffy. We know Bell was at least there,.
Malcolm Shaw (not Jena Six): According to the Coach, the only adult nonpartisan witness. He immediately was reported to have been looking around for Shaw, and claims that Barker was hit to the back of the head (which fits in with Barker himself not knowing who knocked him out)
A Kid in a Green Jacket: According to 2 girls, who say he slammed Barker into a bench.
4) Once Justin got knocked out, we know some kids were kicking him. We don't know what injuries were caused by kicks, and what injuries were caused by trampling--a lot of students came and crowded and were running around the entire area, as often happens in school fights. An ambulance was called, Justin was conscious by the time it got there and left the hospital by that evening.
5) Were the Jena Six among the attackers? Honestly, maybe a few were, and feel free to suspend them or give them simple battery (if they were there). Either way, the names of the kids notorious for protesting the noose were charged with second-degree murder as adults (up to 100 years in prison without parole) and given pretty extravagant bails. Later, after worldwide outcry, it was reduced to second-degree aggravated battery...you need a deadly weapon to be convicted of that, and their deadly weapon was uh, their shoes.
So then they faced 22 1/2 years in prison.
6) Bell was tried, and he is appointed an attorney by the court who calls no witnesses--not even the Coach who is the only nonpartisan adult witness and who claims it was Shaw who hit first. The jury is all white and includes friends of the Barker family. More outrage, and a judge overturns it and says Bell should've been tried as a juvenile. Bell still ain't out of jail because his 90k bail hasn't been adjusted...he had a bail hearing but the DA (yes, the "throw your lives away" guy) and judge never showed up.
And this is where we are. Several movements against this Jim Crow style justice system, trying to raise money for their defense, wearing black in a show of solidarity, trying to get Bell out of jail (he still hasn't raised the 90k needed for bail, these kids aren't exactly millionaires) etc. It's not about saying "it's ok to attack white people" or making "kids with records into heroes". It's about justice, and it's absolutely ridiculous how many people here have such a black-and-white "How dare you defend those ATTACKERS?!" view of the situation. It's shameful. :no:
